..for trivia, running an EU timeline as SLTS enters the race and has some staying power ... Take care

http://tijdloze.stijnshome.be/index.php?p=li&q=0

'87 '88 Artist Song
1 2 Deep Purple Child in Time
2 1 The Rolling Stones Angie
3 3 Queen Bohemian Rhapsody
4 9 The Rolling Stones (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
5 7 Bruce Springsteen The River
6 18 David Bowie "Heroes"
7 5 Led Zeppelin Stairway to Heaven
8 4 Eagles Hotel California
9 10 Peter Gabriel Solsbury Hill
10 8 Dire Straits Sultans of Swing

'90 '91 '92 Artist Song
2 1 1 The Rolling Stones Angie
1 2 2 Deep Purple Child in Time
4 3 3 Queen Bohemian Rhapsody
3 4 4 Led Zeppelin Stairway to Heaven
5 5 9 John Lennon Imagine
8 6 5 The Cure A Forest
11 7 7 Prince Purple Rain
7 8 30 The Rolling Stones (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
9 9 8 Dire Straits Sultans of Swing
12 10 21 Iggy Pop The Passenger

'93 '94 '95 Artist Song
1 1 2 Deep Purple Child in Time
2 2 1 The Rolling Stones Angie
4 3 4 Led Zeppelin Stairway to Heaven
8 4 3 Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit
3 5 5 Queen Bohemian Rhapsody
9 6 6 R.E.M. Losing My Religion
6 7 10 Pearl Jam Alive
5 8 8 The Cure A Forest
7 9 12 Prince Purple Rain
- 10 9 The Cranberries Zombie

'96 '97 '98 Artist Song
1 1 1 Deep Purple Child in Time
2 2 4 The Rolling Stones Angie
3 3 3 Led Zeppelin Stairway to Heaven
4 4 2 Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit
5 5 5 Queen Bohemian Rhapsody
6 6 8 R.E.M. Losing My Religion
14 7 7 Radiohead Creep
7 8 10 The Cure A Forest
11 9 9 Metallica One
8 10 6 Pearl Jam Alive

'99 '00 '01 Artist Song
1 1 1 Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit
2 2 6 Deep Purple Child in Time
3 3 4 Led Zeppelin Stairway to Heaven
6 4 3 Radiohead Creep
8 5 5 Metallica One
5 6 8 Metallica Nothing Else Matters
4 7 14 The Rolling Stones Angie
10 8 7 Pearl Jam Alive
7 9 12 Queen Bohemian Rhapsody
18 10 2 Gorky Mia

'02 '03 '04 Artist Song
2 1 1 Gorky Mia
1 2 2 Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit
3 3 3 Metallica One
4 4 4 Radiohead Creep
6 5 5 Pearl Jam Alive
7 6 7 Led Zeppelin Stairway to Heaven
5 7 9 Deep Purple Child in Time
8 8 8 Jeff Buckley Hallelujah
9 9 10 Metallica Nothing Else Matters
37 10 22 Prince Purple Rain

'05 '06 '07 Artist Song
2 1 1 Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit
1 2 2 Gorky Mia
3 3 3 Metallica One
5 4 7 Radiohead Creep
4 5 4 Deep Purple Child in Time
7 6 6 Pearl Jam Alive
6 7 5 Led Zeppelin Stairway to Heaven
10 8 10 dEUS Suds & Soda
9 9 12 U2 One
8 10 9 Jeff Buckley Hallelujah

'08 '09 '10 Artist Song
1 1 1 Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit
2 2 3 Metallica One
4 3 2 Led Zeppelin Stairway to Heaven
3 4 5 Gorky Mia
5 5 6 Deep Purple Child in Time
6 6 4 Pearl Jam Alive
7 7 10 Jeff Buckley Hallelujah
12 8 8 Pearl Jam Black
8 9 7 Radiohead Creep
10 10 14 dEUS Suds & Soda

Of proving what? That alternative rock is bigger than power ballads or that Stairway's only influence is on power ballads/SLTS's only influence on alt-rock?

gminer, what are these rankings based on (sadly I don't understand Dutch)?

There's no way of proving which song is more influential overall.
Unless you wanna take a worldwide survey, and ask every rock band on earth which song influenced them more...

So what are you trying to suggest? That we abandon the influence criterion? Also inspiration is not part of influence, so how many bands were inspired by either song doesn't even matter. SLTS helped a great deal popularizing alternative rock. Stairway was instrumental in the development of the power ballad but did not do much else that would count as influence. Any objections?

I still dont buy the 'inspiration is not part of influence' thing. Never did. If I inspire you to do something, then I had an influence on you.

I mostly agree with your assessment though. Influence is sometimes very visible, and sometimes not.

I don't like it either. Still inspiration, if it counts as influence, should at least be visible in the music. I really think SLTS would take influence, even if inspiration is included. I don't see much influence of Stairway.

Oh it has influence, no doubt. Zep were among the biggest bands of the 70's (of all time, really), and Stairway's popularity was well pointed out.
So, putting two and two together, there's no denying it had influence.

But yeah I agree, SLTS > StH.

So we're assuming that everything that is popular autimatically is influential as well? If that is true we should return to the RIAA list I posted about ten pages ago. Anyway I'm not saying that Stairway is not influential but I don't see its influence outside power ballads (and perhaps a little influence on prog). Its influence certainly doesn't match its popularity.

Fair enough I guess.

... STH has significant influence that is found in numerous ways ... whether it is the vocal stylings, the guitar solo ... the compositional style to the lyrical style ... the soft v/s heavy ... the mix of acoustic to electric and the fact the tune is one of those that every guitarist wants to play in their early years ... all the way to radio stations banning STH from the play list because of the continuous requests for it to be played ..... it is a tune that has transcended each musical generation and I can`t image it will fade when another generation discovers it .... and then if it was possible rewind the clock to 1971 and see if STH entered the musical landscape with any less impact then SLTS did upon its release many many years later .... Take care

See, Neg? That's how you do it. Let's see...

gminer, could you elaborate on the vocal stylings and the guitar solo? How they were influential? How they introduced new aspects to the rock music canon?

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "the compositional style to the lyrical style". Concerning the soft vs. heavy part, I'm pretty sure that had been done before. At the very least by The Who in "Behind Blue Eyes" (I know that wasn't much earlier, but still). The same goes for acoustic vs. electric. And when I started learning the guitar I didn't want to play Stairway. Hell, I don't think I knew it then.

That thing about the radio stations is interesting. Why would they want to ban a song that is continually requested? What you say about the multiple generations that were affected by Stairway is true, though I'm still not certain about the concrete nature of its influence. But yes, it's a song that is generally esteemed by musicians across the most different genres.

If rewinding clocks was possible the listmaking process would be so much easier. We'll see what progress brings...

Stairway is a massive guitar song. There is a reason guitar shops have "No Stairway" signs. The solo is lauded as one of the greatest ever.

Georgi, can you point out how exactly Stairway was highly influential with its guitar playing? I know its a legendary performance, but I'd never thought of it as hugely influential.

Well it's influential on an inspirational basis. Of course it didn't really do anything new as such.