Led Zeppelin has had countless standout masterpieces from Whole Lotta Love to Immigrant Song. But, the iconic track Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin is one of the best classic rock songs of all time.
Stairway to Heaven has one of the most iconic guitar riffs ever written and as a result, is one of the most popular riffs learnt by aspiring guitar players.
Therefore, the track quickly became overplayed to the point where you could not walk into a guitar store without hearing someone playing it while they were testing out a new guitar.
“Lyrically, now, I can’t relate to it, because it was so long ago. I would have no intention ever to write along those abstract lines any more.
Plant simply hates ‘Stairway to Heaven’. It has become the forbidden riff that is banned from guitar shops, but Plant was ahead of the curve in bashing the anthem.
Interestingly, the idea of Stairway to Heaven being banned from guitar stores originated from the movie Wayne’s World in 1992. It was a big-screen spinoff of a Saturday Night Live skit.
No, the track is not actually banned from guitar stores. It is highly doubtful that any guitar store owner would kick customers out simply for playing the introduction to Stairway to Heaven.
Plant: “I’ve Got a Huge Arsenal of Unreleased Material” on Phone (americansongwriter)
When asked in the interview if he had to take a break from music during the pandemic, Plant replied, “Well, I’d already taken stock to be honest because when I hunkered down, I was already 71. I think I got most of the stock I could take [was] just coming to terms with an exaggerated personality where I thrive on adventure, in whatever form. So, I just had to minimize everything, my mind’s eye. So, I looked to the music that I’d already created that I had not actually found having use for."
“But I could never find a window to let it out because I was with The Sensational Space Shifters after I came back from Texas. I spent another two albums or seven years with them playing around the world into Africa and mixing it with Gambian musicians.
“So this other stuff, I’ve started to open it up and look at it and I was just flabbergasted. I mean, this old iPhone is absolutely full of unheard, remarkable bits of music. It’s on the cloud as well! Thing is, it’s all sorts of music. So, it could be what everybody’s always wanted. Or it could be something that nobody could even imagine. There’s just so much stuff.
“I started seeing what it was (and) sending it down to my pal Tim Oliver who engineers and mixes my stuff normally down at Peter Gabriel’s place (Real World Studios) and we started mixing some other stuff. Mastering some stuff. (My phone) is laden with incredible stuff.”
But will that “incredible stuff” that Plant has stored away on his phone ever be released?
“If I make another record with Alison, no,” he told Planet Rock. “Or if I go back to The Space Shifters, definitely not because I shall be writing new stuff.
