Robert Plant Hated ‘Stairway To Heaven’

Thom Yorke hated Creep. Kurt Cobain got sick of Smells Like Teen Spirit. Elton John came to resent Crocodile Rock. Lorde isn’t so enamoured with Royals.

Throughout music history, numerous artists have ended up despising their biggest hits, and Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant is no exception.

As Far Out Magazine recalls, Plant hated Stairway To Heaven, with its eight-minute runtime, wailing vocals and key changes. Released in 1971, the track has stood the test of time, landing at #3 on VH1’s 2000 list of 100 Greatest Rock Songs and #31 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time roundup.

In 2023, it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry. Certified platinum in the UK, Spain, and Denmark, as well as double platinum in Italy and four times platinum in New Zealand, the song reached over 1.7 million units sold in the US in 2021.

Despite its success and becoming an anthem among fans, Robert Plant doesn’t feel the hype. Remembering the early days of working on the song, Plant told Classic Rock Stories, “I truly loathed it. When we used to rehearse, we’d perform ‘Stairway’ as a reggae tune because [Jimmy] Page could never get me to sing it otherwise.”

In a 2019 interview, he admitted that the actual construction of Stairway To Heaven was impressive, but he couldn’t relate to it.

“The construction of the song, the actual musical construction, is very good,” he said. “It’s one of those moments that really can stand without a vocal, and, in fact, it will stand again without a vocal, I’m sure, because it’s a fine piece of music.

“Lyrically, now, I can’t relate to it, because it was so long ago. I would have no intention ever to write along those abstract lines anymore.”

In 2002, he openly expressed his dislike for Stairway To Heaven when he revealed that he had once donated $10,000 to a radio station to persuade them to stop playing the track.

“KBOO had this amazing music,” Plant told NPR in 2002. “It was kind of a mixture of sad outtakes of doo-wop and a very droll DJ, who sounded like somebody from Marin County in 1967. I thought, ‘This is great. I gotta pull over and listen to this.’”

Putting his money where his mouth was, he added: “The guy came on saying they were looking for sponsorships, and if people did that, KBOO would promise never to play ‘Stairway To Heaven.’ So, I called him up and pledged my money. I was one of the KBOO sponsors.”

Plant’s Led Zeppelin bandmates, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones, have both sung the praises of Stairway To Heaven.