http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPSkNFODVRE I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the lack of world peace, I'm sorry that Justin Bieber continues to be adored, and I'm sorry that Man United aren't going to win the league this season - but most of all, I'm sorry that the top spot on this illustrious list is so ungracious in it's predictability. If you ask someone who knows nothing about rock music to name one fact about Led Zeppelin, they'll say "Aren't they the ones that did Stairway To Heaven?" I implore the hardcore Led Zep fans out there to resist the urge to strike these people with the back of their ring hand - I know there are many other wonderful songs like Dazed and Confused, The Song Remains The Same, and Black Dog, but when all is said and done, Led Zeppelin did do Stairway To Heaven, and in my humble (yet consistently accurate) opinion, it is their greatest song ever. Released on Led Zeppelin IV, the track starts out as a folk-style acoustic piece with the accompaniment of four recorders (turns out they're not just played by 5-year-olds in Primary School). We are then treated to Jimmy's slow electric section, which eventually transforms into his legendary solo that sort of starts off like: waaaa, da na na na ... Ahem. We then have the hard rock finale, with Robert Plant describing a lady that's buying a stairway to Heaven (which I'm reliably informed is not meant in the literal sense, but the metaphorical). The song was initially conceived during Page and Plant's time spent at Bron-Yr-Aur in 1970, and was recorded at Basing Street Studios (with Plant adding the vocals at Headley Grange a year later). Page's solo was added when he returned to Basing Street, using a 1959 Fender Telecaster given to him by good friend Jeff Beck. It's the live performances of Stairway that Page used his custom-made Gibson EDS-1275, a double neck guitar that omitted the need to switch from a six-string to a twelve-string mid-song (the twelve-string used in between the first verse and the solo, and then for the final chorus). By 1991, Stairway To Heaven had racked up an estimated 2,874,000 radio plays (which if placed back-to-back, would run for 44 years solid) and as of 2013, I have listened to it 151 times on my iPhone, and played it many more times on my guitar - I'm sick of it, but I keep playing it, and why? Because there is just something about it that is incredibly addictive - whether you're relaxed, angry, or upset, Stairway To Heaven is always the perfect song to play, and that's why it's at number 1.