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Are we all Anti-Stairway


McSeven

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I wonder if we Zep heads are anti Stairway. I can't listen to that song on a regular basis. I can only listen to it full maybe four times a year.

I wonder why I have that elitist attitude. Do you find other Zepheads acting all anti-Stairway when you talk or listen to Zeppelin?

Mc7

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Well, it's not my favorite LZ song, but I'm not anti-Stairway at all, actually. The studio version is not my favorite, but I'll still crank it from time to time. Listening to some of the live versions always renews my appreciation for it.

I do know other Zep-heads that don't care for it, but then it's the same with any other band and their biggest radio hit. Hardcore fans tend to resent those who only know that ONE song from hearing it on the radio ad nauseam. Or they just plain get tired of hearing it.

In this age of iPods, satellite radio etc. I think the over-playing problem will become less and less of an issue. I seldom listen to the radio anymore. I have no idea what the kids are listening to these days, nor do I care. :bubble:

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Yes, it's a great song. But it has been played to death. Even Robert Plant is annoyed by it. He has referred to it as "that bloody wedding song." I read an account of Robert riding in his car one time and a public radio station was raising funds. The announcer said something to the effect of if you support our radio station you'll never have to hear songs like Stairway to Heaven on this station. Robert called in and pledged money to the station under the name R. Plant. :D

I do consider myself a snob when it comes to this song, because whenever you mention Led Zeppelin, anyone not obsessed like me mentions Stairway to Heaven like they have some sort of connection with me because they know one song...the song that has been played more than any other song in radio.

It's like you mention Lynyrd Skynyrd and people think Free Bird, Deep Purple and Smoke on the Water, etc.

I just want to scream, "People, there's more to Led Zeppelin than just Stairway!!!!!!!!"

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Zep fan here for years. I love it and can listen to it everyday. It has become "cool" not to like it. It is a masterpiece, embrace it.

Exactly. Some of the best works of art in the world are hated just for the sake of nonconformist.

I was not old enough to live through the time when it was played too much on the radio. If anything it's been played too little on the radio since the '70s. Kind of a backlash effect that's really sad.

Jimmy often cites Stairway as the penultimate Zep song when he's not next to Robert and doesn't have to tow the party line about Kashmir.

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I love it, always have always will. For sure, I much prefer the earlier '71-'72 versions live than the latter ones, but the studio one will forever be my favorite. I don't care that it was played to death. I'd actually turn the station so I wouldn't get burnt on it. I listened enough on my own to take care of my dosage.

I'll never forget the first time I heard it. I was in the backseat of a carload (Ramber stationwagon) of us surfers heading to Sandy Beach in Hawaii and it came on the radio without introduction. We knew immediately that it was Led Zeppelin as soon as Robert started to sing. The album hadn't come out yet, but the radio station had an advance copy. A couple of weeks later I heard it live for the first time and my friends and I (who also happened to be in that Rambler) hooted when they started playing it. Not many in the crowd applauded as it was basically unheard, 'cept for those who'd heard it on that radio preview.

I swear I can still hear it coming out of that one speaker from the AM radio !! :lol:

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Zep fan here for years. I love it and can listen to it everyday. It has become "cool" not to like it. It is a masterpiece, embrace it.

I still listen to it every few days (I have been doing so for decades from vinyl to cassette tape to dvd now) and watch the live videos over and over. I can't get tired of a masterpiece. It is just a beautiful piece... :)

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LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!!!

I tend to listen to different live versions more than the studio one, but when I do listen to the studio version it still blows me away like it did the very first time...

I have to admit I dont like the live versions so much, except for some of the guitar solos. I find the studio version magical.

I don listen to the radio as I find it useless so Im not sure how much it is still played on the radio these daze.

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I wonder if we Zep heads are anti Stairway. I can't listen to that song on a regular basis. I can only listen to it full maybe four times a year.

I wonder why I have that elitist attitude. Do you find other Zepheads acting all anti-Stairway when you talk or listen to Zeppelin?

Mc7

it's a freakin great song, i don't understand why some have this attitude towards it... so what it was played a lot... i don't see why i should hate a song just from that reason... i enjoy listening to it anytime i want...

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it's a freakin great song, i don't understand why some have this attitude towards it... so what it was played a lot... i don't see why i should hate a song just from that reason... i enjoy listening to it anytime i want...

Yeah, why hate a song cause it was played a lot?

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i dont get the stairway bashing either. :unsure:

i mean, it's def ok to not like a particular song, but i think stairway cops flack for other reasons. maybe it's because of those quotes from robert? :slapface:

anyway, i LOVE stariway. always have. from the first time i heard it ( i think it was in 1973 ), till today. it is an amazing song. the word masterpiece is apt, imo. the different emotions as it "winds on down the road" , the vocals and lyrics, the guitar, the flute, and of course the amazing drumming that bursts through. its a perfect song, from the perfect musicians.

i can listen to it anytime, anywhere. but then, that goes for all zep songs for me! :D

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I'm not a snob,I just hate the fucking song.

Well that's a real snobby attitude for not being a SNOB. :o What a hater you are! :D

If I was on a deserted island for ten years and hadn't heard any music and then I got rescued and the first song I heard was Stairway.I'd be like Eddie Murphy,"That's the best cracker I ever had."

Some of you might get that one!

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i dont get the stairway bashing either. :unsure:

i mean, it's def ok to not like a particular song, but i think stairway cops flack for other reasons. maybe it's because of those quotes from robert? :slapface:

anyway, i LOVE stariway. always have. from the first time i heard it ( i think it was in 1973 ), till today. it is an amazing song. the word masterpiece is apt, imo. the different emotions as it "winds on down the road" , the vocals and lyrics, the guitar, the flute, and of course the amazing drumming that bursts through. its a perfect song, from the perfect musicians.

i can listen to it anytime, anywhere. but then, that goes for all zep songs for me! :D

Couldn't agree any more :D

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I'm not sure if everyone's really BASHING the song- I know I'm not. But when you hear it over and over and over again on the radio some of the magic is lost. But then again, as I noted earlier I still love to hear some of the better live versions. Particularly 6/23/77.

Great song, a classic indeed. But unfortunately, overexposed.

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