Paramount Set A Strict Rule For The Led Zeppelin Reference In Wayne's World

While most of the "Saturday Night Live" movies born out of sketches from the long-running late night comedy series have been total duds, "Wayne's World" is one of a few that have stood the test of time. Even while having its foot squarely in the culture of the '90s, the comedy inspired by the sketch starring Mike Myers and Dana Carvey as public access talk show hosts Wayne Campbell and Garth Algar is surprisingly timeless. It has a meta approach that spoofs popular culture and two characters who actually work as genuine buddies outside of their sketch framework. That's why people still love and talk about "Wayne's World" to this day, and even the sequel is a superb follow-up.

One particularly memorable bit from "Wayne's World" comes from one of Wayne's many ambitions in the movie. Along with getting his TV show a wider audience and landing the girl of his dreams (Tia Carrere as the rockin' Cassandra), he also has his eyes set on a 1964 Fender Stratocaster in classic white, with triple single-coil pickups and a whammy bar, and it's pre-CBS Fender corporate buy-out, perfect for raising the bridge, filing down the nut, and taking the buzz out of the low E. I don't know how to play the guitar, so I don't know what most of that means, but that's what Wayne and Cassandra say in the movie, and they just make you want that guitar.

When Wayne asks to take a closer look at the guitar in the music shop, he starts to play Led Zeppelin's iconic song "Stairway to Heaven," only to have his attention called to a sign in the back of the store that says, "No Stairway to Heaven." It's the kind of song that everyone wants to play on the guitar, so of course music stores are sick of hearing it. It's a fun gag, but it required director Penelope Spheeris (who we interviewed for the 30th anniversary of "Wayne's World" not too long ago) to follow a strict rule for the musical reference.

Speaking with Den of Geek in 2022, Spheeris recalled the only way they could allude to the classic rock song in musical form was with three precious notes. Spheeris recalled:

"I was told from the clearance department at Paramount that I had to stick with three notes, that's all I could do. I shot it that way, and then after the movie became successful, we heard from Zep. Anyway, I heard from the Led Zeppelin folks that we couldn't even use the three notes. So, I believe in the final cut of the picture, that was taken out, but as you may know, I haven't seen the movie, so I can't verify that."

Spheeris is wise to question her own memory, because when you watch the clip in question above, you can hear those three unmistakable first notes from "Stairway to Heaven," even though they sound rather amateurish. Perhaps that was another way to make use of the song possible without paying Led Zeppelin for the rights to the song. There are restrictions about how much of a song can be used in media before the rights holders have to be paid. Mimicking those notes badly might allow them to do it without paying at all, but either way, Led Zeppelin is not only notoriously picky about how their music is used in media, but the rights to their songs for needle drops in movies are also extremely expensive. By only utilizing these three notes, the joke could easily be made without breaking the small budget of the comedy. 

Honestly, "Wayne's World" has the kind of street cred that they probably could have convinced Led Zeppelin to let them use more of the song without being... denied. But it likely would have still cost them a lot of money. As it stands, a few notes is all you need to get the point across, and it essentially works on two levels, where the movie wasn't allowed to use the song, just like Wayne isn't allowed to play it. Excellent.