When it comes to performing a cover, some will argue it is better when an artist takes the song completely out of its genre and ventures to do something spectacular with it. That is, of course, if you are not talking about “Stairway to Heaven” from Led Zeppelin.
So how do you pay tribute to the most influential rock band in history? Well, easy: You let the best female rock singer ever to perform next to Jason Bonham on drums and wearing a Clockwork Orange bowler hat --just like his father -- and to top it all, you bring out a small orchestra and a choir and simply play the greatest rock song of all time hitting every f*** note just right.
This is exactly what happened on December 2, 2012 at the Opera House in the Kennedy Center, Washington, DC. The tribute rendition offered by Ann & Nancy Wilson from the band Heart, not only sounded like the original but, most importantly, transported the three living band members (Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones) through an emotional journey; so much so that it even made Robert Plant cry.
Now, if you don’t think this is significant, consider that in 2002 this man paid a radio station $10,000 to never play the song again and repeatedly disavowed "Stairway to Heaven" dubbing it as “that bloody wedding song” and demanded the song not to be played as a finale in a one-off concert in London. Want to learn more? In 2013, OnStage Magazine wrote a nice article on the occasion, Read more about it here…
At Kurrent Music, we simply could not pass up the opportunity to own a piece of this passionate, insightful and graceful moment that reminded us the words of Erik Davis, a social historian and cultural critic, who stated that even though we are all sick of the thing, “Stairway to Heaven” is not just number one. It is THE ONE! The quintessence, the closest AOR will ever get you to the absolute.
For those of you reading this article from a mobile device you can see the video here.
Finally, I leave you to some interesting rankings and facts about Stairway to Heaven (source Wikipedia)
Rolling Stone magazine put it at number 31 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time"Guitar World magazine rated Jimmy Page's guitar solo at number one in the publication's 100 Greatest Guitar Solos in Rock and Roll History.The New York City-based classic rock radio station Q104.3 has ranked "Stairway to Heaven" no. 1 on their annual "Top 1,043 Classic Rock Songs of All Time" for 14 years straight!As of 2000, the song had been broadcast on radio over three million times.In 1990 a St Petersburg, Florida station kicked off its all-Led Zeppelin format by playing "Stairway to Heaven" for 24 hours straight.“Stairway to Heaven” is also the biggest-selling single piece of sheet music in rock history, clocking up an average of 15,000 copies yearly. In total, over one million copies have been sold.
