In 1973, the five-year contract agreement that Led Zeppelin had made with Atlantic Records expired, and instead of signing a new deal with Atlantic or another label, the band decided to start their own record label. This label was called Swan Song Records, and it launched in May of 1974 featuring an artist’s rendition of Icarus as its mascot.
Icarus was initially not for the band itself but rather just for the label. In time, of course, the Icarus symbol became synonymous with the band itself, and today it can certainly be counted in the ranks of Led Zeppelin logos, right along with the four symbols (i.e Zoso) that initially appeared on the inner sleeve of Led Zeppelin IV.
The Led Zeppelin Icarus symbol was initially based upon a drawing done sometime around 1870 by the American painter William Rimmer, which the band saw and decided to adopt into their Swan Song Records logo. Rimmer’s drawing is called “Evening (The Fall of Day)”, naturally his most famous work due to the connection with Zeppelin, and it currently resides in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
01 - T-shirt print for 1977 US tour.
02 - Original painting “Evening (The Fall of Day)” by William Rimmer, 1870.
03 - Record label on the album “Physical Graffiti”, 1975.
04 - T-shirt print for 1975 US tour.
05 - CD of the album “How The West Was Won”, 2003.
