Jimmy Page’s guitar solo in the Led Zeppelin song “Stairway to Heaven” (1971) was voted the best of all time in a poll. Critics, musicians and readers took part in the “Classic Rock Magazine” vote.
However, there were also dissenting voices. Jimmy Page himself noted – or deliberately stated – that this was not his best performance. But he’s still happy. That’s what he told him Classic Rock Magazine:
“Stairway To Heaven” is “damn good,” but not the best
“Is ‘Stairway To Heaven’ my best guitar solo? No, but it’s damn good. […] Anyway, I just said, ‘roll it’, took a deep breath and […] started. I only had a few attempts because back then there weren’t as many options as there are today. […]
“You might save three songs for a guitar solo, which meant you only had two or three attempts at a time to get the solo where the vocals weren’t.”
Page added: “If everyone else says it’s my best solo, that’s good, but there are others that I prefer.” Which might the guitarist mean? He remained silent about this.
“Stairway To Heaven” has already caused a stir several times this year due to a plagiarism dispute. More about that here.
Challenges?
When asked which solo caused him problems, Page answered with “Achilles’ Last Stand”: “I really challenged myself to do that on stage with a guitar.”
Led Zeppelin is followed in second place by Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb”. Also in the top 10 are “Hotel California” by the Eagles, Jimi Hendrix’ “All Along The Watchtower” and “Purple Rain” by Prince.
Here is the list of the top 10
- Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin – Stairway To Heaven
- David Gilmour/Pink Floyd – Comfortably Numb
- Don Felder and Joe Walsh/Eagles – Hotel California
- Allen Collins/Lynyrd Skynyrd – Freebird
- Jimi Hendrix/The Jimi Hendrix Experience – All Along The Watchtower
- Eddie Van Halen/Van Halen – Eruption
- Brian May/Queen – Killer Queen
- Slash/GN’R – Sweet Child O’ Mine
- Prince/Prince And The Revolution – Purple Rain
- Tony Iommi/Black Sabbath – Paranoid