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Stairway to Heaven

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This article is about the song by Led Zeppelin. For other uses, see Stairway to Heaven (disambiguation).

"Stairway to Heaven"
American radio promotional sleeve
Song by Led Zeppelin
from the album Led Zeppelin IV
Released8 November 1971 (1971-11-08)
RecordedDecember 1970, January 1971, February 1971[1]
StudioIsland Studios, London; Rolling Stones Mobile Studio, Stargroves, East Woodhay, Hampshire; Ronnie Lane's Mobile Studio, Headley Grange, Hampshire[1]
Genre
Length7:55[2]
LabelAtlantic
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Jimmy Page
Audio
"Stairway to Heaven" on YouTube

"Stairway to Heaven" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released on 8 November 1971 on the band's untitled fourth studio album (commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV), by Atlantic Records. Composed by the band's guitarist Jimmy Page with lyrics written by lead singer Robert Plant, it is widely regarded as one of the greatest rock songs of all time and by some as the greatest.[3][4][5][6][7]

The song has three sections, each one progressively increasing in tempo and volume. The song begins in a slow tempo with acoustic instruments (guitar and recorders) before introducing electric instruments. The final section is an uptempo hard rock arrangement, highlighted by Page's guitar solo and Plant's vocals, which ends with the plaintive a cappella line: "And she's buying a stairway to heaven".

"Stairway to Heaven" was voted number three in 2000 by VH1 on its list of the "100 Greatest Rock Songs",[8] in 2004 Rolling Stone magazine ranked "Stairway to Heaven" number 31 on its "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list.[9] It was the most-requested song on FM radio stations in the United States at the time, despite never having been commercially released as a single in the US.[10] In November 2007, through download sales promoting Led Zeppelin's Mothership release, "Stairway to Heaven" reached number 37 on the UK Singles Chart.[11]

Writing and recording

[edit]

The song originated in 1970 when Jimmy Page and Robert Plant were spending time at Bron-Yr-Aur, a remote cottage in Wales, following Led Zeppelin's fifth American concert tour. According to Page, he wrote the music "over a long period, the first part coming at Bron-Yr-Aur one night".[12] Page always kept a cassette recorder around, and the idea for "Stairway to Heaven" came together from bits of taped music.[13] The first attempts at lyrics, written by Robert Plant next to an evening log fire at Headley Grange, were partly spontaneously improvised and Page claimed, "a huge percentage of the lyrics were written there and then".[13] Page was strumming the chords, and Plant had a pencil and paper.

Led Zeppelin began recording "Stairway to Heaven" in December 1970 at Island Records' new recording studios on Basing Street in London.[14][15] The song was completed by the addition of lyrics by Plant during the sessions for Led Zeppelin IV at Headley Grange, Hampshire, in 1971.[16] Page then returned to Island Studios to record his guitar solo.[10]

The complete studio recording was released on Led Zeppelin IV in November 1971. The band's record label, Atlantic Records, wanted to issue it as a single, but the band's manager Peter Grant refused requests to do so in both 1972 and 1973. As a result, many people bought the fourth album as if it were the single.[10]

Composition

[edit]
"Stairway to Heaven"
Three 10-second excerpts demonstrating the different sections of the piece
Problems playing this file? See media help.

"Stairway to Heaven" is described as progressive rock,[17][18] folk rock,[19] and hard rock.[19] The song consists of three distinct sections, beginning with a quiet introduction on a finger-picked, six-string acoustic guitar and four recorders[20] (ending at 2:15) and gradually moving into a slow electric middle section (2:16–5:33), then a long guitar solo (5:34–6:44), before the faster hard rock final section (6:45–7:45), ending with a short vocals-only epilogue. Plant sings the opening, middle, and epilogue sections in his mid-vocal range; he sings the hard rock section in his higher range, which borders on falsetto.

Written in the key of A minor, the song opens with an arpeggiated, finger-picked guitar chord progression with a chromatic descending bassline A-G♯-G-F♯-F. Page used a Harmony Sovereign H1260 acoustic guitar and a Fender Electric XII 12-string electric guitar played directly into the board for the rhythm parts.[21] John Paul Jones contributed overdubbed recorders (probably soprano, alto, tenor, and bass)[22] in the opening section (he used a Mellotron and, later, a Yamaha CP-70B Grand Piano and Yamaha GX1 to synthesise this arrangement in live performances)[23] and a Hohner Electra-Piano electric piano in the middle section.

The sections build with more guitar layers, each complementary to the intro, with the drums entering at 4:18. The extended guitar solo in the song's final section was played for the recording on a 1959 Fender Telecaster given to Page by Jeff Beck (an instrument he used extensively with the Yardbirds)[23] plugged into a Supro amplifier,[24] although in an interview he gave to Guitar World magazine, Page said, "It could have been a Marshall, but I can't remember".[13] Three different improvised solos were recorded, with Page agonising about which to keep. Page later revealed, "I did have the first phrase worked out, and then there was the link phrase. I did check them out beforehand before the tape ran." He has likened the song to an orgasm.[25] The Am–G–F–G chord sequence in the third section of the song, centred on A minor, is typical of a chord progression in the Aeolian mode.[26]

Personnel

[edit]

According to Jean-Michel Guesdon and Philippe Margotin:[1]

Live performances

[edit]

The inaugural public performance of the song took place at Belfast's Ulster Hall on 5 March 1971.[23] Bassist John Paul Jones recalls that the crowd was unimpressed: "They were all bored to tears waiting to hear something they knew."[27]

The world radio premiere of "Stairway to Heaven" was recorded at the Paris Cinema on 1 April 1971, in front of a live studio audience, and broadcast three days later on the BBC.[28] The song was performed at almost every subsequent Led Zeppelin concert, only being omitted on rare occasions when shows were cut short for curfews or technical issues. The band's final performance of the song was in Berlin on 7 July 1980, which was also their last full-length concert until 10 December 2007 at London's O2 Arena; the version was the longest,[citation needed] lasting almost 15 minutes, including a seven-minute guitar solo.

Jimmy Page used a double-necked guitar to perform "Stairway to Heaven" live.

When playing the song live, the band would often extend it to over 10 minutes, with Page playing an extended guitar solo and Plant adding a number of lyrical ad-libs, such as "Does anybody remember laughter?", "And I think you can see that", "wait a minute!" and "I hope so".[citation needed] For performing this song live, Page used a Gibson EDS-1275 double neck guitar so that he would not have to pause when switching from a six to a 12-string guitar, while John Paul Jones used a Mellotron to replicate the sound of the woodwind instruments he used on the studio recording.

By 1975, the band was using the song as its finale in concert. However, after their concert tour of the United States in 1977, Plant began to tire of "Stairway to Heaven": "There's only so many times you can sing it and mean it...It just became sanctimonious."[29]

The song was played again by the surviving members of Led Zeppelin at the Live Aid concert in 1985;[23] at the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert in 1988, with Jason Bonham on drums;[30] and by Jimmy Page as an instrumental version on his solo tours.

The first few bars were played alone during Page and Plant tours in lieu of the final notes of "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You", and in November 1994 Page and Plant performed an acoustic version of the song at a Tokyo news station for Japanese television. "Stairway to Heaven" was also performed at Ahmet Ertegun Tribute Concert at the O2 Arena, London on 10 December 2007.[31]

Plant cites the most unusual performance of the song ever as being that performed at Live Aid: "with two drummers (Phil Collins and Tony Thompson) while Duran Duran cried at the side of the stage – there was something quite surreal about that."[23]

Sunset Sound mix

[edit]

A different version of this song by Led Zeppelin is on the remastered deluxe two-CD version of Led Zeppelin IV. Titled "Stairway to Heaven (Sunset Sound Mix)", it was recorded on 5 December 1970, at Island Studio, No. 1, in London with engineer Andy Johns and assistant engineer Diggs. This version runs 8:04, two seconds longer than the original version.[32]

Success and legacy

[edit]

"Stairway to Heaven" is often rated among the greatest rock songs of all time.[3][4] Music journalist Stephen Davis wrote that the 1971 song ascended to "anthemic" status within two years.[33] Page recalled, "I knew it was good. I didn't know it was going to become like an anthem, but I did know it was the gem of the album, sure."[34]

"Stairway to Heaven" continues to top radio lists of the greatest rock songs, including a 2006 Guitar World readers poll of greatest guitar solos.[35] On the 20th anniversary of the original release of the song, it was announced via US radio sources that the song had logged an estimated 2,874,000 radio plays.[10] As of 2000, the song had been broadcast on radio over three million times.[36] In 1990, a Tampa Bay, Florida, area station (then WKRL) kicked off its all-Led Zeppelin format by playing "Stairway to Heaven" for 24 hours straight.[37] It is also the biggest-selling single piece of sheet music in rock history, clocking up an average of 15,000 copies yearly.[23] In total, over one million copies have been sold.[36]

The band never authorised the song to be edited for single release, despite pressure from Atlantic Records. Page told Rolling Stone in 1975, "We were careful to never release it as a single",[38] which forced buyers to buy the entire album.[39]

In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine put it at number 31 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", then number 61 in 2021.[40] On 29 January 2009, Guitar World magazine rated Jimmy Page's guitar solo the best of the publication's 100 Greatest Guitar Solos in Rock and Roll History.[41]

In 2001, the New York City-based classic rock radio station WAXQ conducted a listener survey to create a countdown of 1,043 rock songs (the number corresponding with the station's position on the dial at 104.3 FM). "Stairway to Heaven" garnered the most votes from listeners. WAXQ has conducted the survey annually since then; in each subsequent countdown that has followed, including the most recent in November 2024, "Stairway to Heaven" has been the top-ranked song.[42]

Plant once gave $10,000 to listener-supported radio station KBOO in Portland, Oregon, during a pledge drive after the disc jockey solicited donations by promising the station would never play "Stairway to Heaven". Plant was station-surfing in a rental car he was driving to the Oregon Coast after a solo performance in Portland and was impressed with the non-mainstream music the station presented. When asked later for the reason why, Plant replied that it wasn't that he didn't like the song, but he'd heard it before.[43]

"Stairway to Heaven" was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry in 2023, based on its "cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation's recorded sound heritage."[44][45]

The carillon in the tower of Fürth's historic town hall plays "Stairway to Heaven" daily at 12:04 pm.[46]

[edit]

Page's opening acoustic guitar arpeggios bear a resemblance to the 1968 instrumental "Taurus" by the Los Angeles-based rock band Spirit, written by Spirit guitarist Randy California.[12][47] In the liner notes to the 1996 reissue of Spirit's self-titled debut album, California wrote: "People always ask me why 'Stairway to Heaven' sounds exactly like 'Taurus', which was released two years earlier. I know Led Zeppelin also played 'Fresh Garbage' in their live set. They opened up for us on their first American tour."[48][49]

In May 2014, Spirit bassist Mark Andes and a trust acting on behalf of California filed a copyright infringement suit against Led Zeppelin and injunction against the "release of the album containing the song" in an attempt to obtain a writing credit for California, who died in 1997.[50] A lack of resources was cited as one of the reasons that Spirit did not file the suit earlier; according to a friend of California's mother, "Nobody had any money, and they thought the statute of limitations was done ... It will be nice if Randy got the credit." If the Spirit lawsuit had been successful, past earnings due to the song—estimated at more than US$550 million—would not have been part of the settlement, but the publisher and composers might have been entitled to a share of future profits.[51][52]

On 11 April 2016, Los Angeles district judge Gary Klausner ruled that there were enough similarities between the song and the instrumental for a jury to decide the claim, and a trial was scheduled for 10 May. The copyright infringement action was brought by Michael Skidmore, a trustee for the late guitarist, whose legal name was Randy Wolfe.[53] On 23 June, the jury ruled that the similarities between the songs did not amount to copyright infringement.[54] In July, Skidmore's attorney filed a notice of appeal against the court's decision.[55][56][57] In March 2017, the verdict was appealed, with a main argument being that the jury should have been able to hear a recorded version of "Taurus".[58][59] On 28 September 2018, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit allowed the appeal, vacating in part and remanding to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California for a new trial on several evidentiary and procedural issues.[60] On 10 June 2019, the Ninth Circuit granted rehearing en banc, meaning the case would be reheard by a larger panel of eleven judges.[61][62]

A Bloomberg Businessweek article shortly after that decision noted that a Ninth Circuit judge's interpretation of the laws implied that key elements of many classic rock songs, including "Stairway to Heaven", that were recorded prior to 1978 were not protected by copyright to begin with. The panel declared that the scope of copyright for those songs is limited to what was included in the deposit copy of the song's sheet music provided to the Copyright Office; at trial Page had testified that the deposit copy included neither the intro that was under dispute nor his guitar solo. Bloomberg reporter Vernon Silver found that the deposit copies of other classic rock songs from that era, such as "Hotel California", "Born to Run" and "Free Bird", include only the song's basic chords, lyrics and melody, without any solos or other distinctive musical touches. Copyright law experts could not say whether those elements are copyrighted or not; Led Zeppelin's lawyers have argued they are even if not included in the deposit copy. Silver made an electronic mashup of several of these elements from different songs and included it with the article.[63]

On 9 March 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco, California, ruled in favour of Led Zeppelin, in that "Stairway to Heaven" does not infringe on the copyright of "Taurus". The full Ninth Circuit used their decision to overturn the controversial "inverse ratio rule" upon which it had relied over the past several decades in past copyright rulings, stating "Because the inverse ratio rule, which is not part of the copyright statute, defies logic, and creates uncertainty for the courts and the parties, we take this opportunity to abrogate the rule in the Ninth Circuit and overrule our prior cases to the contrary."[64][65] This verdict immediately applied to pending cases within the Ninth: a long battle over Katy Perry's "Dark Horse" in which a jury had found against her for US$2.8 million was overturned a week after the Ninth's verdict in "Stairway to Heaven", in part of the Ninth's new finding and that in the case of "Dark Horse", the similarity argument weighed heavily on the inverse ratio rule.[66] On 5 October, the Supreme Court of the United States denied to grant certiorari to Andes and the trust, leaving the Ninth Circuit's ruling in place in favour of Led Zeppelin.[67] The court's decision precludes further appeals, thus ending the copyright dispute.[68]

Claims of backmasking

[edit]
"Stairway to Heaven" (section)
The claimed backmasked section
"Stairway to Heaven" (section) (reversed)
The same section reversed
Problems playing these files? See media help.

In a January 1982 broadcast of the Trinity Broadcasting Network television program Praise the Lord hosted by Paul Crouch, it was claimed that hidden messages were contained in many popular rock songs through a technique called backmasking. One example of such hidden messages that was prominently cited was in "Stairway to Heaven".[69] The alleged message, which occurs during the middle section of the song ("If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now...") when played backward, was purported to contain the Satanic references: "Here's to my sweet Satan / The one whose little path would make me sad whose power is Satan, / He'll give you, he'll give you 666 / There was a little tool shed where he made us suffer, sad Satan."[70]

Following the claims made in the television program, California assemblyman Phil Wyman proposed a state law that would require warning labels on records containing backmasking. In April 1982, the Consumer Protection and Toxic Materials Committee of the California State Assembly held a hearing on backmasking in popular music, during which "Stairway to Heaven" was played backward and self-described "neuroscientific researcher" William Yarroll claimed that the human brain could decipher backward messages.[71]

The band itself has mostly ignored such claims. Swan Song Records responded to the allegations by stating: "Our turntables only play in one direction—forwards." Led Zeppelin audio engineer Eddie Kramer called the allegations "totally and utterly ridiculous. Why would they want to spend so much studio time doing something so dumb?"[72] Robert Plant expressed frustration with the accusations in a 1983 interview in Musician magazine: "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."[73]

Accolades

[edit]
Accolades
Publication Country Accolade Year Rank
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame US "The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll"[74] 1994 *
Classic Rock UK "Ten of the Best Songs Ever!"[75] 1999 1
VH1 US "The 100 Greatest Rock Songs of All Time"[76] 2000 3
RIAA US "Songs of the Century"[77] 2001 53
Grammy Awards US "Grammy Hall of Fame Award"[78] 2003 *
Rolling Stone US "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time"[79] 2004 31
Rolling Stone US "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time"[40] 2021 61
Q UK "100 Songs That Changed the World"[80] 2003 47
Toby Creswell Australia "1001 Songs: the Great Songs of All Time"[81] 2005 *
Q UK "100 Greatest Songs of All Time"[82] 2006 8
Guitar World US "100 Greatest Guitar Solos"[83] 2006 1
Rolling Stone US "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time"[84] 2008 8

(*) designates unordered lists.

Charts

[edit]

Digital download

[edit]
Chart (2007–10) Peak
position
Canadian Billboard Hot Digital Singles Chart[85] 17
EU Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart[86] 79
Germany (GfK)[87] 15
Irish Singles Chart[88] 24
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart[89] 13
Norwegian Singles Chart[90] 5
Portuguese Singles Chart[91] 8
Swedish Singles Chart[92] 57
Swiss Singles Chart[93] 17
UK Singles Chart[94] 37
US Billboard Hot Digital Songs Chart[95] 30
US Billboard Hot Singles Recurrents Chart[96] 16

Note: The official UK Singles Chart incorporated legal downloads as of 17 April 2005.

Certifications and sales

[edit]
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[97] Platinum 90,000‡
Italy (FIMI)[98]
sales since 2009 		2× Platinum 100,000‡
New Zealand (RMNZ)[99] 4× Platinum 120,000‡
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[100] Platinum 60,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[101]
2000 release 		Platinum 600,000‡
United States
digital sales 		— 1,700,000[102]

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c Guesdon & Margotin 2018, p. 260.
  2. ^ Untitled (a.k.a. Led Zeppelin IV) (Album notes). Led Zeppelin. New York City: Atlantic Records. 1971. Side one LP label. SD 7208.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  3. ^ a b "The Influence Of Led Zeppelin Is So Profound That It's Almost Impossible To Overstate. (However, We Are Still Going To Try)". SPIN. SPIN Media. September 2002. p. 80. Archived from the original on 17 May 2024. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven' Voted the Greatest Rock Song before the year of 2000". Gigwise.com. Archived from the original on 19 July 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2010.
  5. ^ "500 Greatest Rock Songs". digitaldreamdoor. Archived from the original on 14 October 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  6. ^ "Top 1000 Classic Rock Songs of All Time". www.rocknrollamerica.net. Archived from the original on 29 April 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  7. ^ "Top 10 Best Rock Songs of All Time". TheTopTens. Archived from the original on 16 April 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  8. ^ "VH1 100 Greatest Rock Songs 1–50". rockonnet.com. Archived from the original on 1 February 2003. Retrieved 1 June 2008.
  9. ^ "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. 11 December 2003. Archived from the original on 28 February 2021. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  10. ^ a b c d Lewis, Dave (1994). The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin. Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-711-93528-9..
  11. ^ "Led Zeppelin score top 40 hit". NME. 18 November 2007. Archived from the original on 12 January 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  12. ^ a b Sutcliffe, Phil (April 2000). "Bustle in the Hedgerow". MOJO, p. 62
  13. ^ a b c Tolinski, Brad and di Benedetto, Greg (January 1998). "Light and Shade: A Historic Look at the Entire Led Zeppelin Catalogue Through the Eyes of Guitarist/Producer/Mastermind Jimmy Page". Guitar World, p. 100–104.
  14. ^ Schulps, Dave (October 1977). "Jimmy Page: The Trouser Press Interview". teachrock.org. Trouser Press. Archived from the original on 22 November 2021. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  15. ^ Welch, Chris. "Classic Interview: Engineer Andy Johns on the secrets behind Led Zeppelin IV". musicradar.com. Future Plc. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  16. ^ Davis, Stephen (4 July 1985). "Power, Mystery and the Hammer of the Gods: The Rise and Fall of Led Zeppelin". Rolling Stone. No. 451. Archived from the original on 28 January 2008. Retrieved 15 January 2008.
  17. ^ Macan 1997, p. 154.
  18. ^ Colothan, Scott (19 April 2010). "Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway To Heaven' Voted The Greatest Rock Song". Gigwise. Archived from the original on 19 July 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2016. The prog-rock epic is one of three Led Zep songs to make it into the top ten in a listeners' poll conducted by radio station Absolute Classic Rock.
  19. ^ a b Cramer 2009, p. 1116.
  20. ^ Rolling Stone. "Stairway to Heaven". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 28 October 2007. Retrieved 7 June 2006.
  21. ^ "What was the Stairway To Heaven guitar?". Killer Guitar Rigs. 31 January 2021. Archived from the original on 27 January 2024. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  22. ^ "Tracks: Recording the Recorders on the Original Stairway Project". 6 October 2016. Archived from the original on 2 September 2023. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  23. ^ a b c d e f Llewellyn, Sian (December 1998). "Stairway to Heaven". Total Guitar, p.61-62
  24. ^ Steven Rosen, 1977 Jimmy Page Interview Archived 28 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine, Modern Guitars, 25 May 2007 (originally published in the July 1977, issue of Guitar Player magazine).
  25. ^ Hann, Michael (22 October 2014). "Stairway to Heaven: The Story of a Song and Its Legacy". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 April 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020. He's often used sexual imagery to describe the song and it's no different today: 'It's like an orgasm at the end. It's whatever you want it to be.'
  26. ^ Roche 2004, p. 139.
  27. ^ "Sold on Song, Stairway to Heaven". BBC radio 2. Archived from the original on 11 March 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2006.
  28. ^ Pallett, Simon (January 1998). "Radio Dazed". Guitar World, p.122
  29. ^ Dave Lewis and Simon Pallett (1997) Led Zeppelin: The Concert File, London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-5307-4, p. 58.
  30. ^ Welch 2002, p. 231.
  31. ^ Reed, Ryan (10 December 2015). "The Day Led Zeppelin United". ultimateclassicrock.com. Townsquare Media Inc. Archived from the original on 12 February 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  32. ^ Grow, Kory (22 October 2014). "Hear Led Zeppelin's Hedgerow-Bustling 'Stairway to Heaven' Alternate Mix". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 21 September 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2017. "It's always interesting to hear stuff that you know really well and hear it differently, but the same", John Paul Jones tells Rolling Stone.
  33. ^ Davis 2018, pp. 146–147.
  34. ^ Cross & Flannigan 1991, p. 65.
  35. ^ "Stairway to Heaven: Is This the Greatest Song of All Time?". Archived from the original on 3 July 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2006.
  36. ^ a b Australian Broadcasting Corporation Archived 13 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine – Triple J Music Specials – Led Zeppelin (first broadcast 12 July 2000)
  37. ^ "Led Zeppelin Biography". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 5 May 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  38. ^ "Led Zeppelin Win in 'Stairway to Heaven' Trial". RollingStone.com. 23 June 2016. Archived from the original on 11 August 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  39. ^ "Stairway to Heaven: The Song Remains Pretty Similar". Bloomberg.com. 16 May 2014. Archived from the original on 28 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  40. ^ a b "Stairway to Heaven ranked #61 on Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs List". Rolling Stone. 15 September 2021. Archived from the original on 18 September 2021. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  41. ^ "50 Greatest Guitar Solos". Guitar World. Archived from the original on 7 February 2009. Retrieved 4 February 2009.
  42. ^ "Q104.3's Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time". Q104.3. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
  43. ^ "World Cafe Looks Back: Robert Plant". World Cafe. Season 20. 14 October 2011. 43:34 minutes in. NPR. WXPN. Archived from the original on 29 May 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016. Finally, we'll revisit a 2002 interview, in which Plant tells one of his funniest stories — it involves pledging to a Portland public radio station so it would never again play "Stairway to Heaven."
  44. ^ "2023 National Recording Registry selections". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on 12 April 2023. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  45. ^ "National Recording Registry Inducts Music from Madonna, Mariah Carey, Queen Latifah, Daddy Yankee". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on 12 April 2023. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  46. ^ Fürth: Glock’n’Roll mit Himmelsleiter. Bayerischer Rundfunk. 15 November 2024.
  47. ^ "Whammy Bar" Guitar World April 1997: 19 "But California's most enduring legacy may well be the fingerpicked acoustic theme of the song "Taurus", which Jimmy Page lifted virtually note for note for the introduction to "Stairway to Heaven".
  48. ^ Sleeve notes, booklet included with CD EPC 485175
  49. ^ "Led Zeppelin: Stairway to a Plagiarism Lawsuit, and Jimmy Page on a possible reunion". 21 May 2014. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
  50. ^ "Copyright row over Led Zeppelin classic Stairway to Heaven". BBC News. 21 May 2014. Archived from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  51. ^ Vernon Silver (15 May 2014). "Stairway to Heaven: The Song Remains Pretty Similar". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on 16 May 2014. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  52. ^ Nicolas Suzor; Eleanor Angel (26 May 2014). "Borrowing a Stairway to Heaven: did Led Zeppelin rip off a riff?". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 29 May 2014. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
  53. ^ "Stairway to Heaven in copyright trial - BBC News". BBC News. 12 April 2016. Archived from the original on 12 April 2016. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
  54. ^ "Led Zeppelin cleared of plagiarism in Stairway case". BBC News. 23 June 2016.
  55. ^ "Led Zeppelin Copyright Trial, Round 2: Band's Accuser Files for Appeal". TheWrap. 25 July 2016. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
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  59. ^ "Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven" Copyright Case Gets Appeal". 19 March 2017. Archived from the original on 1 April 2017. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
  60. ^ Pettersson, Edvard; Silver, Vernon (28 September 2018). "Led Zeppelin to Face Retrial Over 'Stairway' Theft Claims". Archived from the original on 29 September 2018. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  61. ^ "Court documents" (PDF). cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov. 10 June 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  62. ^ Reed, Ryan (11 June 2019). "Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven': Appeals Court to Review Lawsuit Decision". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 12 June 2019. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  63. ^ Silver, Vernon (20 June 2019). "Rock Riff Rip-Off: The Legal Loophole That May Leave Some of Rock's Greatest Riffs Up For Grabs". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on 22 June 2019. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  64. ^ "Court documentsa" (PDF). cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov. 9 March 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 December 2020. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  65. ^ Maddaus, Gene (9 March 2020). "Led Zeppelin Scores Big Win in 'Stairway to Heaven' Copyright Case". Variety. Archived from the original on 24 November 2022. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
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Bibliography

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Further reading

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  • Led Zeppelin: Dazed and Confused: The Stories Behind Every Song, by Chris Welch, ISBN 1-56025-818-7
  • The Complete Guide to the Music of Led Zeppelin, by Dave Lewis, ISBN 0-7119-3528-9
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