Stairway to Heaven

"Stairway to Heaven" is a famous and influential song by the British rock group Led Zeppelin.

Trivia

• The opening chord progression in "Stairway to Heaven" is similar to that of the 1968 instrumental "Taurus" by the group Spirit, who accompanied Led Zeppelin on a tour that year. Spirit has acknowledged this and is okay with it. No one in Led Zeppelin has ever mentioned being influenced by the Spirit track.
• Critics of rock and roll songs (and of Led Zeppelin in particular) have occasionally alleged that a backward message is recorded into "Stairway to Heaven." If a portion of the song is played backwards, then supposedly words beginning with "Oh, here's to my sweet Satan" can be heard. Various Christian fundamentalists have interpreted different lyrics from the allegedly-backmasked portion, which most agree to be the lines beginning with "If there's a bustle in your hedgerow...". The theory was advanced by Michael Myers, Jacob Aranza, and Jeff Godwin among others. Led Zeppelin have always ignored such claims, the only comment coming from Swan Song Records which issued the statement: "Our turntables only play in one direction—forwards". Also, Plant himself said in an interview: "To me it's very sad, because 'Stairway To Heaven' was written with every best intention, and as far as reversing tapes and putting messages on the end, that's not my idea of making music."
• The tendency for many aspiring guitar players to learn to play the introduction to the song was spoofed in the 1992 Mike Myers movie Wayne's World, when a "No Stairway to Heaven" regulation is enforced at a music store visited by the title character. The intro was replaced with a more generic, non-"Stairway" riff in later releases of the movie, making the joke rather incomprehensible.
• In the early 1990s, each episode of the Australian chat show The Money or the Gun ended with a different group performing an idiosyncratic cover version of "Stairway to Heaven". From a diverse range that included an Elvis impersonator, Kate Ceberano, and the Doug Anthony All Stars, the best remembered is Rolf Harris's version (complete with didgeridoo and wobble board), which reached the Top 10 on the UK singles charts.
• Harris is said to have received death threats from fans of the song for his version of this iconic rock anthem.
• A compilation album, Stairways to Heaven, was put out on the Atlantic label, featuring versions of the song by The Australian Doors Show, The Beatnix, John Paul Young, Kate Ceberano, Leonard Teale, Michael Turkic, The Ministry of Fun, Neil Pepper, Pardon Me Boys, Robyne Dunn, The Rock Lobsters, Rolf Harris, Sandra Hahn, Vegimite Reggae and others.
• A novelty song featuring the music and arrangement of the song combined with the lyrics to the "Theme from Gilligan's Island" (which has a similar chord progression) was recorded by the San Francisco band Little Roger and the Goosebumps and often featured on the Dr. Demento radio program. Singer Plant has described this as his favorite cover version of the song.
• A heavy metal band Down named their second album ', which is a quotation from this song.
• The Butthole Surfers, in an act of parody and/or tribute, released an album in 1988 called Hairway to Steven.
• On original versions of the song "Tribute" by Tenacious D (as well as on the Tenacious D TV show) one can hear Kyle Gass play the opening to "Stairway to Heaven", and, commonly, during live performances after the song is completed, harmoniously sing "And they're playing the best song in the world", in a manner identical to the ending lyrics of "Stairway to Heaven" ("And she's buy-y-ying a stair-r-way to heav-en").
• In the 8:00 odd minutes of playtime, Robert Plant sings the phrase "Stairway to Heaven" three times.
• In 1990 a St. Petersburg, Florida, radio station kicked off its all-Zeppelin format by playing "Stairway to Heaven" for 24 hours straight.