Legendary Rock Star, 76, Says He ‘Loathed' One of His Band's Most Iconic Songs
While 'Stairway to Heaven' might be one of the most iconic rock songs of all time, at least one member of Led Zeppelin dreaded playing it – Robert Plant.
'I truly loathed it,' Plant told Far Out Magazine. 'When we used to rehearse, we'd perform 'Stairway' as a reggae tune because [Jimmy] Page could never get me to sing it otherwise.'
This wasn't the first time the legendary rock vocalist had expressed his disdain for the song. It's been one of his least favorites for decades.
'I'd break out in hives if I had to sing it every show,' Plant told The Los Angeles Times in 1988. 'I wrote those lyrics and found that song to be of some importance and consequence in 1971, but 17 years later, I don't know. It's just not for me. No more 'Stairway to Heaven' for me."
Plant avoided performing the song for years, but in 2023, while promoting his tour with Alison Krauss, he revisited it and later called the experience 'cathartic.'
"People go, 'Oh, that's good. He never was going to do that,'' the veteran rocker said during an interview with Rolling Stone in 2024. "But I didn't really do it! I just blurted it out. 'Cause it's such an important song to me for where I was at the time and where I was with Jimmy and with John [Paul Jones] and Bonzo [John Bonham]. So on that night, it was what it was. It was a trial by fire, but I felt better at the end than at the beginning."
Not everyone hated the tune, however. Jones said that he 'actually liked Stairway,' in an interview published in Classic Rock Stories.
'I know that's really corny, but it encompasses a lot of the elements of the band,' Jones explained. 'From the acoustic start to the slightly jazzier section, even, and then to the heavier stuff towards the end.'
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Legendary Rock Star, 76, Says He 'Loathed' One of His Band's Most Iconic Songs first appeared on Parade on Jul 15, 2025
This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 15, 2025, where it first appeared.
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