Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 17:02, 7 September 2008

	Stairway to Heaven is a former featured article candidate. Please view the links under Article milestones below to see why the nomination was archived. For older candidates, please check the archive.
Article milestones Date Process Result November 30, 2005 Peer review Reviewed December 4, 2005 Featured article candidate Not promoted
Current status: Former featured article candidate

Led Zeppelin B‑class High‑importance

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Led Zeppelin, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to articles on Led Zeppelin-related topics. If you would like to participate, visit the members page, to join the project.Led ZeppelinWikipedia:WikiProject Led ZeppelinTemplate:WikiProject Led ZeppelinLed Zeppelin B This article has been rated as B-class on Misplaced Pages's content assessment scale. High This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Songs B‑class

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Songs, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of songs on Misplaced Pages. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.SongsWikipedia:WikiProject SongsTemplate:WikiProject Songssong B This article has been rated as B-class on Misplaced Pages's content assessment scale.

Archived discussions

Stairway To Heaven is a christian song!

I know some of you won't believe me, but it's true, you can read about it here: http://www.sunsetwestproductions.com/forever/stairway.htm 9I promise it isn't rickroll) Should that be noted in the article? Orangemango (talk) 03:45, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

That's only one person's interpretation, one of many, and not what we'd regard as a reliable source. --Rodhullandemu 03:48, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

Orangemango go f*** a f***ing bible, you f***ing bible b***er, go f*** around with songs that arent considered the greatest of all time.

Multi-movement suite

Sorry, but I couldn't stand the phrase any more. The main reason is it is not a suite in any musical sense. I have a feeling that it may be quoted (as it is referenced) but I don't see any quotations. Regardless, it makes no sense and is inaccurate so I have replaced it.

Candy (talk) 08:10, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

Accusations of plagiarism

The section "Accusations of plagiarism" contains no mention of any accusations. —Random832 16:53, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

Have changed it to "Musical sources" in the absence of any citations of controversy. --Rodhullandemu (Talk) 17:02, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

Most Played Song

The citation that this is the most played song on the radio is flawed in a few different ways; but most importantly, this citation is from something written in 1991 with seemingly no reason to believe that it is official. Metsfanmax (talk) 00:34, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

It's impossible to verify anyway: which radio, and in which country? Sure, it's always up there in top ten favourite rock tracks, but even these would need citations. --Rodhullandemu (Talk) 00:50, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

Inadvertently, I found a website listing the most played radio songs as of November 2003. —100 Most Played Songs. I didn't see "Stairway to Heaven" listed but perhaps someone else can look more carefully. I won't remove the "most played song" in the article but it seems like it can't be verified so perhaps someone should. I found the article while referencing banned songs and remembered this discussion which somehow evolved into the number of airplays of "Brown Eyed Girl" (?) — (That is my reason for placing this new note at the top of list) Hope this helps. Agadant (talk) 19:46, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

Taken from the article Brown Eyed Girl: Here are some verified totals, it doesn't appear that Stairway to Heaven was on the list of most played by BMI:

In November 2005, Van Morrison was awarded a Million-Air certificate by BMI for reaching 7 million US radio and television airplays for "Brown Eyed Girl".BMI Honors Top European Writers, 2005-11-28 In October 2007, Morrison was awarded another Million-Air certificate by BMI for 8 million air plays of "Brown Eyed Girl". The only song with more airplays was "Every Breath You Take" by The Police with 9 million.2007 BMI London AwardsAgadant (talk) 00:23, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

Something is not quite right with these figures. According to an earlier report from BMI.com http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/232893

Perhaps the key lies in the description "Top European Writers" in the 2007 Awards in London. Agadant (talk) 12:03, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

"BMI today announced the Top 100 Songs of the Century, listing the most played songs on American radio and television. Leading the list is the anthemic "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'," written by Barry Mann, Phil Spector and Cynthia Weil, which recently passed the historic 8 million performance plateau. It was originally recorded by The Righteous Brothers and produced by Spector." This story was from 1999 and note the figure of 8 million. This list makes no mention of either Van Morrison or The Police. I seriously doubt radio stations suddenly stopped playing "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" between 1999 (when this figure was taken) and 2007. MegX (talk) 04:04, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

Actually the complete list does mention EBYT and BEG but not Stairway to Heaven. http://archer2000.tripod.com/sbs/awardsbmi.html. I hope this helps in this discussion of citations for accuracy. I've changed the BEG and EBYT entries to reflect "Top European Writers". 12:03, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

That still does not explain the discrepency of the list figures. One list says one song has 8 million plays, another doesn't say that. If "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" had 8 million radio and television plays you would expect it to appear near the top of the 2007 list but it doesn't rate a single mention anywhere. I would say the figures used are suspect. Songs with that many plays don't disappear like that. MegX (talk) 00:53, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

I thought that was explained by the fact that the 2007 awards in London was for "Top European Writers" of which Sting and Van Morrison were the two highest awarded the Millionaire Certificates for those two songs. I gather there are two BMI member groups- US and Europe. The 1999 list for Songs of the Century is a different thing than the "Millionaire Certificate Awards" & would include all songs by both groups - At least this is what I surmise. - The Wiki articles for "Brown Eyed Girl" and "Every Breath You Take" don't make any claims of having the most or more air plays than all other songs in the world only the exact information as is in the BMI news release for 2007. Agadant (talk) 03:47, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

BMI figures also take into account songs that appear on TV commercials, not just radio. You wouldn't expect "Stairway" to do well in that area as it's not used in any TV commercials. MegX (talk) 02:02, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

I'm almost positive that "Brown Eyed Girl" has not been used in any TV commercials either. I don't know about "Every Breath You Take". Agadant (talk) 02:16, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

"Brown Eyed Girl" was used in TV commercials for Northern Ireland Tourism and also Bud Light. MegX (talk) 02:44, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

Can you tell me where to find references for the song being used on TV commercials. I've never run across this. Agadant (talk) 03:09, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

Fender solo

This is sourced. I will drag the source out when I have time. --Candy (talk) 06:26, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Writer

Ian Stewart (The Rolling Stones) wrote a part of "stairway to heaven" (source: DVD The Rolling Stones - just for the record) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.187.110.1 (talk) 21:14, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

banned from radio airplay

i heard years ago that the song had disappeared from radio airplay in the US, because this one radio conglomerate which owns a very large number of local stations throughout the country had "recommended" that it not be played, but i don't recall grasping the reason why. Reading this article makes me think that it must've been due to the backmasking controversy (which i didn't know of). So here goes:

1. Did this airplay blacklisting really happen? i've failed to find anything in here.
2. If so, did it end? Is the song to be heard again? (i don't listen to rock radio any longer)

--Jerome Potts (talk) 04:13, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

Highly unlikely. We have no reliable sources on it's ban. Doc StrangeLogbook 18:49, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

I think the person is referring to the Clear Channel memo listing inapproriate songs to be played after 9/11, which somehow got blown out of all proportions by some indepedent media blogs. The network claimed it was a suggestion list, which most stations never enforced or ignored. See Snopes website here for details MegX (talk) 03:23, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

backmasking controversy

Can we keep the silly "lyrics" samples to a strict minimum, while mentioning that there are several differing versions of the said "message" (and sourcing all of that, providing pointers to the inquiring minds who wanna know)?
--Jerome Potts (talk) 10:20, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

 Done Λυδαcιτγ 05:33, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

Thank you. --Jerome Potts (talk) 06:45, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

The puritanism described in the backmasking section should be removed. This is a disgrace to wikipedia. Miskin (talk) 12:55, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:The-Money-or-the-Gun.jpg

Image:The-Money-or-the-Gun.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Misplaced Pages article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Misplaced Pages:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Misplaced Pages policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 02:51, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

There's a lady is sure (sic) ...please do not "correct"

The lyrics are very clear in the recorded album version. However, this quote is correct. Please refer to history (Nov/Dec 2006) to see why this is so.

So, do not correct the quote even though your grammatical or lyrically attuned senses may wish to.

I hope that clears this up ... --Candy (talk) 19:29, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

genre

Trying to split hairs on what "genre" (actually sub-genre) this song is becomes, almost by definition, a matter of personal opinion or independent research. It's a rock song, in some ways a genre-defining one, and retroactively trying to assign it a sub-category is invalid.Jgm (talk) 00:50, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

backmasked "section"?

I've seen it claimed (for example, here and here) that the whole song contains Satanic lyrics backwards. Is this claim sufficiently widespread to merit inclusion in the Misplaced Pages article? I note that the two videos linked have almost two million hits between them, there are more where they come from, and YouTube surely isn't the only place where this is discussed. Capedia (talk) 02:13, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

As a sidenote, this isn't really about backmasking, which is a technique of recording something, then reversing the recording for playback. This technique was clearly not used (which you can tell from the unnatural sounds you hear when playing the recording backwards), and I don't think anybody is actually claiming that the song, or any part of the song, was recorded backwards. What people seem to claiming is that the lyrics (or perhaps the combination of lyrics and music) were written in such a way that they have another meaning when played backwards. I think this section of the article should be rewritten to correct this terminological error. Capedia (talk) 02:32, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

I agree Capedia. This is about the song not backmasking in general. --Candy (talk) 09:51, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

"Carolan's Dream" by Turlough O'Carolan

My understanding is that the main melody of "Stairway to Heaven" is derived from Turlough O'Carolan's tune called "Carolan's Dream". Turlough O'Carolan was a blind Irish harp player who lived from 1670-1738. Search for "Carolan's Dream" on YouTube if you would like to hear it. Matagamasi (talk) 02:47, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

For us to make this connection would be original research, which is not permitted. If a reliable source has pointed out the similarity, it can be mentioned in the article. --Rodhullandemu 14:26, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Backmasking Controversy Lyrics

"The one who's little path would make me suffer who's power is satan" "There was a little toolshed where he made us suffer, sad satan"

These could be "The one who's little path would make me sad who's power is faith" (Possibly because the road to heaven is narrow and straight, and you have to sacrifice your worldly pleasures and sins to follow in the way of Jesus Christ, while road to hell is wide and easy)

"And all the evil little fools will know he made us suffer sadly" (Sounds much more like this, Not sure what this means but Robert Plant did dabble in the occult and the works of Aleister Crowley) Dangerousd777 (talk) 18:34, 1 September 2008 (UTC)Dangerousd777

Any of this would need a reliable source, because otherwise it's original research, which is not permitted here. Can you cite a source for any of these? --Rodhullandemu 18:38, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

Folk rock?

"Stairway To Heaven" sounds more folk than it really does rock, though could this song be considered folk rock?

Ожиданиесчастья (talk) 03:55, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

At the beginning, perhaps. Not really at the end. Has a reliable source ever described it as folk rock? --Rodhullandemu 04:07, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

Yes, the beginning of the song. When you combine "folk" with "rock", you pretty much have a combination of folk music with rock music, and that is what "Stairway To Heaven" is, celtic-sounding folk infused in hard rock.

Ожиданиесчастья (talk) 06:43, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, I've written for most of the Fairport Convention and Sandy Denny articles, so I know what folk rock is, and it's not necessarily celtic. The issue here is one of original research; whatever we think is the genre of a song is irrelevant, as it would need to be described as such by a reliable source such as Allmusic, and cited. --Rodhullandemu 15:12, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

• Old requests for peer review
• B-Class Led Zeppelin articles
• High-importance Led Zeppelin articles
• WikiProject Led Zeppelin articles
• B-Class song articles