Jimmy Page and the “cardinal sin” Led Zeppelin committed on ‘Stairway to Heaven’
Led Zeppelin’s iconic track, ‘Stairway to Heaven’, often dubbed ‘The Forbidden Riff’ or ‘The Forbidden Song’, stands out as one of the most controversial pieces in music history. Its notoriety stems from various factors, including claims of satanic backmasking by some, allegations of musical plagiarism, or its pervasive overplay causing frustration among the band members themselves. Whatever the reason, it remains a peculiar and enigmatic number.
‘Stairway to Heaven’, featuring on Led Zeppelin’s classic record Led Zeppelin IV, is one of the most divisive singles ever released. It is both hallowed and hated, with few lying in between. Never before has there been a song so revered and despised in equal measure.
One of the most overplayed songs of all time on the radio, in media, and by budding guitarists worldwide, this has led to the song cultivating a similar sort of stature as ‘Wonderwall’. Of course, even Noel Gallagher would concede that the track crafted by Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Bonham and John Paul Jones has a tad more credibility, but among heavy rock enthusiasts, it carries the same unwelcomed cringe factor.
It wouldn’t be proper to reduce one of Led Zeppelin’s most iconic songs to the definitively terrible category, as it actually did a lot for the development of rock music. You could even argue, albeit at a push, that it helped to influence almost all rock music that followed it. Even for those in the punk movement, who would likely cite it as one of the worst creations in rock history, its sheer existence was enough to kick them into a brand-new way of guitar playing.
Despite the negativity that now surrounds it, the truth is that the song took a great degree of musical tact to pen such a gargantuan track, and ‘Stairway to Heaven’ remains one of the most obvious signifiers of the individual talent of each of the band’s four members. Frontman Plant, guitarist Page, bassist Jones and the late drummer Bonham all provide stellar takes on the 1971 classic that remind us of just how potent they were as a quartet.
Understandably, the song’s mythology has also compounded the celestial musical takes by the band. One part of this is that the song’s composition went against the grain for the group and saw them dip their toes into the deviant class. Jimmy Page, who wrote the song with Robert Plant, has attempted to explain the writing of the song many times over the years and, during one interview, shared that it holds one of the group’s most grievous sins.
A meandering piece that explodes in a crescendo, the band threw the rule book out the window when writing ‘Stairway to Heaven’. Prior to being in Zeppelin, Page and Jones were two of London’s most sought-after session musicians, and when it came to recording the mammoth track’, they violated one of the golden rules of trained musicians.
Notably, towards the song’s end, the music speeds up after Plant screams: “And as we wind on down the road”. The band made the decision to speed up purposefully. The increase in tempo was a beacon of burgeoning attitude for their audience that screamed from the rooftops: “We’re just getting started.” It was the kind of moment that lifted the track onto its pedestal.
In Mick Wall’s biography, When Giants Walked the Earth, Page explained how the band broke the golden rule. “When I did studio work, and when John Paul Jones did studio work, the rule was always you don’t speed up,” he said. “That was the cardinal sin, to speed up.” The reason being that, as session musicians, you kept the tempo and let the music fade away rather than end with a bang, the idea being that the latter is less satisfactory.
However, when recording Led Zeppelin IV, the band were at the peak of their powers and saw fit to do things as they wished, deliberately changing the rock standards as they wanted. “I thought, ‘Right, we’ll do something that speeds up,'” Page recalled. “But that, seriously, was another thing we always did in Zeppelin. If it started to move in tempo, don’t worry. It’s finding its own tempo. Don’t worry, just all stay together.”
There’s a lesson in this for all budding musicians. The rulebook is there as a guide, not as an unwavering blueprint. All truly great musicians over the years have rewritten the rules in favour of creating something pioneering. It is this willingness to innovate in the face of presets that not only entices audiences to be a part of the swirling movement but is the very reason they likely became musicians in the first place.