On March 28th, 1973 Led Zeppelin showcased a completely new sound when they released their 5th studio album Houses Of The Holy.

Led Zeppelin’s first four albums featured a pretty consistent style – heavy blues rock fused with folk elements. With Houses Of The Holy, the band traded in their darker, bluesier sound for a cleaner, brighter tone and a variety of genres. Along with their classic hard rock, you get reggae with D’yer Mak’er, funk with The Crunge, and even some prog rock with No Quarter. Zeppelin took a deep dive with experimentation that would set the standard for the rest of their following work.

Some of the great successes of Houses Of The Holy comes from the band members’ preparation in recording. Both guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones built their own home studios, so they were able to figure out exactly how they wanted their parts to sound. When Led Zeppelin met up at The Rolling Stones Mobile Studio at Mick Jagger’s Stragroves estate in Hampshire, they were more than ready to record this masterpiece.

To celebrate its 50th birthday, give a listen to Led Zeppelin’s iconic album Houses Of The Holy.