Led Zeppelin Catalog Landing on "All" Digital Music Services

Downloading holdout Led Zeppelin announced early this morning that on November 13th, they would finally release their entire catalog to "all" digital music services. From I to Physical Graffiti to How the West Was Won, the Zep discography will be available for both full-album purchases and a la carte downloads. The arrival coincides with the release of LZ's new greatest-hits album Mothership, which will come out on double-CD that same day -- just thirteen days before the band's big reunion show in London. "We are pleased that the complete Led Zeppelin catalog will now be available digitally," guitarist Jimmy Page said. "The addition of the digital option will better enable fans to obtain our music in whichever manner that they prefer." In addition to the MP3s, Led Zeppelin has officially joined the twenty-first century by striking up a deal with Verizon Wireless to start distributing ringtones later this week. Because no cell phone is complete if it's not screaming out the opening lines of "Black Dog" when it rings.

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Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

More Song Stories entries »

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