NOVEMBER 10, 1994 – Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and Robert Plant performed an all-acoustic version of “Stairway To Heaven” while visiting a Japanese talk show. A few years prior, in 1988, Plant confessed to being (understandably) sick of playing Zep’s most beloved song. “I’d break out in hives if I had to sing it every show,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “I wrote those lyrics and found that song to be of some importance and consequence in 1971, but 17 years later, I don’t know. It’s just not for me… No more ‘Stairway to Heaven’ for me.”
But the duo temporarily broke their “No Stairway” rule and played an acoustic version of the song “Stairway” (originally released in full sonic fury on the band’s untitled 1971 fourth studio album (often referred to as “Led Zeppelin IV”) at the Tokyo news station as part of a world tour of the duo’s side project, Page and Plant.