On this day in 1969, Led Zeppelin’s second album, Led Zeppelin II, was released in the US

The album was written while the band toured with their first release and recorded in short sessions in between concerts in various studios throughout the UK and North America. Some of these studios were clearly ill-equipped with one studio in Vancouver, credited as “a hut” had an 8-track recording set-up with no proper headphone facilities.

Several songs on the album were a result of experimentation during live performances, especially during the instrumental sections of “Dazed and Confused”. The songs featured an evolution of the sound they had created with their debut album and was later called the blueprint for heavy metal.

Critically, the album was a huge success with popular critics reviewing it positively, speaking on its sophistication, intelligence and simplicity. Led Zeppelin II also performed well commercially, becoming the group’s first album to reach number one in the US, knocking The Beatles Abbey Road from the top spot twice. It also reached top five spots in Australia and Canada. Ritchie Yorke commented on the album to Billboard, stating that it was considered unsuitable to North American Top 40 radio stations, who were “dreary and detached from the mainstream of contemporary rock music”.