Sad news: led zeppelin announced unexpected News…..

As a new documentary about the band arrives, it’s as good a time as any to get to grips with their phenomenal discography

They were born from the remnants of The Yardbirds, three of whom’s members in Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Led Zep’s own Jimmy Page went on to become three of the greatest rock guitarists of all time. As various Yardbirds fell by the wayside – they wanted to do something folkier, or go solo, or become photographers – Page recruited replacements who were more onboard with his blues-blaring mission, until eventually he had a whole new crew. And so Led Zeppelin was born.

As a new documentary coming out this week recounts, they went on to change music forever. Beyond arguably carving out a whole new genre of music for themselves, Led Zeppelin’s output has influenced artists far beyond the confines of hard rock – acts as diverse as Lady Gaga, Nirvana, Madonna, Queen, Joy Division and Shakira (?) have all cited them as influences.

But when did they rock the hardest? And is some of their softer stuff actually worth considering too? Here’s our ranking of their best albums.