The band itself has for the most part ignored such claims in response to the allegations, Swan Song Records issued the statement: "Our turntables only play in one direction-forwards".
One example of such hidden messages that was often prominently cited was in "Stairway to Heaven." The alleged message, which occurs during the middle section of the song ("If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now.") when played backwards, was purported to contain the Satanic references "Here's to my sweet Satan" and "I sing because I live with Satan" In the early 1980s, some Christian evangelists in the US alleged that hidden messages were contained in many popular rock songs through a technique called backward masking. Despite pressure from Atlantic Records the band would not authorize the editing of the song for single release, making "Stairway to Heaven" one of the most well-known and popular rock songs never to have been released as a single.
The song's length precluded its release in full form as a single. In 1990 a St Petersburg, Florida station kicked off its all-Led Zeppelin format by playing "Stairway to Heaven" for 24 hours straight. Although the song was released in 1971, it took until 1973 before the song's popularity ascended to truly "anthemic" status. "Stairway to Heaven" was performed at almost every subsequent Led Zeppelin concert, only being omitted on rare occasions when shows were cut short for curfews or technical issues. British antiquarian Lewis Spence's Magic Arts in Celtic Britain is one of the sources for the lyrics to the song. The song's opening guitar arpeggios are strikingly similar to the guitar line from the instrumental track "Taurus" by the American band Spirit, for whom Led Zeppelin toured as support act in 1968. It was the most requested song on FM radio stations in the United States in the 1970s, despite never having been released as a single there. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine put it at number 31 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song was voted #3 in 2000 by VH1 on its list of the 100 Greatest Rock Songs. Your stairway lies on the whisperin' wind There's still time to change the road you're on It's just a spring clean for the May queen Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgivenĪnd the voices of those who stand looking 'Cause you know sometimes words have two meanings With a word she can get what she came for