The Led Zeppelin Hit Song That Robert Plant Hates
Throughout their musical career, Led Zeppelin accomplished many impressive milestones, capturing the attention of fans across the globe. Led Zeppelin is known worldwide as one of the most iconic rock bands in history, with a unique discography containing over 45 songs across eight studio albums. The English rock band consisted of Jimmy Page, John Bonham, John Paul Jones, and Robert Plant.
Plant was responsible for some of the band's best work, including writing the lyrics for hits like "Heartbreaker," "Kashmir," "Going to California," and more. However, the guys from the band weren't always proud or fond of all of Led Zeppelin's songs. For example, while Plant was obviously a fan of their 1979 single "All My Love," Jimmy Page had a different opinion of the song. According to Far Out Magazine, the guitarist felt that it just didn't fit the rock band's hard style. "I could just imagine people doing the wave and all of that," he said. "And I thought, 'That is not us. That is not us.'" But ultimately, he didn't put up too much of a fuss, because he knew about the awful incident that inspired "All My Love" and that it was dear to Robert Plant's heart. "In its place it was fine," Page said, "but I would not have wanted to pursue that direction in the future." For his part, there's one Zeppelin song, in particular that Robert Plant has publicly said he dislikes, and it just might surprise you which one it is.
Stairway to Heaven: 'That wedding song'
Any Zeppelin fan can understand Plant's problem with "Stairway to Heaven." Just like Radiohead with "Creep," huge bands tend to end up hating the song that goes on to define them in the popular culture. Plant and Page co-wrote the song, which was released in 1971 on the album "Led Zeppelin IV," and even though it's widely considered one of the greatest rock and roll songs of all time, Plant said he hated it because he got sick and tired of playing it over the years. "I'd break out in hives if I had to sing that song in every show," Plant told the Los Angeles Times in a 1988 interview.
According to Vanity Fair, Plant has called it "that bloody wedding song." He has actually refused to play it live since the 1980s, and even went so far as to donate $1,000 to a public radio station in Portland in 2002 after he heard the DJ say he would never play the song again if they got enough donations, according to The Oregonian.
However, most would have to disagree with Plant when it comes to "Stairway to Heaven." The song is an eight-minute-long number with an impressive guitar solo that Rolling Stone once called "a furious Page solo that storms heaven's gate." It never reached popularity on Billboard charts, but it does have the title as the most played rock song of all time, even if Plant no longer likes to play it.
Plant's least favorite Led Zeppelin song came back to haunt him
Ironically, after decades of despising the song, "Stairway to Heaven" came back to haunt Robert Plant in a big way. As the BBC reports, Led Zeppelin was sued in 2014 for copyright infringement. The case, originally brought by journalist Michael Skidmore, claimed that Zeppelin had filched the song's main riff from the song "Taurus" by a much less popular American band from the 1960s called Spirit. After first winning the case in 2016, then an appeal in 2018, it wasn't until October 2020 that the U.S. Supreme Court declined to see the case, effectively putting the kibosh on Spirit's beef with Zeppelin, legally speaking, at least. Musicologists testified that the descending pattern that makes the songs sound similar has been used by musicians for centuries.
So what was Spirit's story? Lawyers for the plaintiff claimed that Plant heard Spirit play the song at a club in Birmingham, England, way back in 1970. Spirit bassist Mark Andes testified at the original trial that he met the world-famous singer that night, and the two even played a friendly game of snooker after the show. Plant argued that he had no recollection of seeing Spirit, meeting Andes, or playing bar games with him — a valid case for a lead singer in a wildly popular rock band from the hedonistic '60s. But Plant actually has a better reason for not remembering that night. He suffered a head injury in a terrible car crash on the way home. For his part, Page said the Spirit song was "totally alien" to him.