Quote:

Led Zeppelin is Officially Getting Sued Over ‘Stairway to Heaven’

"Stairway to Heaven" has a staple of rock radio for decades, and still gets regular airplay here at WZLX and all over the world. It's arguably the biggest rock song in history. But now, just before the song gets a new reissue, the band that for years has accused Led Zeppelin of stealing part of the song from them is finally lawyering up.

A detailed new report from Businessweek says the now-defunct California-based band Spirit is working with a team of lawyers to build a case against Led Zeppelin and take them to court over ‘Stairway', saying it ripped its iconic opening riff from a song they wrote back in 1968 called "Taurus".

Spirit toured with Led Zeppelin as the opener in 1968, when the latter band were making their American debut. They argue that the tour is the time Jimmy Page heard a riff from their song "Taurus", and re-worked it into the opening notes for ‘Stairway'.

As you will hear at 0:44, Spirit may have a strong case for copyright infringement:

The original writer of the song, Randy Wolfe (better known as Randy California) passed away in 1997, but a trust that handles his royalties are working with Spirit's founding bassist Mark Andes to build the case. Besides the obvious financial compensation, the band's goal is to get California the writing credit for ‘Stairway' that they feel he rightfully deserves.

This would not be an unprecedented case. Led Zeppelin has gone to court - and reached settlements - over other songs in their back catalogue. The Businessweek report has a handy chart with the notable cases, but here's a quick rundown:

In the early '70s, the publisher for Chester "Howlin' Wolf" Burnett reached a settlement over "The Lemon Song", citing the guitar riff and lyrics as too similar. In the mid-'80s, folk singer Anne Bredon reached a settlement for royalties and a writing credit for "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You", a song of the same title she wrote in 1960 and Led Zeppelin essentially covered, with elements of their hard rock sound added. In 1987, Willie Dixon settled with a writing credit for "Whole Lotta Love", which contained a similar melody to a song he wrote for Muddy Waters called "You Need Love". In 2012, songwriter Jake Holmes settled over "Dazed and Confused", which had the same title and distinctly similar bassline to a song Holmes wrote in 1967. In other words, this is nothing new for Led Zeppelin. They've been accused of - and apparently caught in the act - ripping off other bands' material for decades. But ardent Zeppelin supporters might point to the "All music is derivative" argument. There is only so much one can do with the notes, beats, and sounds given by music, and even if it's completely unintentional a song could sound similar to something already written.

But in this case, the similarities and the bands' past working relationship may prove too strong a case for Zeppelin to overcome. Both sides will employ musicologists to dissect the riffs in each song to help determine whether ‘Stairway' is too similar to "Taurus" not to give a partial writing credit to California.

If they eventually go to court and settle, Led Zeppelin probably won't be hurt much by it, financially or otherwise. But arguably the most iconic song in rock and roll would officially be tainted. It would no longer be solely a creation of Led Zeppelin. It would be branded with the mark of another artist.

Led Zeppelin took sounds from artists that came before them, blended them into their own uniquely heavy style, and simply did these styles better than most or all bands of their time. But at times they've been caught speeding. The ‘Stairway' case might be just the latest example of that.

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Source: http://www.led-zeppelin.org/current-news/1594-led-zeppelin-is-officially-getting-sued-over-stairway-to-heaven

My response:


Do you think the band really has a legitimate lawsuit case here?

innerspeaker1967 said:

the zep did it the way they did. i looked up that spirit band they look like gronks
they would've never made it as far as zep did with just that riff.

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Dark_Star said:

LZ has a long history of stealing songs & trying to market them as their own.

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psi said:

I don't think it's really all that similar.

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innerspeaker1967 said:

the zep did it the way they did. i looked up that spirit band they look like gronks
they would've never made it as far as zep did with just that riff.

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