Give the kid a break. His hand is half the size of Jimmy's. Maybe even a third the size. From a technical standpoint, he's not hugely impressive but he will undoubtedly get better.

Not to mention: The most hardcore Zeppelin fans, (no, not everyone who just says, "I'm the most hardcore Led Zeppelin fan," but the REALLY hardcore ones.) will tell you exactly where Zeppelin "copied" Stairway to Heaven from.

Hehehe.....Love it!! This is similar to what I do on a guitar if someone asks me to play Stairway to Heaven....
*terrible
*comedy

Man that failed on every level that the Beatniks' Stairway to Heaven succeeded.

http://www.videosift.com/video/The-Beatniks-Stairway-to-Heaven

No angry post here. savethecircle has added some good ones. I also forgot Zeppelin's Black Dog, and one of the very early, Iron Butterfly's In-a-gadda-da-vida.

save, you might find this interesting. You say about Black Sabbath, "I swear that riff invokes the devil himself." That's because it's built on the "tritone" interval. These are 2 notes, separated by 3 whole steps. In medieval times, the interval was generally banned.

From Wikipedia,

"Because of that original symbolic association with the devil and its avoidance, this interval came to be heard in Western cultural convention as suggesting an "evil" connotative meaning in music. Today the interval continues to suggest an "oppressive", "scary", or "evil" sound. However, suggestions that singers were excommunicated or otherwise punished by the Church for invoking this interval are likewise fanciful."

Amazing how music invokes images. You have a point about "Stairway to Heaven." The reason I said you shouldn't play it in a guitar store is this, it's easy to play. Beginners learn it, go shopping for a guitar and play those opening chords in the store. The staff of the store are so sick of that tune, they will give you dirty looks, no kidding.

ok, the list is about half right in my opinion. The first thing that struck me was the shameless lack of metal songs. Come on, you have Green Day and Smashing Pumpkins but no Metallica, Motorhead or Slayer? Whats up with that? You could do a top 20 list on those three alone.
Here's a few:
Slayer- Raining Blood
Metallica- Master of Puppets
Van Halen- Unchained(now thats a cool riff)
Black Sabbath- Black Sabbath(the darkest riff ever written and root to all metal. I swear that riff envokes the devil himself. Iron Mans cool but...)
AC/DC- I think Highway to Hell is a beter riff
Motorhead- Ace of Spades(bass riff)
Judas Priest- Electric Eye
Rush-YYZ or Limelight
Ted Nugent- Cat Scratch Fever of Stranglehold
Boston-Piece of Mind
Doobie Brothers- China Groove
Kanasas- Carry On....
I also agree with the Cream and Jethro Tull additions as well as Dire Straits, Deep Purple(though Highway Star is better), GnR, Layla, RATM, Skynard, Stones and Zep(and a dozen other Zep songs) from the original list. But I feel Stairway To Heaven is a tired worn out, overrated, boring song. GASP! There I said it, now let the angry posts begin!

Very entertaining, thanks for the post. Although a riff can be any repeating motif, rock guitarists tend to think of them more in terms of repeating single note phrases. (Don't you hate know-it-alls.) Stairway to Heaven we would consider more arpeggios than a riff. Still, there's no doubt it's the most instantly recognizable set of arpeggios in rock music history, (although don't play it in a music store....that could get you shot, or, at least, dirty looks and a possible toss out the door.)
I'd like to add a couple more classic riffs,
(1) Sunshine of your Love - Cream
(2) Heartbreaker- Led Zeppelin
(3) Aqualung- Jethro Tull

and a few more obscure
(1) Blood of the Sun - Mountain
(2) Nantucket Sleigh Ride (the bridge riff) - Mountain
(3) Siberian Khatru - Yes

Thanks again for a great post! Classic stuff.

http://rocknroll.videosift.com/video/LED-ZEPPELIN-Stairway-to-Heaven-LONDON-2007

http://rocknroll.videosift.com/video/Led-Zeppelin-Good-Times-Bad-Times-London-Reunion-Dec-2007

http://www.videosift.com/video/Led-Zeppelin-Reunion-Black-Dog-snippet

You guys are awesome.

And dag, I hope so, but until then we can always Sift 'em up: http://www.videosift.com/video/Led-Zeppelin-Kashmir-2007

Maybe speaking in a higher tone may be recognized as positive reinforcement that conveys affection and encourages the development of language skills in babies. Why else would we do it? Maybe it's just learned who knows. The real important question is: why the hell would you talk gibberish instead of using an actual language?

If you believe this "motherese" then I think "Sweet Sweet Satan" is calling you from the song "Stairway to Heaven"

This is a truely amazing cover. I love stuff like this. I wonder if there is a video for Dolly Parton's cover of Stairway to Heaven....

no go.

Anyway, yeah, this is right up there with that one, and Johnathon Coulton's Baby Got Back. Great find!

saved (or re-sifted) over here -> http://www.videosift.com/video/Foo-Fighters-cover-Stairway-to-Heaven-on-Craig-Kilborn

PLAY STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN!

The song is called Tamacun, they are really phenomenal guitar players. Dont let this upload die.

here is some more if you liked this one http://www.videosift.com/video/Stairway-to-Heaven-cover-by-Rodrigo-Y-Gabriela

Then your finger must have slipped on the upvote button, eh?

This song, Stairway to Heaven and Hotel California were my guilty pleasures during high school, when I was really listening to Patti Smith and the Clash. I just ignore the shady lyrics and enjoy the song as a whole.

OK this back masking, is good. But nothing tops the Doors, or Stairway To Heaven songs, or the Beatles for that matter. You can record sayings backwards with your words, its not hard. Pink Floyd has one on the wall CD that says Congratulations you have just found the secret message, send your answer to old pink care of Funny Farm and then some strange name of a city. This is not a lie, it is truth because all they did was record the words and then put them on the record backwards. MSI (Mindless Self Indulgence) has a song called back mask, that tells you to clean your room, eat your veggies, and the like. It can be done, but these other ones like the nirvana one, the mind hears what the eye sees. If some one hasnt seen the lyrics backwards, then they would never know its cryptic message. The point is you cannot prove that it was done on purpose because it would have to be perfect in its annunciation, and flow like regular language for any one to understand what is being said with out the lyrics on the screen.

That song hi my name is by Eminem. If you play that one backwards you get It is slim, its eminem, its eminem. So another example of the fact that it can be done.

Take to heart that if you read the music, and then speak the words in verse specified then you will not get the same sounds, they have to be sung. So that is another way that message in unintentional situations are disproved. Believe me i would like to know how Stairway to Heaven got so bashed over its "If there's a bustle in your hedgerow don't be alarmed now its just a sprinkling for the may queen. Yes there are to paths you can go by but in the long run, there's still time to change the road you 're on." Flip that around and you get a satanic message or so is said, but i think it was just some idiots from a hardcore Christian "Rock is the devil" type people. Besides if it was intentional, who cares its great music.

Any way i think the messages found in these by people are cool, just don't try and force this stuff to come out into the public because it will only cause stupidity. Take it with a glass of water, then think before you speak to rashly on this stuff.

This performance is great.

This song (forgive me), like stairway to heaven, has an awesome solo that will bring a show and even your home studio something special.

The last time i played was a couple of nights ago and i was practicing the first part of the lead, and i left the room, came back and i could still hear the echo! Truly a special song.

By the way i didn't know prince could play like that, i just thought he was just another pop star. My vote!