Jump to content

‘Stairway To Heaven’ at 50: The song that ushered in the era of the guitar hero


Recommended Posts

‘Stairway To Heaven’ at 50: The song that ushered in the era of the guitar hero

By Mark Beaumont

 

newFile-6.jpg

Robert Plant and Jimmy Page on stage (Shutterstock)

 

When Jimmy Page strapped on a double-necked guitar at Belfast Ulster Hall on 5 March 1971, the audience no doubt thought they were about to be bombarded with twice the rock. They’d already been savaged by the live debut of blues Cerberus “Black Dog”, their first taster from Led Zeppelin’s forthcoming fourth album, and were eager for the world’s hottest hard rock band to keep the pedal to the formative heavy metal.

 

Then Page plucked out a gentle pastoral arpeggio redolent of arcadian glades, medieval minstrels and all manner of nonny-nonnyness, a refrain crying out for classical recorder accompaniment.

 

Full Story: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/stairway-to-heaven-led-zeppelin-anniversary-b1810378.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

" A mystical , musical caravan towards an irresistible horizon encapsulated L Z's approach to their craft .. swirling , relentless , ominous even but woven with a intricacy that is their hallmark " .. 

A journo's take on the Led Zep track Kashmir released 1975 and now one of the most sampled for commercial and tribute purposes rock tracks .. 

 

 

IMG_20210303_200650.jpg

Edited by Justgrazing
Sp
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rolling Stone considers Stairway to Heaven to be the 31s Greatest Song Ever. 

Out of literally every song ever recorded.

But then again, they have Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" at #9 so I have to question their sanity.

Especially as they list Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" as the #1 Greatest Song ever.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/500-greatest-songs-of-all-time-151127/bob-dylan-like-a-rolling-stone-2-54028/

And as much as I love the Beach Boys, I really can't see how "Good Vibrations" ranks as the 6th Greatest Song ever.

All such lists are subjective of course and many use different criteria (weeks on the charts, album sales, awards, etc) to determine the "greatest" and no doubt may add personal favourites (or delete ones they don't feel are deserving).

PlanetRadioUK lists Stairway to Heaven as the "Greatest EVER Rock Song" and most of their Top 100 seems pretty spot on though there's a few on the list I've never heard of (no doubt as their survey and reponses are UK-centric and some of the bands probably never had a large Canadian/American presence).

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, fangless said:

Can anyone explain the above?  I thought plain English was the  language on the TV Forums!

Or am I in the wrong page here?

 

PS;  Who is/was Jimmy page?

I think it's called "waxing lyrical".

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Big guitar and big flares .. J P dressed accordingly with his twin neck ..  

Stairway is a great track among many that flowed from the collective unit in their time together : In the Evening and All of my Love amongst others .. 

 

IMG_20210304_092714.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/4/2021 at 4:39 PM, Justgrazing said:

Big guitar and big flares .. J P dressed accordingly with his twin neck ..  

Stairway is a great track among many that flowed from the collective unit in their time together : In the Evening and All of my Love amongst others .. 

 

IMG_20210304_092714.jpg

I had several pairs of pants like that back in the day, we called them "bell bottoms"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.




×
×
  • Create New...