How the ‘Stairway to Heaven’ Joke in ‘Wayne’s World’ Got Mangled on Home Video
Wayne's World is full of jokes based on rock music. But for musicians, perhaps one gag stands alone in the 1992 movie starring Mike Myers and Dana Carvey as lovable headbangers. That's when Myers' Wayne gets blocked from playing "Stairway to Heaven" on a music store guitar.
About midway through the SNL-based flick, Wayne enters the store to try out an alluring Fender Stratocaster. He starts jamming on a riff, but an employee stops him and points to a sign that reads, "No Stairway to Heaven."
"No 'Stairway,'" Wayne gasps. "Denied!"
If you've watched the film recently, however, you might recall that the guitar riff Wayne ekes out before the associate stops him doesn't sound much like the Led Zeppelin classic. So how did the filmmakers get the notes so wrong? Or was the scene's shredding never actually intended to evoke "Stairway"?
That's the question GQ explored for the movie's 25th anniversary. It turns out that, when first released in U.S. theaters, Wayne's World included a riff more recognizably Zeppelin. But, as director Penelope Spheeris once explained, the rights for even a few notes of the song got too steep for the film's home release.
"With 'Stairway to Heaven' we were told that we could only use two notes before we'd have to pay $100,000, so to sell that he's gonna play 'Stairway to Heaven' in two notes is pretty difficult," Spheeris told Billboard in 2017. "I don't know this to be absolutely true, but somebody told me that in the first version of the movie we play too many notes. So they had to go back in and edit a note or two out."
If you watch the movie today, the "Stairway to Heaven" joke just doesn't land quite right, as GQ's Scott Meslow suggests. Viewers can thank Zep's expensive song rights for the blunderous home video alteration.
Still, for musicians new and old, it's a gag that's stuck. It's just too bad the joke stumbles when one views Wayne's World now. But, hey, you can never be too careful when it comes to Led Zeppelin-related legalities.
Watch the "No 'Stairway'" Scene From Wayne's World
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