More than 50 years after its release, one 1971 rock anthem is still casting a long shadow over the genre.<\/p>\n
According to rankings compiled by TheTopTens<\/a>, the greatest classic rock song of all time is none other than Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.” The eight-minute epic, which famously opens with the line about “a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold,” continues to captivate listeners with its slow-burning build and explosive finale.<\/p>\n Released in 1971 on the band’s untitled fourth album, often referred to as Led Zeppelin IV, the track was written by frontman Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page. Plant once said<\/a> that the lyrics came to him in “a flash of inspiration.”<\/p>\n “I was holding a pencil and paper, and for some reason I was in a very bad mood. Then all of a sudden my hand was writing out the words, ‘There\u2019s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold\/And she\u2019s buying a stairway to heaven.’ I just sat there and looked at the words and then I almost leapt out of my seat,” Plant recalled.<\/p>\n The song’s reputation has only grown over time, though it hasn’t been without controversy. In 2014, Led Zeppelin was sued for copyright infringement over claims that the song’s opening guitar passage borrowed from “Taurus<\/a>” by Spirit. After years of legal proceedings, the band ultimately prevailed in 2020, with the decision upheld on appeal, as reported by Rolling Stone<\/a>.<\/p>\n “Definitely Led Zeppelin\u2019s best song,” said TheTopTens<\/a> of “Stairway to Heaven.” “Jimmy Page made the guitar sound amazing. The way he took the slow beginning and turned it into a wailing solo and outro is incredible. John Bonham\u2019s drums make my heart stop. Robert Plant’s vocals are probably the best ever. It’s the song to end all songs. The best song in existence.\u201d<\/p>\n In a 2021 interview, Page was asked how much value he places on legacy, to which he replied, “Somebody once asked me if I was intimidated by my past and I wasn’t being flash when I said this, but it was actually an immediate response. I said, ‘No, it inspired me.'”<\/p>\n More than half a century later, the track still reigns supreme, and so many others continue to be inspired by band, just like Page himself.<\/p>\n Related: 1971 Best-Selling Record Ranked No. 1 \u2018Classic Rock Album\u2019 of the ’70s<\/a><\/p>\n This story was originally published by Parade<\/a> on Feb 18, 2026, where it first appeared in the News<\/a> section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 50 years after its release, one 1971 rock anthem is still casting a long shadow over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[221070,88,19813,19810,216,19811,57348],"class_list":{"0":"post-478638","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-all-that-glitters-is-gold","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-jimmy-page","11":"tag-led-zeppelin","12":"tag-music","13":"tag-robert-plant","14":"tag-stairway-to-heaven"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}