1970 Classic Hit, Inspired by a Trip to Iceland Taken 56 Years Ago Today, Became One of the ‘Greatest Metal Songs of All Time'

56 years ago today, Led Zeppelin was in Reykjavik, Iceland, on a massive worldwide tour. It was in this city that the group's lead singer, Robert Plant, got inspired to write their hit "Immigrant Song."

Singing about a "land of ice and snow" and "the midnight sun where the hot springs flow," the song went on to appear in movies like the Jack Black-led comedy film School of Rock and Marvel's Thor: Ragnarok. From the song's iconic guitar riffs to its aggressive drum fills, "Immigrant Song" remains a fan-favorite to this day.

"We weren't being pompous," Plant said about the song in his 1994 book Led Zeppelin. "We did come from the land of the ice and snow. We were guests of the Icelandic Government on a cultural mission. We were invited to play a concert in Reykjavik and the day before we arrived all the civil servants went on strike and the gig was going to be cancelled."

However, after learning that a university had prepared a concert hall for them, the show still went on.

"The response from the kids was remarkable and we had a great time," Plant said. "‘Immigrant Song' was about that trip and it was the opening track on [Led Zeppelin III] that was intended to be incredibly different."

"Immigrant Song" was performed live for the first time at the Bath Festival in Somerset, England, on June 28, only six days after their show in Iceland. It was released on the record Led Zeppelin III by Atlantic Records on October 5, 1970, four months after the shows.

In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked "Immigrant Song" as one of the top 100 Greatest Metal Songs of All Time. Lester Bangs, a music critic for Rolling Stone, said when the song came out that it "comes closest to being a pulp classic."

"With its bulldozer rhythms and Bobby Plant's double-tracked wordless vocal croonings echoing behind the main vocal like some cannibal chorus wailing in the infernal light of a savage fertility rite," Bangs wrote.

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This story was originally published June 22, 2026 at 11:24 AM.