Robert Plant Once Called This Led Zeppelin Classic “Pompous”
He’s grown out of love with it…
Robert Plant is a defining figure in rock mythology, a vocalist who came to occupy the role as one of the 70s most prominent frontmen. Taking Led Zeppelin to stratospheric heights, his inimitable voice influences generations of rock vocalists, earning virtually unparalleled success. In later years, however, he’s become a staunch critic of his youthful work – most notably the band’s iconic cut ‘Stairway To Heaven’.
A core part of music’s bedrock, ‘Stairway To Heaven’ boasts an introduction replicated so thoroughly by would-be inheritors to the Jimmy Page throne that music shops frequently prohibit it being placed.
Wayne’s World even parodied the trope…
In a 1988 interview with Q the frontman reflected on the song, and admitted that Led Zeppelin’s critics have a point. “If you absolutely hated ‘Stairway to Heaven,’ no one can blame you for that because it was so pompous.”
“Depending on what day it is, I still interpret the song a different way – and I wrote the lyrics,” he said.“Lyrically, now, I can’t relate to it, because it was so long ago. I would have no intention ever to write along those abstract lines anymore.”
Led Zeppelin’s one-off reformation in 2007 included a performance of ‘Stairway To Heaven’, but in a 2013 interview the singer reiterated that he simply isn’t a fan of the song.
“It belongs to a particular time. If I had been involved in the instrumentation I would feel that it’s a magnificent piece of music that has its own character and personality. It even speeds up in a similar way to some pieces of more highbrow music.”
“But my contribution was to write lyrics and to sing a song about fate and something very British, almost abstract, but coming out of the mind of a 23-year-old guy. It landed in the years of the era of 23-year-old guys.”
Revisit ‘Stairway To Heaven’ below.
