Fifty years ago this Sunday, May 14th, 1973, Houses of the Holy, Led Zeppelin's fifth album, went to number-one in Billboard, a month-and-a-half after its release on March 28th, 1973.
They were in New Orleans that day, performing at the Municipal Auditorium. The next night, May 15th, Atlantic Records threw them a huge party in the "Big Easy."
Houses of the Holy topped the Billboard 200 for two weeks and has sold over 11-million albums in the U.S., earning it Diamond status (over 10 million).
The album gave us eight songs, including six that became staples -- "The Song Remains the Same," "The Rain Song," "Over the Hills and Far Away," "Dancing Days," "D'yer Mak'er," and "The Ocean." But the title track wasn't released until their next album, 1975's Physical Graffiti.