Rock journalist Cameron Crowe noted years later : " It was a time of ' super-groups ' , of furiously hyped bands who could barely cut it , and Led Zeppelin initially found themselves fighting upstream to prove their authenticity . " However , press reaction to the album was not entirely negative . In Britain the album received a glowing review in '' Melody Maker '' . Chris Welch wrote , in a review titled " Jimmy Page triumphs – Led Zeppelin is a gas ! " : " their material does not rely on obvious blues riffs , although when they do play them , they avoid the emaciated feebleness of most so-called British blues bands " . In '' Oz '' , Felix Dennis regarded it as one of those rare albums that " defies immediate classification or description , simply because it 's so obviously a turning point in rock music that only time proves capable of shifting it into eventual perspective " . In comparing the record to their follow-up '' Led Zeppelin II '' , Robert Christgau wrote in '' The Village Voice '' that the debut was " subtler and more ambitious musically " , and not as good , " because subtlety defeated the effect . Musicianship , in other words , was really incidental to such music , but the music did have real strength and validity : a combination of showmanship and overwhelming physical force . " The album was a commercial success . It was initially released in the US on 12 January 1969 to capitalise on the band 's first North American concert tour . Before that , Atlantic Records had distributed a few hundred advance white label copies to key radio stations and reviewers . A positive reaction to its contents , coupled with a good reaction to the band 's opening concerts , resulted in the album generating 50,000 advance orders . The album reached number 10 on the '' Billboard '' chart . The album earned its US gold certification in July 1969
first North American concert tour
Led Zeppelin North American Tour 1968–1969
Led Zeppelin (album)