Led Zeppelin’s Stairway To Heaven Successful By Accident

Every typical rock star wannabe’s very first mission is to successfully play Led Zeppelin‘s “Stairway to Heaven.” It was the most popular song of 1971 and it’s still famous today. That Jimmy Page guitar is what makes the song, but it’s also known for being terribly long (or not long enough for you hard core glam rockers out there today).

The song itself is 8:02 minutes. That amount of time for a song was incredibly lengthy back then and it still is today. However, we now find out that lengthy Zeppelin song was also perfect for DJs and their cigarettes.

According to the New York Post (via Spinner), the song only got popular because it gave DJs a chance to go out for a smoke break. You may be thinking, “No! That can’t be!” Well, sorry to burst your bubble but you better believe us.

“Stairway to Heaven” became the #1 most played song on the radio despite the fact that it was never a single. As Spinner reports, “Led Zeppelin didn’t do singles.” The song was never even meant to hit the air waves, but because of its lengthy and popular soothing yet rocking guitar riffs, the public got a taste and demanded more after DJs took advantage of the track.

The band’s biographer, Charles R. Cross, explains this by telling the New York Post:

“The song became successful by accident. [I] had 100 DJs swear to me that they only played the song because they needed a long break to go and smoke a cigarette. If it had been a minute shorter, you couldn’t have smoked a full cigarette. If it had been a minute longer, it would have been too long.”

It looks like Led Zeppelin owes their legendary success to those who can’t live without nicotine.

Are you with us when we say this discovery makes too much sense?