Originally Marshall made 8x12 cabs for Steve Marriott and Pete Townsend; roadies in both bands complained about the size and weight, so Marshall took them back and cut them in half, creating the 4x12 cabs
Here's Steve Marriott posing with his two Marshall plexi amps and his four Marshall 8x12's in a music video:
The music video:
edit: I can only imagine how glorious this sounded