42 years ago today, Led Zeppelin’s sixth studio album landed atop the Billboard 200, giving the band a chart-topping album in America for the fourth time in their career.
Although the whole of the album was produced by Jimmy Page, the contents of PHYSICAL GRAFFITI were taken from a variety of Led Zeppelin recording sessions, stretching as far back as July 1970. Technically, though, the recording of the album didn’t begin until November 1973…and even that’s not really accurate, since the sessions which were attempted by the band at that time didn’t end up amounting to anything. In fact, it wasn’t until January 1974 that they actually recorded material that turned up on the finished product.