Rolling Stone Readers Pick the Best Ballads of All Time

If the entire genre of Classic Rock had to be reduced to one song it would probably be "Stairway To Heaven." It's been played a squajillion times on the radio since it came out in 1971, and it doesn't show any signs of going away - much to the chagrin of Robert Plant who has repeatedly said that some of the lyrics make him squirm. He's only played it handful of times since Led Zeppelin split in 1980, even refusing to bust it out on Page & Plant's reunion tours in 1995 and 1998. At Led Zeppelin's one-off gig in 2007 he did agree to revive the song, but don't expect the words "bustle in your hedgerow" to ever leave his lips again.

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