DBWI: Stairway to Heaven not released as a single in 1972?

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the release of the Led Zeppelin song "Stairway to Heaven", which is undoubtedly their magnum opus and biggest hit record of their career.

The song was released as a single in January 1972 in the UK, two months after the release of their Led Zeppelin IV album. A week later the song reached number 1 in the UK and stayed there for 9 weeks. In the US, "Stairway to Heaven" would spend a record 15 weeks at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, drop to number 2 where it spent 2 weeks and climbed back to the top where it stayed for 5 more weeks for a total of a record 20 weeks at number 1. The song would also be the most played record on American FM radio. The Led Zeppelin IV album would sell nearly 40 million copies worldwide (15 million in the USA).

The success of the song resulted in Led Zeppelin taking home 4 Grammy awards: Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Group. The song also went to number 1 in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and almost every country in Western Europe.

The success of "Stairway to Heaven" increased Led Zeppelin's popularity into the 1980s. The band had two more number 1 songs and 5 other Top 10 hits in the US. Their next three albums also went to number 1 in the US. Led Zeppelin played its final concert in 1985 at Wembley Stadium during Live Aid.

Robert Plant would go on to have a successful solo recording career. Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones would have successful careers as songwriters and producers. John Bonham checked himself into the Betty Ford clinic to treat his alcoholism and lived a quiet life with his family at his 13th century English country home until his death from liver cancer on January 5, 2003.

During a recent interview with the BBC, Robert Plant stated that the band was this close to deciding against a single release of “Stairway to Heaven” but they overruled their manager and the rest is history.

Suppose Led Zeppelin decided not to release the song as a single.

Would the song still be as successful and would their album still match its sales success. And would other recording artists still record their renditions of the song? IOTL, KISS recorded the song in 1988 and went to number 2 in the US, number 1 in Australia, and number 5 in the UK. Robin Gibb’s version was the B side of his 1984 release “Boys Do Fall in Love” and went to number 1 in the UK and Ireland in 2003, just weeks after his twin brother Maurice’s death. Last year, Pink took her version of the song to number 1 in the US and Canada (ironically, John Bonham’s son Jason co-produced that song and played drums on the record while Steven Gibb, Robin's nephew, played the guitar solo).
 
Well it was amazing that Stairway to Heaven got released as a single. The damn thing is 8 minutes long. Nobody on the radio at that time, at least in the US AM market, played songs that long. Even more amazing, even with it being such an impressive song, that it got enough airplay to make the Top 20, let alone #1.

A more hard headed, "realistic", marketing choice for a single from the album would have been 'Going to California'. Its a radio playable 3 and a half minutes. Its title plays right into the US market. And while also a truely excellent song, no way it, or any other song, would have matched Stairway's popularity.


As far as how a different single would have impacted Zep IV's lifecycle .... I'm going to have to say the difference would not have been that great. Stairway is still on the album. Stairway would still become lots of people's favorite Zep song. The album would still go nth Platinum in sales. Just nth minus one or two without a Stairway single.

Do they win any grammies? Hard to say. Probably the 'Concert for Bangla desh' wins something as the feel good cause with superstar support. But who really cares who would have won those grammies, their voting is screwed up and always 10 years behind the times. Hell, something that was nice but turned a bit insipid over the years like Roberta Flack's 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' might have won the Best Record/Song of the Year.

Long term consequences? Hard to say. What if Zep was ever so slightly less popular. Nothing obvious leaps to mind. Just the rythmes and chaos theory of life manipulating each of the four ever so slightly. Someone steps in front of a bus. One of them gets in a car accident and breaks a hand really bad so they can't perform their instrument on stage. Page never kicks his heroin habit and dies from an overdose in the early 80s. It would all be a Misty Mountain Hop to figure out what might have changed.
 
And would other recording artists still record their renditions of the song? IOTL, KISS recorded the song in 1988 and went to number 2 in the US, number 1 in Australia, and number 5 in the UK. Robin Gibb’s version was the B side of his 1984 release “Boys Do Fall in Love” and went to number 1 in the UK and Ireland in 2003, just weeks after his twin brother Maurice’s death. Last year, Pink took her version of the song to number 1 in the US and Canada (ironically, John Bonham’s son Jason co-produced that song and played drums on the record while Steven Gibb, Robin's nephew, played the guitar solo).
Don't forget the Rolf Harris version! :cool:
 

Hoist40

Banned
I have heard DJ's mention that they liked to play Stairway to Heaven since it allowed them time for a smoke or bathroom break. The short songs prior to the computerized play systems keep them tied to the inside of the studio.
 
Well it was amazing that Stairway to Heaven got released as a single. The damn thing is 8 minutes long. Nobody on the radio at that time, at least in the US AM market, played songs that long.


The 70s saw a lot of long singles: Free Bird, Bohemian Rhapsody, and Hotel California come to mind, but Stairway to Heaven was first.

Regards

R
 
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