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One of the "Greatest Songs of the '70s," and of ALL TIME was never released as a single.
It was recorded in 1971, and thanks to radio airplay on Album Oriented Rock (AOR) stations, it was already legendary by 1973. By the year 2000, it had been played on the radio an estimated 3 MILLION times!
I can tell you that when I was working at WOHO/Toledo in the Mid-70s--a Top 40 station--it was, by far, our most requested song the entire time I was there, and it wasn't even part of our format!
Was it progressive rock? Folk rock? Hard Rock? Most musicologists agree that due to its unique 5-part structure, (Renaissance-style Intro, Electric Middle, Guitar Solo, Hard Rock Finale, Vocal Epilogue), it was all 3...and more!
Accolades? How about these: Rolling Stone Magazine ranks it at #31 on their "Greatest Songs of All Time" list...Guitar World rates Jimmy Page's guitar solo as the best in Rock & Roll history...and the sheet music is the biggest seller in the Rock era!
So why wasn't it released as a single? Marketing! Page claims the band decided they'd make more money if fans had to buy the album (Led Zeppelin IV) to get the song. They were right! (TRIVIA: Promotional singles were issued, but ONLY to radio stations, and never made available to the public.
URBAN LEGEND: Some people claimed if you played the song backwards, it contained Satanic messages. The record label, the recording engineer, and the band all said it was a "load of rubbish." Robert Plant summed it up: "To me it's very sad, because 'Stairway to Heaven' was written with every best intention, and as far as reversing tapes and putting messages on the end, that's not my idea of making music."
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