What are other artists' "Stairway to Heaven"?

Steppenwolf - Monster

 

Paranoid Android - Radiohead
Hotel California - Eagles
A day in the Life - Beatles
Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen

 

It doesn't get more signature than this one by the gentlemen of Focus. If the government decided to make this our national anthem ... that would be a statement.

 

Simon & Garfunkel: Bridge over troubled water
Van Morrison: Brown eyed girl
Procol Harum: Whiter shade of pale

 

Rusty Wier - Black Hat Saloon, a work of sheer genius. Why this album hasn’t been picked up by MFSL or similar...

 

Styx: Suite Madam Blue


The buildup and crescendo are awesome:

 

Pearl Jam - Alive or RearViewMirror

Tom Petty - Running Down a Dream

U2 - Where the Streets Have No Name

Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence or Never Let Me Down Again

Rush - Tom Sawyer, 2112, Subdivisions

 

Television Marquee Moon
Bowie Width of A Circle (- I know it's not exactly a signiature song)
Pere Ubu 30 Seconds Over Tokyo
VU Heroin

 

Starship Trooper -Yes

Bob

 

Pat Benatar: In the Heat of the Night

 

Wild Man Fischer - "Merry Go Round"

 

Very funny, but isn't Merry Go Round all of 2 mins long and a simple call to action lyric? So I might suggest Jennifer Jones – it has a little more scope as a narrative song. At least we want to know why she's lying dead on his porch, doo, doo, doo, doo.

 

Judas Priest - Beyond The Realms Of Death

I’m sorry but I have to chuckle at a lot of these picks. There’s so many that don’t even remotely fit the criteria of a “Stairway”.

 

Thinking about T.Rex. There are three long works. The Wizard is a narrative song but I would discount it because it's so boringly repetitive. Elemental Child is a long guitar-led instrumental (and also a bit repetitive), which leaves the 5 minute two-part 'Raw Ramp' on side b of Get It On with 'There was a time' intro and song. So..

T.Rex - Raw Ramp.

Ok, it's stretching the idea!

 

the Turtles - Happy Together

 

Yes! It fits at least some of the OP's requirements, everybody associates it with Jethro Tull, and its use of the guitar solo is very similar to the Led Zeppelin song's. ...And it was recorded in the room right next to where Zep was doing work on Stairway IIRC!

 

Diary Of A Madman - Ozzy.

 

Sing me back home - Merle Haggard.

 

The Allman Brothers have a number of tunes that meet the OP’s criteria (in my opinion). Whippin Post and In Memory of Elizabeth Reed come to mind.

 

Miles Davis - So What
John Coltrane - My Favorite Things
Dave Brubeck - Take 5
Chuck Mangione - Feels So Good

 

Doors - Light My Fire

 

Motorpsycho - Vortex Surfer
it was called the "stairway to heaven" from norway