I don't like to be told what I will like.
Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin is one of those songs that, if you are a fan of classic rock (like, old) you are told to fall down in front of and worship.
Never gonna happen. I will make up my own mind thanks.
But the real problem is, when I get told that something is so unsurpassed in fantasticness, when it is the best ballad ever, when I must be a twat to not just stop dead in my tracks and go misty eyed when I here it, I just feel those odd muscle things under your arms on your back start to tense up ready for a ruck!
Fuck you! these are my ears and I will decide what is good thank you very much.
Yes, after years of sitting with stoned people in squats and houses devoid of parents due to holidays, in those drunk and happy hours after the club shuts but before the sun comes up and you have to go home, listening to all the ballady wibble from LZ as people lay around going "oh maaaaaaaaaaaaan" I took against that part of Led Zeps output, and that song in particular.
Why not, I thought, play something that is going to get all these lovely girls up dancing - or at least keep them awake enough so we can all talk!
but no. Lets all slump in heaps and listen to Stairway to fucking heaven.
My position on this has mellowed over the years. I even - god forbid - found myself playing a bit of it once. But I still (just out of devilry) refuse to learn it all. Just so I can say, when anyone asked (and with pride) "No, I can't play Stairway to fucking boredom!"
Bloody minded. That'll be me.
In other LZ related news, after knocking a crowd in a pub bandy with our double whammy of a perfectly played "Black Dog" followed by "Rock N roll" a chap (in a fucking cardigan fercrissakes!) came up and asked me if our band could play "Over the hills and far away" - I just had to do it "No mate, we only have 10ft long leads"
Llwnt!
