Steps and Stairs: "No Stairway. Denied!"

So, wait: we're doing a "steps and stairs" themed set here and no one's gonna talk about the most obvious choice there is? Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven"?

Yeah, I get it--I wouldn't write about it, either. Given that the song is one of the biggest epics in the history of rock 'n roll, and growing up I think I heard it more than any other song, by many, many listens,  it's odd that "Stairway" has such an odious reputation.

Perhaps, as this great piece from GQ elucidates, we all hate "Stairway" because, like "Smoke on the Water", "Back in Black" or "Iron Man", it's the first song anyone learns to play and thus, not only did rock radio run the track on a near non-stop loop, every kid we've ever known who plays the guitar started by playing "Stairway" (well, the opening riff, at least). And made you listen as he fumbled and plucked his way through it. Over and over.

Or maybe, we just got tired of it, despite Led Zeppelin's best efforts to keep their music from being overexposed and overused. Zeppelin are famous for refusing licensing of their music, and from what I can recall, Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous and Jack Black's School Of Rock are but a tiny handful of films to feature a Zep tune. I suppose it's a question of integrity. Which is fine. Nothing wrong with trying to preserve the sacred in your artwork. This makes sense when you think about this: perhaps the band's greatest, or at least most monumental song is also their most maligned. I mean, we haven't reached "Mmmmbop" or "Boyfriend" levels of hatred, but if there is one joke about Led Zeppelin that persists, it's the "No Stairway" one. I know growing up, it was an absolute staple of the FM rock stations I listened to, and I easily heard it once a day, for many years in a row.  So, Led Zeppelin has tried to maintain some control where they can. The surviving  band members charge a lot of money to use their songs in movies (somewhere in the seven figures), if they relent at all, and have only recently been loosening up and allowing their music to be used. Hence, the famous little easter egg story of where I took the title of this post from: when Wayne goes to play "Stairway" in a scene from Wayne's World, the filmmakers were not allowed to use the actual song. They were allowed to use about three notes before they were in violation of the copyright, so what Wayne (Mike Myers) actually plays is in no way "Stairway." Yet, the scene illustrates the point: people love the song, but never really want to hear it again.

But, what I find funny is this: for as much ill will that  "Stairway" generates, it really is epic--I'd bet it's often the first "blow your mind" rock track young kids hear, and I'd bet on the odds that "Stairway" has been a stadium's worth of fans gateway song to a lifetime of rock music addiction. And it has the power and the majesty to continue to amaze those who are just coming to rock music. So, like anything we love and overuse, "Stairway to Heaven" will always be a song whose value and worth remain high, though the song itself will maintain a quiet presence. Dust it off every few years, but for the most part, let it rest.

RUSSIA/UKRAINE : THE CRIMEA - WHITE RUSSIAN GALAXY

Enlivened by the extension of this theme a further week, I decided to investigate a truism, at least on this side of the sea, that being that you can add "the" to literally anything, and come up with the name of a british indie band. (Add an incongruous adjective and you have an american garage band of the 60s). So into google I go and, lo and behold, not only is there a group called the Crimea, but they also produced a song called "White Russian Galaxy"! How cool is that? Here it is. It is even quite good, with a lively video, somehow a cross between, visually, Low and, bizarrely, the heads rocking part of Boho Rhapsody, which, seeing as I dislike Queen muchly, I will show only in parody. Sonically, of course, it is like neither, but has a certain minor charm. I would love them if I had bought this as a single in 1986. Unfortunately it came out in 2003. But ignore my faint damnations, it's OK. Really.

Buy it here

Reading about them, it seems they managed a good 10 years of, broadly, disinterest, outwith the support of maverick british DJ, John Peel, champion of the unwashed and unsustainable. They had a brief major label surge in 2005, following appearances at the SXSW. 3 well applauded singles, including the one showcased above, and a solitary album came out before Warner Bros dropped them, a year later. So much for nurturing promise and talent. However, undogged, the band put out a 2nd disc as a free download. And it is still available, here , at the same price. I know, 'cos I did it last week. It shows some progression from the more frantic earlier songs. And, to continue a russian theme, the original download version had Regina Spektor, spooky soviet goth chanteuse, on spoken interludes. (The current link is one re-recorded for better sound quality, it seems.)

A final release came out last year, the day before they announced they were calling it a day. Somehow I can see them as being rediscovered, 20 years hence, as there becomes an outpouring of all the other "the" bands of that day. Maybe if "Nuggets" celebrated the lost american 60s garagebands, this future retrospective could be called "The Nuggets."