# Dopers old enough to remember rock radio in 1971: Did you recognize "Stairway to Heaven" as a instant classic? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [February 21, 2021, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-old-enough-to-remember-rock-radio-in-1971-did-you-recognize-stairway-to-heaven-as-a-instant-classic/933411 "2021-02-21T23:32:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-old-enough-to-remember-rock-radio-in-1971-did-you-recognize-stairway-to-heaven-as-a-instant-classic/933411/82 "2021-02-25T05:03:07Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > And who would have thought that not only was Nirvana’s heart and soul really owned by the drummer, who would go on to have a massively successful career after the singer’s untimely but not all that surprising death, AND perform at a presidential inauguration 30 years later? Hehehe, nope, not me. His output has always been in the “Ok, it’s very well done, but I don’t want to seek out more of it. I get far too much from the radio, and I spin the dial 90% of the time.” realm for myself. So yeah, if you want to make money, IGNORE ME! ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-old-enough-to-remember-rock-radio-in-1971-did-you-recognize-stairway-to-heaven-as-a-instant-classic/933411/83 "2021-02-25T05:04:21Z")
Same thing for me, but a lot of other people disagree and that’s why the Foo Fighters have been a mega-seller and Dave Grohl has worked with so many other musicians. This was the Foo Fighters’ first hit, and I knew the first time I heard this song, and saw the video, that they were NOT Nirvana v. 2.0. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/pLdJQFTnZfA/maxresdefault.jpg "Foo Fighters - Big Me (Official HD Video)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLdJQFTnZfA) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2021, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-old-enough-to-remember-rock-radio-in-1971-did-you-recognize-stairway-to-heaven-as-a-instant-classic/933411/84 "2021-02-25T11:46:27Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > So yeah, if you want to make money, IGNORE ME! > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > This was the Foo Fighters’ first hit, and I knew the first time I heard this song, and saw the video, that they were NOT Nirvana v. 2.0. The first song I heard from them was This Is A Call, and I bought the album before I knew it was the drummer from Nirvana. But I didn’t think they’d be huge, and more importantly, the stuff I liked from the album was the stuff that _was_ more like Nirvana like This Is A Call and For All The Cows, which wasn’t the stuff that they did that made them huge. I also mispegged Blink 182, but I came closest in my life to instantly recognizing that a _band_ would become huge. When I first heard _Dammit_ I thought “these guys _should_ become huge, because this is just a really fun song, but unfortunately they’ll be a flash in the pan.” ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2021, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-old-enough-to-remember-rock-radio-in-1971-did-you-recognize-stairway-to-heaven-as-a-instant-classic/933411/85 "2021-03-12T05:44:57Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > Before playing it I’d say something about playing a song that was great music for going to the snack bar. My friend-of-a-friend was a club operator. His DJ’s _had_ to put on non-dancing tracks – because the owner wanted people to spend money at the bar. FWIW, I did not hear Stairway at all in 1971-72. It just wasn’t played on the pop stations here. I think it eventually turned up on the easy listening stations, and spread from there. I did hear Elton John’s “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and immediately recognized it as easily the best thing Elton John had ever done. I’d been off the grid for a while. Learning that it was a cover version was my first intimation that perhaps the Beatles were more than just a manufactured pop group. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2021, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-old-enough-to-remember-rock-radio-in-1971-did-you-recognize-stairway-to-heaven-as-a-instant-classic/933411/86 "2021-03-12T06:33:53Z")
I’m not old enough to remember it from 1971. But I’m old enough to remember it from a few years later from when it was big but not legendary. It’s a long time ago to remember but I’m pretty sure I thought it was going to be legendary from the first time I heard it. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2021, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-old-enough-to-remember-rock-radio-in-1971-did-you-recognize-stairway-to-heaven-as-a-instant-classic/933411/87 "2021-03-12T09:03:11Z")
I’m no expert in Elton John or the Beatles, but I’m 99.9% Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was NOT Elton John and WAS Beatles. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2021, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-old-enough-to-remember-rock-radio-in-1971-did-you-recognize-stairway-to-heaven-as-a-instant-classic/933411/88 "2021-03-12T10:47:09Z")
Elton released a cover of LitSwD which hit #1. ¯\_(ツ)\_/¯ > **[The Number Ones: Elton John’s “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”](https://www.stereogum.com/2048276/the-number-ones-elton-johns-lucy-in-the-sky-with-diamonds/columns/the-number-ones/)** > > In The Number Ones, I’m reviewing every single #1 single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, starting with the chart’s beginning, in 1958, and working my way up into the present. \*\*\* Elton John – “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” HIT #1: January... ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2021, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-old-enough-to-remember-rock-radio-in-1971-did-you-recognize-stairway-to-heaven-as-a-instant-classic/933411/89 "2021-03-12T14:24:35Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > I think it eventually turned up on the easy listening stations, and spread from there. On easy listening stations? That’s interesting. Around here, I can’t imagine Stairway being on those stations. Part of the song, sure, but it gets way too rockin by the end. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2021, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-old-enough-to-remember-rock-radio-in-1971-did-you-recognize-stairway-to-heaven-as-a-instant-classic/933411/90 "2021-03-12T14:51:21Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > As I mentioned earlier, “Stairway” was never released as a 45 rpm single commercially. It did, however, get a promotional release to radio stations in that format. Why, I don’t know, since it was several years old at that point. I seem to recall the record company wanted to release it commercially, despite its age, since it had achieved “classic” status by that time and they probably thought they could squeeze a few more bucks out of it, but that the band had control over it and said no. This may be just legend. Either way, Casey Kasem would not have played it. This appears to clear up some confusion I’ve had reading this thread, regarding whether Stairway was ever released as a single. I had thought it was, because around 1975, a radio station in my hometown held a contest in which listeners mailed in votes for their all-time favorite single, and all-time favorite album cut. **Stairway won both categories.** I remember this vividly: I was just getting a band together, and after this contest, every rock band pretty much _had_ to learn Stairway, or at least attempt it. So, what may have happened: someone at the radio station, having received the promotional copy, assumed that it had at some point been released as a single. So the station included it in the ‘singles’ category of the poll. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2021, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-old-enough-to-remember-rock-radio-in-1971-did-you-recognize-stairway-to-heaven-as-a-instant-classic/933411/91 "2021-03-12T16:46:12Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > I did hear Elton John’s “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and immediately recognized it as easily the best thing Elton John had ever done. Wow. I started listening to Elton John with his eponymous album in 1970. “Your Song” struck me as an instant classic. Yeah, even more so than “Stairway.” Unlike the latter I’ve never gotten tired of listening to it in 50 years. By the time “Lucy” was released as a non-album single, he had done an additional half-dozen major albums. “Lucy” wouldn’t be in the top ten of tracks, IMO. His excesses and overproduction since have retrospectively diminished him. That run of seven albums is among the best in rock history. They’re littered with cuts that weren’t released as singles but are just as great, if not better, than the ones everybody remembers instantly. He seldom gets the credit he deserves. Besides, his Who pastiche, “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” is a better cover than “Lucy.” Even if the Who covered it rather than the other way round. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2021, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-old-enough-to-remember-rock-radio-in-1971-did-you-recognize-stairway-to-heaven-as-a-instant-classic/933411/92 "2021-03-12T17:41:27Z")
I was five when it came out, so obviously not aware of such a concept. Back then, in SoCal anyway, the popular AM station played a mix of genres. The only time I listened to the radio at that age was riding in the car with my family. STH could have been sandwiched between Cher and The Osmonds. I remember finding it strange, and, more than that, boring. I liked poppy, fun songs you could dance and sing along with. Sorry, I know the OP asked about _rock radio_. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2021, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-old-enough-to-remember-rock-radio-in-1971-did-you-recognize-stairway-to-heaven-as-a-instant-classic/933411/93 "2021-03-12T18:36:38Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > His excesses and overproduction since have retrospectively diminished him. That run of seven albums is among the best in rock history. They’re littered with cuts that weren’t released as singles but are just as great, if not better, than the ones everybody remembers instantly. He seldom gets the credit he deserves. Yeah. _Madman Across the Water_, _Tumbleweed Connection_, and _Honky Chateau_ are still extremely listenable. _Goodbye Yellowbrick Road_ was when I stopped listening to Elton John completely and haven’t found a reason to start again. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2021, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-old-enough-to-remember-rock-radio-in-1971-did-you-recognize-stairway-to-heaven-as-a-instant-classic/933411/94 "2021-03-13T08:06:32Z")
That shows what I know about it. It WAS the Beatles first though, yes? Ignorance fought on sir Elton though. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2021, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-old-enough-to-remember-rock-radio-in-1971-did-you-recognize-stairway-to-heaven-as-a-instant-classic/933411/95 "2021-03-27T04:19:47Z")
Eh. It’s okay, but it can’t hold a candle to Green Grass and High Tides. Although In a Gadda Da Vida is still the undisputed champ. …wait, this isn’t the “songs you used to put on repeat in a futile attempt to drown out an incredibly aggravating office environment during that one really crappy job” thread? Sorry, still a bit disoriented from this Moderna vaccine. 😉 Seriously, though, it got regular play on my old classic rock station, and I never thought it was anything special. This actually sounded like one of those deals where it _sounded_ kinda deep and meaningful, and somewhere along the way, for _whatever_ reason, fans decided that it _should_ be deep and meaningful, and, well, fandoms, am I right? It’s nice and mellow, though, and that’s plenty good in my book. Hell, I’d take it over a lot of other songs from the era that I’ve been forced to listen to. Feel pretty much the same about Freebird, BTW. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![larsvsnapster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecb155/32.png) [@larsvsnapster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/larsvsnapster)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-old-enough-to-remember-rock-radio-in-1971-did-you-recognize-stairway-to-heaven-as-a-instant-classic/933411/96 "2021-06-28T05:58:34Z")
I hated it from the moment I heard it and still do. I was familiar with Spirit’s “Taurus” and thought “what a ripoff.” ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-old-enough-to-remember-rock-radio-in-1971-did-you-recognize-stairway-to-heaven-as-a-instant-classic/933411/97 "2021-06-28T09:59:39Z")
Lol …ol ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-old-enough-to-remember-rock-radio-in-1971-did-you-recognize-stairway-to-heaven-as-a-instant-classic/933411/98 "2021-06-28T15:37:52Z")
My “this is gonna be a big hit” moments were spaced years apart: U2’s “Pride (In the Name of Love,” in the mid-80s (on Scott Muni’s show on WNEW New York), and “Get Lucky” in the early 2010s, on some station in Kansas. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-old-enough-to-remember-rock-radio-in-1971-did-you-recognize-stairway-to-heaven-as-a-instant-classic/933411/99 "2021-06-28T15:52:42Z")
The only time I saw Led Zeppelin in concert was in 1972 at a covered rodeo stadium in Woodinville, Washington. Stairway and Immigrant Song were mashed together into a 30 minute encore to end the show. I was 15 at the time. The next day I bought 3 of their first 4 albums and all were played over and over. The volume was always nudged up a bit for STH. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dopers-old-enough-to-remember-rock-radio-in-1971-did-you-recognize-stairway-to-heaven-as-a-instant-classic/933411.md?page=4)