When I was in my teens and twenties this was widely touted as the greatest rock and roll record of all time . In the last 30+ years has anything come along to knock it off its perch ?
LOL at the Captain, old STW at its best.
Personally I'd put Kashmir way above stairway out of Zepplin's stuff .
On radio 1 years ago a female artist did a cover of this in the live lounge and it was brilliant. For the life of me, I can't remember who it was, it was someone who would never think of doing it and I have never been able to find out or remember who it was.
I always remember her saying her brother would love her to do some Pink Floyd covers but never has.
Zeppelin didn't even do the best version
While I enjoy listening to the music, all of led zeps songs lyrics are cheesey garbage, IMO you can't claim the title of greatest when a major element is done so badly.
I love that Heart version 🙂
Good but they did better themselves and then there's this
You're all wrong, and this was a year before STH. We can now end this thread and get on with our lives:
Lissie? Radio2 live lounge
I could play "Stairway To Heaven" when I was 12. Jimmy Page didn't actually write it until he was 22. I think that says quite a lot.
Just imagine Stairway with some decent lyrics. It would be awesome.
Zepplin are a rock band really, Nirvana are much closer to the spirit of rock 'n roll, I always think of rock 'n roll as being about adolescent rebellion and teenage hormones, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Chuck berry and Elvis. It kind of died out in the 50's, only to be revived when punk came along.
Rock music is all about riffs, and if were talking riffs.....
Frank Zappa said this is the best riff ever and I'm not inclined to disagree with him.
I could play “Stairway To Heaven” when I was 12. Jimmy Page didn’t actually write it until he was 22. I think that says quite a lot
Yeah, but it's no "Warrior of Genghis Khan".
anything by Pixies, the band that inspired all the bands you've subsequently heard of from that genre.
Good call fingerbang. The proto punk of the Stooges definitely has the rock 'n roll DNA.
And another musing about what differentiates rock 'n roll from rock:
rock 'n roll needs to appeal to both (all) genders equally in order to be truly called such.
Zeppelin didn’t even do the best version
<small class="bbp-reply-post-date">Posted 40 minutes ago</small>
so true. This version is brilliant
Theotherjohn,
The light and shade, transitions and tempo changes of both the Pixies and Nirvana are straight out of Sabbath. The band that inspired the bands you've subsequently heard of from many genres.
Much prefer Eddie Cochran's original. Led Zep couldn't even do the do wop wops
"Best" in music? silly game innit.
Silly games?
Oops......wrong genre.
TOTP in those days was always lip syncing, kind of spoils it when trying to take artists seriously.
It’s more of a cheesy folkrock ballad tbh. (albeit with a rocking solo. Can’t deny)
Dazed and Confused (esp at Madison Square Garden) live is 100x more rock and roll. Startling.
But my vote today goes to one of the many Japanese bands that took Zeppelin to the next level. They idolised Zeppelin and Sabbath so took that 70s soulful dinosaur/heavy rock and injected it with some surreal+anarchic+goofy southern-blues vs Tokyo punk and Motor City garage band rawness. Zep were too up their own to go to that sort of level. And anyway, The MC5 had gotten there already some years earlier, along with Stooges. I love 1990s Tokyo for taking rock and roll further out there, when everyone else and their dog were getting all self-worshipful again.
Dynamite Blues Quartet.
Amazing.
Oops……wrong genre
Some kind of pop-reggae innit? Quite weirdly minimal. Never batted an eyelid at odd stuff like this on totp back then did we
I could play “Stairway To Heaven” when I was 12. Jimmy Page didn’t actually write it until he was 22. I think that says quite a lot.
It says that you’re very good at copying what someone else had created.
Now, if you can show us something unique that YOU created at that age, we might be more impressed. Anyone can learn to copy, not so many to create something that’s uniquely theirs.
And yes, I’m impressed by the fact that you were prepared to put in that much effort, but it’s still just a copy. I learned a few chords, but I recognised very early on that I don’t have an ounce of creativity in my body, so what’s the point?
Personally I’d put Kashmir way above stairway out of Zepplin’s stuff .
Can’t argue with that, I’ve seen Kashmir and Trampled underfoot played live by Zeppelin, on the Physical Grafitti Tour - just mesmerising.
Thing is, Plant once described Zeppelin as the world’s loudest folk band, and he’s not wrong, they were never really a metal band; just listen to Zep III, or The Battle Of Evermore, sure the lyrics are a bit trite, but the Tolkien references were everywhere at the time, and it’s no coincidence that the only singer outside of the band to record a vocal with them was Sandy Denny, of Fairport Convention, one of the finest folk singer/songwriters this country has ever produced, from one of the greatest folk-rock bands.
Subscriber
anything by Pixies, the band that inspired all the bands you’ve subsequently heard of from
Ehh?
DezB,
It's the first 'Lovers Rock' tune, (so could tenuously qualify for this thread by virtue of having 'rock' in the genre title!)
Lovers Rock was the first British born sub-genre of reggae, so you can trace its legacy all the way through to grime!
anything by Pixies, the band that inspired all the bands you’ve subsequently heard of from that genre.
What genre’s that, then? Great band, I love them, but they’re a 90’s band, not 70’s.
A bit non plussed by Stairway really and as noted above Kashmir was a far better song. Zep isn't really my thing for regular listening but Stairway was imo surpassed by its own writers and performers.
Depends a bit too what you mean by rock and roll. The thing about Stairway and Freebird and the tunes from that era was that they appear pretty mainstream in terms of the way rock, punk and metal went after.
If you went with rock stretching out into the punk, grunge and metal areas there's plenty I'd put above Stairway as better to listen to BUT that's not necessarily the point of "greatest". It's like greatest hits it's a popularity thing not a quality thing.
I like all the symbolism in Zepplin's music, 'spring clean for the may queen!' and all the lord of the rings stuff, it's great, even if it was just for effect.
anyway,, here's my submission, is it better than stairway? no but it's up there.
this song is just the epitome of cool and rock n' roll.
It says that you’re very good at copying what someone else had created.
Now, if you can show us something unique that YOU created at that age, we might be more impressed. Anyone can learn to copy, not so many to create something that’s uniquely theirs.
You don’t know that is a quote from Bad News do you?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_News_(band)
Countzero you can't just learn a few chords and decide you have no creativity, if you can play two notes you've created something, then add a few more for extra effect.
Music either hits the spot or not, I would say Nothing else matters by Metallica is a great piece, starts with just playing the open strings on the guitar, simple but so effective.
Music is coloured by how you feel when you hear it, I find some pieces have me shaking with emotion on occasion.
You like what you like, if you don't why bother criticising because it may mean a lot to some people.
This rule obviously doesn't apply to Spandau Ballet.
This rule obviously doesn’t apply to Spandau Ballet.
Never a truer word 😆
if you can play two notes you’ve created something, then add a few more for extra effect.
"One chord is fine, two chords is pushing it, three chords and you're dangerously into jazz territory" - Lou Reed
Great track, amongst many others. I get the folk rock thing. In Ramble On I always thought he sang “in the darkest depth of Morden”, which might actually be more horrific than the mythical place he was referencing.
I’ll see your Pixies and raise you Sonic Youth in that they have influenced all alternative music since they were born, including the Pixies. Is this song greater than Stairway? Very different.
the question was
[STH] the greatest rock and roll record of all time . In the last 30+ years has anything come along to knock it off its perch ?
not 'name another good 70's song' or indeed 'what's the greatest RnR record of all time' (although I'll give you that's insinuated, if you accept STH is commonly thought of as the greatest - but I don't)
I reckon pretty much anything by Pixies is better than STH. There, I said it twice now, 'cos it's true.
NB not saying Pixies have written the greatest RNR song ever either. I don't know what that is....but it's not STH. John Peel said it was Teenage Kicks, FWIW.
It says that you’re very good at copying what someone else had created.
Brilliant way to not get a joke 😂
I've not heard Warrior Of Ghengis Khan for a loooong time - so happy to find it on Spotify!! 😀 Gonna be a Bad News day Chez Pondo. 🙂
If you define ‘rock and roll’ as ‘any rock or rock/pop music’ then it’s essentially ‘just name a/some of your favourite songs/bands’ thread.
rock and rollrock'n'roll
noun
a type of pop music originating in the 1950s as a blend of rhythm and blues and country and western. It is generally based upon the twelve-bar blues, the first and third beats in each bar being heavily accented
(as modifier)the rock-and-roll era
This is ‘rock and roll’ by traditional definition:
Velvets, Stooges then later Sonic Youth, Pixies etc are more influenced by surf-rock and avant-garde garage/punk/thrash sensibilities.
If (instead) the definition of ‘Rock and Roll’ is so loose that it becomes the one used for the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame - then anything goes from the Doobie Brothers to Depeche Mode. From their ‘performers’ page:
Honoring bands or solo artists which demonstrate musical excellence. Such a descriptor includes (but isn't limited to) influence on other performers or genres; length and depth of career and catalog; stylistic innovations; or superior technique and skills.
The term ‘rock and roll‘ is now every bit as Billy Joel as it is The New York Dolls. Every bit the Cure as it is Genesis. Even that famous rock and roller - 2pac. And....Madonna. Rockin out! VOGUE!
It's the next phase, new wave, dance craze, anyways
It's still rock and roll to me
Everybody's talkin' 'bout the new sound
Funny, but it's still rock and roll to me
But Stairway is folk rock with added baroque and a whole lotta coque at the finish. Heart smashed it, agreed.
This from the 1600s
To sort of answer the OP’s question
MC5 ‘Kick Out The Jams’. Just imagine that it came after LZ’s ‘rock and roll’ rather than three years earlier.
Blimey, Didn't know Shakin' Stevens had gone over to the dark side. (that Cramps video)
Looking back I hadn't realised at the time how much Axl Rose was inspired by Elton John
Much prefer Eddie Cochran’s original. Led Zep couldn’t even do the do wop wops
Sting did an okay version...
Someone said that all led Zeppelin songs are cheesy lyrics . In the main I’d agree and I really REALLY loved Zep when I was young. Still thought their lyrics were crap though, we used to laugh at most of the song-content.
Except for this one.
Bright light almost blinding, black night still there shining,
I can't stop, keep on climbing, looking for what I knew.Had a friend, she once told me, You got love, you ain't lonely,
Now she's gone and left me only looking for what I knew.Mmm, I'm telling you now, The greatest thing you ever can do now,
Is trade a smile with someone who's blue now, It's very easy just...Met a man on the roadside crying, without a friend, there's no denying,
You're incomplete, they'll be no finding looking for what you knew.So anytime somebody needs you, don't let them down, although it grieves you,
Some day you'll need someone like they do, looking for what you knew.Mmm, I'm telling you now, The greatest thing you ever can do now,
Is trade a smile with someone who's blue now, It's very easy just.
Mad thread.
No cheesy ballad is going to be the best rock song. Something by Creedence, QOTSA, Sabbath or Clutch would probably get my vote.
I’ll see your Pixies and raise you Sonic Youth
And here's Sonic Youth's best song...
(I do mean this.)
Anyway, having spent far too long learning to play STH in my teens, decades before YouTube tutorials when you just had to work stuff out, I just want to say that yes, Heart do capture the plodding dirgey essence of this plodding dirge. It's like the answer to the question "what's the opposite of funky?"
(STH) It’s like the answer to the question “what’s the opposite of funky?”
🤣🤣
That would be ‘Kashmir’ . The ploddiest plodfest, plodding plodfully through a thick field of plod.
(Until decades later when Page/Plant enlisted that Moroccan orchestra to spice it up at the end)
Mad thread
I see potential for a series!
Baggy Trousers
When I was in my teens and twenties this was widely touted as the greatest rhythm and blues record of all time . In the last 30+ years has anything come along to knock it off its perch ?
(Cue lots of recommendations for Clutch, Tool and some 90s strumgaze )
No! Here’s Sonic Youth’s best
I see potential for a series!
How you can take it remotely seriously, I just don’t know! 😂
I see potential for a series!
How you can take it remotely seriously, I just don’t know! 😂
To be fair you've just reminded me that I consistently fail at mixing what I hope is clear satire with ‘wait, someone’s wrong on the internet!’
You Really Got Me by The Kinks is the greatest rock and roll song, and it only takes 2 minutes 15 seconds to achieve this, none of that poncing about you get on Stairway ...
Misty Mountain Hop is the best Zep song.
Oops, I take it all back - I'd forgotten about Warrior of Genghis Khan
anything by Pixies, the band that inspired all the bands you’ve subsequently heard of from that genre.
And where would the Pixies be without Husker Du?
Did someone really not get the Bad News quote??? 😂😂
anything by Pixies
Pixies ruined their legacy by coming back as a pointless, bland imitation of what they once were.
That's the kind of thing I take seriously. Very seriously indeed.
You Really Got Me by The Kinks is the greatest rock and roll song,
+1. It is great. It is Rock and Roll. It has ‘roll’ (swing) and it makes you want to dance. Try dancing to Stairway without it looking like a stilted contemporary LOTR does ballet improv. It is the anti-dance. It kills hips.
If there’s no swing - then it’s only rock with no roll.
*EDIT - BY THE SWORD OF PERCIVAL! Remind me again what is the penultimate lyric of Stairway?
Evidence is in. STH is not Rock and Roll. That’s as far from the ‘greatest Rock and Roll song record*’ as can be.
(Some kids dancing to rock and roll earlier:)
* 😎
STH is not Rock and Roll. That’s as far from the ‘greatest Rock and Roll song’ as can be
Well, there's also the word "song". So if we say it's not actually a song, and its really not that [i]great[/i]. Then it definitely is as far as possible from winning the aforementioned category.
😎 correct and corrected. And tbf there usually is an (almost imperceptible) swing in Bonham’s drumming. Doesn’t necessarily make people want to dance - but I feel bad dissing such a drumgod. This thread has made want to go and create ‘Stairway To Zeppelin’. It’ll be a rock opera/musical that starts with the 50s dancing and milkshakes and driving boat-sized cars and shanking rival gang-members with stilettos and smoking straights and hanging commies and black people and stuff, but then MC5 come down in a flying saucer made entirely of denim. They jump out of the saucer and blast all the kidz with sexyguns, hammer-ons and drum-blasts in order to make way for Plan 69 from Outer Space. The cops arrive and pile them all into a van and we think that it’s over.
Meanwhile, in Stourbridge, England...
...some longhairs are cooking up something old and lacing it with Tolkienistic sex and are about to invade the USA. The police (ironically) are required to release the MC5 as they are the only band strong enough to fight the incoming Zeppelin that is again threatening to debauch America’s youth. But the MC5 have other ideas. They used their spacetech to see into the 80s and the many Jams that would kill the soul out of everything. Which leaves The Zeppelin completely free to attack the US of A and rip also the funk out of it.
It ends on a cliffhanger, leaving the sequel* open. Won’t spoilt it/say too much about that except for ‘Roger Troutman’.
Premier Icon
jekkyl
SubscriberI like all the symbolism in Zepplin’s music, ‘spring clean for the may queen!’ and all the lord of the rings stuff, it’s great, even if it was just for effect.
anyway,, here’s my submission, is it better than stairway? no but it’s up there.
this song is just the epitome of cool and rock n’ roll.
“Are you gonna go my way” is a great song but it takes very heavily from Jimi Hendrix “Crosstown Traffic “
Well, there’s also the word “song”. So if we say it’s not actually a song, and its really not that great. Then it definitely is as far as
To be fair my OP deliberately left out the word song
Stairways has sung lyrics. It is a song.
Paveway To Pedantry
The best Zep version of Stairway is this live one 7 months before the album was released. You can actually hear the song as the audience doesn’t go crazy after hearing the opening arpeggio.
👆That Heart version of Stairway' is epic👌. And I didn't even know Ricky Gervais played the drums
This is why we had punk; bloody hippies.
Stairways has sung lyrics. It is a song.
The serious is strong with this one.
Talking of serious, people took Heart? serious? as a musical band? I honestly never knew this. I’m serious.
Talking of serious, people took Heart? serious? as a musical band?
Wow you've just reminded me of a killer version of a killer rock and roll song! You must have been thinking of Slade 😉
Malvernrider,
I think you've succumbed to the kind of madness DezB was warning about. But I'm all up for a bit of music history revisionism.
Has anybody checked out any of those YouTube music reaction channels where (often) hip-hop heads do reactions to tunes they've never heard before that have been suggested by their followers?
The Sabbath and Pink Floyd reactions in particular are priceless. Two of the most memorable responses were in reactions to 'War Pigs':
'I didn't know music could sound this good......WITH INSTRUMENTS!'
And 'You can get down on a Soul Train vibe whilst learning about the atrocities of war at the same time'
It says sausages up there.
Lost in Vegas is the best reaction channel in my opinion. They love Sabbath and Tool. I never really got Zep to be honest, the cheese a just too strong with them for my tastes. As for Heart, just no, so much no 😂
Lost in Vegas are excellent, their format has evolved such that it's like a radio 6 show or something.
They're like a high-brow Beavis and Butthead.
The thing I really like about those channels is that they represent the complete opposite of the usually divisive social media narrative. They actively ask to be challenged with new perspectives. They also give you a good feel for America as a whole, seeing that most of the channels seem to come out of the South or the Mid West rather than NY and LA.
I discovered Jason Isbell, Colter Wall and Tyler Childers through watching them. Been hooked on them since. Seem like genuine guys too. Highbrow Beavis & Butthead is a great way of describing them. I love watching their reactions to War Pigs and Pneuma.
Music threads here are always entertaining.
Some folk take themselves so seriously.
Yeah. The best rock band ever are AC/DC anyway.
^
Love AC/DC. But I still yet wish they could rock half as hard as DMBQ. Would have made for a facemelting double bill/playoff
Has anybody checked out any of those YouTube music reaction channels where (often) hip-hop heads do reactions to tunes they’ve never heard before that have been suggested by their followers?
I hate them by and large due to the massive overacting.
I do like this lass though as a) I’ve discovered some stuff I’d never have heard of otherwise, and b) I think I’m in love.
Eddiebaby don't be such a Victor Meldrew. Yeah there's a lot of fakery and overreaction but there's so much that it more genuine than you'll ever see on conventional media. A lot of reviewers are trying to make a business of themselves, trying to get ahead in the gig economy or make a few extra bucks when they get home from work, I cant be too cynical about that.
Anyhow, like funkmasterp I'm prepared to sift through the dross to get to the nuggets and its my primary source of music exploration these days. It's how I discovered Aitch, the Manchester rapper who's blowing up right now. I first saw him on a US reaction video and it was that reaction that sent Aitch into the stratosphere. UK grime artists have been trying to get a platform in the US for 15 years, then a kid from Manny cracks it because a couple of reactors in North Carolina listen to it with an open mind. It was those reactions that made the London music scene take notice of what was happening beyond the M25.
Sorry to derail the thread from the rock & roll theme, but if there's ever going to be a rock revival it'll happen on you tube first. Those reactors are doing a better job of reappraising rock music and music history in general than we are managing to achieve on here anyhow!
YouTube is currently sending me down an Elvis rabbit hole. Shan't link to it on here because it's the gospel Elvis, not the rock & roll Elvis but his 68 comeback performance of 'If I can dream' is bodying it right now!