The band U2 performed the legendary hit "Stairway To Heaven"
Содержание
"Stairway To Heaven" is a legendary rock hit for all time, recorded and released by Led Zeppelin in 1971. The composition was written by the maestros of the rock scene - Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. The song became the jewel of the band's untitled fourth album, which fans used to call simply "Led Zeppelin IV". Today, influential music publications and critics call "Stairway To Heaven" the most popular rock song in history! And it's hard to argue with that, considering the countless number of cover versions of this hit... The no less famous rock band from Dublin U2 also presented their version! Today we are going to talk about them...
A little about the song...
From the very beginning, listeners noticed a remarkable similarity between "Stairway To Heaven" and... "Taurus" by the rock band Spirit, which was released in the late 1960s. It's all about the similar (even too similar) opening guitar arpeggios... In 2014 Led Zeppelin was even sued for copyright infringement! In general - this is a completely separate and very long story. It's worth noting that the court ruled in favour of Led Zeppelin....
As especially attentive listeners may have already noticed, "Stairway To Heaven" consists of three parts. And if the beginning of the composition is measured guitars and tape recorders, its final part is already a hard rock arrangement emphasised by Page's guitar solo (which, by the way, is considered to be one of the greatest in history...).
In 2003, VH1 awarded "Stairway To Heaven" the third place in the list of "100 Greatest Rock Songs of All Time"! As for the famous Rolling Stone magazine's list, this song was in the top 50 of 500... In the seventies "Stairway To Heaven" was the most requested song on American radio! And that's considering the fact that it was never released as a single there... That's what a true masterpiece means.....
U2's version!
According to official data, the song with the most covers in the world is the Beatles' "Yesterday". Though it's not clear which covers were taken into account, because nobody will know if this song is played in a snowy village of vast Siberian expanses... And if "Stairway To Heaven" lags behind "Yesterday", then apparently not much, because many young guys started their way into the world called "Rock Guitar" just from these opening chords.... And "Stairway to Heaven" apparently never gets too far behind the guitarists (after all, there's a reason why many music shops have a No Stairway sign hanging up).
It's interesting to note that despite this, this is the moment when everything changes for the Led Zeppelin classic - one of the major classic rock songs has once again become a favourite for performers of all stripes! In fact, countless covers of "Stairway To Heaven" have been recorded - Frank Zappa, Dolly Parton, The Foo Fighters and many, many others have contributed their versions... And among those sound artists were U2! Bono and The Edge put their own twist on this tune... Bono and The Edge showed their gratitude and respect to their long-time touring band with a shortened acoustic version of the song.
"The Irish road crew is the best in the world," Bono begins. But, he continues, "there's one unpleasant aspect of this Irish team that needs to be mentioned. Wherever we are on the planet, wherever we're playing - whether it's Olympia or 3 Arena or Madison Square Garden - we walk into the venue and we hear a song that they're tuning out, and it's a song that we once said, "We're never going to play it!" Yes, that's right, Stairway to Heaven... "These sound professionals think they play better than their band. And you know... maybe it's true!" - Bono flattered his team.
Bono never hid the fact that many years ago he and Edge gave each other their word that they would never play this song... However, in 2020 the musicians' decision changed dramatically! In Instagram of the band U2 suddenly appeared a video, the main characters of which - Bono and Edge - perform "Stairway To Heaven" (or rather its fragment)! What made them change their decision?
The full-length cover version was performed in mid-summer 2020, as part of the Songs From an Empty Room charity project. As Bono himself explained:
"We dedicated this song to the technical staff who lost their source of profit overnight, as well as to all those who suffer from coronavirus infection... And now it's not just about concert organisers, entrepreneurs, club workers and the like... It's about listeners and just ordinary people...."
It is worth adding that the rock band, formed in 1976, was included in Rolling Stone magazine's "Greatest Artists of All Time" list in 2004: U2 was ranked 22nd out of 100... A year later, the rock band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Conclusion...
For many years listeners have been wondering: is there really a hidden meaning in "Stairway To Heaven"? Yes, we are talking about the very "mythical message", which supposedly can be heard by playing the record backwards... The legend arose because of Jimmy Page's love for all kinds of demonic teachings... Robert Plant commented on this rumour as follows:
"This legend made me very upset... This song was written under the impression of very light and kind feelings... When I first heard it, I was dumbfounded!"
It is commonly believed that "Stairway To Heaven" was first performed in March 1971 in Belfast, and the public received it rather coldly... But Page claims that the track was played before that at the LA Forum (an indoor arena in Inglewood), and the audience, according to him, was simply delighted... Anyway, today "Stairway To Heaven" is considered an exemplary classic, which not only wants to talk about: you want to perform it... And even U2, who had vowed never to touch the piece, couldn't resist its charm....
