It’s such a cliché that back in college while joining my manic-guitar-playing friend Jeff into a musical instrument store, I have personally seen “No Stairway” posted.
Led Zeppelin is, after U2, my All Time Favorite Band. Yet, I haven’t listened to Stairway all the way through in about 10 years.
Dave Grohl, the leader of the Foo Fighters and Nirvana’s former drummer, has always been a Zeppelin fan.
I really admire him:
1) He is established enough in his career that he can play live with Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. In June, the Foo Fighters played a show at Wembley Stadium, joined by Page and Jones for the Zeppelin tunes Rock and Roll and Ramble On. According to this and other articles, Grohl says, “"Welcome to the greatest day of my whole entire life."
2) He is respected enough that he can play Stairway to Heaven live on Craig Kilborn, making fun of his presentation just enough that the audience knows that it’s cheezy, but playing it seriously enough to agree with the audience that the song should be granted reverence, no matter how overplayed it is.
Here are Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins covering Stairway To Heaven. Enjoy.
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Update:
I did an further mention of ideas from this post here.
