Justin favorite rock songs and i don’t

Justin Vuong Growing up my household wasn’t the most musical; my parents came from Vietnam and didn’t know too much about American music. But my dad did sometimes listen to Rock and Jazz music with one of the first songs he showed me being “ Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin and it instantly mesmerized me. An eight-minute song that is considered one of the greatest to be released during the 1970s, the slow guitar plucking in the beginning later joined by the flute, which leads into Jimmy Page’s epic guitar solo captivates the listener. Listening to music was also an opportunity to bond with my dad since he was usually busy with work most of the time, but I always enjoyed listening to the couple of songs that my dad played on the CD player. I caught myself constantly humming the tune which evolved into my interest of being able to play it. “ Stairway to Heaven” became the reason I started learning guitar.

Once I had learned how to play the song my interest in guitar slowly faded, but my love for the song never left. “ Stairway to Heaven” is one of my favorite rock songs and I don’t think any song will ever replace it. There’s something in the way that Jimmy Page played the guitar and the slow, but sure escalation of the song that fully resonates with my mind, but the most important part of the song that still captures my attention every time I hear it play is the first couple notes on the guitar. To this day I’m still not tired of listening to “ Stairway to Heaven.” Led Zeppelin is known as one of the most influential rock bands and “ Stairway to Heaven” is considered to be what cemented the groups’ fame. To this day “ Stairway to Heaven” still holds up as one of the greatest rock songs, placing on multiple charts decades later such as Rolling Stone’s “ 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time” ranking eighth in 2008. When the song blew up Page didn’t expect it to ascend to the fame that it did, but he ” knew it was the gem of the album.” The song itself represented the musical goal that Jimmy Page said he wanted for Led Zeppelin songs, encompassing both “ light and shade”.

Starting out lightly with just a guitar and flute the song progresses into a darker song at the end with drums and heavier electric guitar playing. “ Stairway to Heaven” was seen as milestone for the band, something that “ had everything there and showed the band at its best.” (Jimmy Page) Of course with the success, backlash followed calling the song overrated or even more controversial many said if you played the song backwards there are apparently satanic messages within the song such as “ Here’s to my sweet Satan.” But even this controversy provided more attention to the song which only added onto its popularity.  Moving to the actual lyrics of the song, there seems to be no solid meaning behind the lyrics because they are so abstract. Robert Plant does have an interpretation of the first verse where there’s a woman who is materialistic or per Plant’s words “ a woman getting everything she wanted without giving anything back.

” The song immediately tells us that the woman’s perspective on life is wrong since all that glitters isn’t gold even though she’s sure of it. This has economic significance in the 1970s because during this time the economic wasn’t doing too well. The stock market had crashed about 40% and inflation was on the rise which is ironic because “ Stairway to Heaven” starts off talking about a woman who is focused on riches and is able to get anything at her word.