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LobsterSauce
Registered: 11/09/08
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Led Zeppelin denies stealing opening chords of Stairway to Heaven 1
#23345747 - 06/15/16 01:45 AM (7 years, 9 months ago) |
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LED ZEPPELIN’S JIMMY Page and Robert Plant have appeared in court to deny accusations that they “lifted” the opening bars to iconic rock song Stairway to Heaven.
The musicians arrived to a throng of reporters at Los Angeles federal court, where a jury of four men and four women was played their anthemic hit.
Spirit, a psychedelic LA band that enjoyed a niche following but never attained the superstardom of Zeppelin, claims the melancholic guitar that opens Stairway was taken from its instrumental track Taurus.
Spirit’s guitarist Randy Wolfe — who went by the nickname Randy California — never took legal action and drowned in Hawaii in 1997, but a lawsuit was filed by his trustee and friend Michael Skidmore, who was in court.
“This case can be summarised in six words: Give credit where credit is due,” said Francis Malofiy, Skidmore’s attorney.
Malofiy told the jury it could look at the lawsuit “almost like a taste test”, asking: “Do these things taste the same? Do these things sound the same?”
The attorney played a recording for the jury of the introduction to Stairway, describing the arpeggio as a “lifted composition”.
At issue is whether Led Zeppelin had access to 1967’s Taurus before recording Stairway in London in December 1970 and January 1971.
No recollection
Zeppelin opened for Spirit when the hard British rockers — Plant, Page, John Paul Jones and the since deceased John Bonham — made their US debut on 26 December 1968 in Denver.
But surviving members of Led Zeppelin have submitted testimony that they never had substantive interaction with Spirit or listened to the band’s music.
Defence attorney Peter Anderson told jurors that Page (72) and Plant (67) were not familiar with Spirit or its output, and that Page had no recollection of ever hearing Taurus.
Anderson played the first two minutes and 14 seconds of Stairway as Page nodded along. He said:
Stairway to Heaven was written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant and them alone, period.
Skidmore has not specified the damages he is seeking, but various stories in the music press have posited a possible settlement at anywhere between a symbolic $1 (about 89 cent here) plus a writing credit to as much as $40 million (€35 million).
The lawsuit speaks of Led Zeppelin’s “deep-rooted history of lifting composition from blues artists and other songwriters who they have repeatedly failed to credit”.
It lists disputes over 16 other Led Zeppelin songs, many of which were settled by giving the complainant a songwriting credit and royalties, including classics Whole Lotta Love and Babe I’m Gonna Leave You.
‘Prodigy’
The court heard from California’s younger sister, horse trainer and musician Janet Wolfe, who described her brother as a “prodigy”.
Wolfe, of Ventura, California, recalled how the family had travelled to New York in 1966, where Randy, then just 15, met and befriended Jimi Hendrix.
Led Zeppelin-Copyright Suit Plane and Page perform in 1985. Source: Rusty Kennedy/AP
The rock legend hired the youngster to play back-up guitar, and gave him the name Randy California to distinguish him from another Randy in the band, the court heard.
Wolfe (62) recalled how California had complained later in life about Led Zeppelin plagiarizing Taurus, which he had written for a girlfriend.
“It was something that upset him for many, many years,” she said.
Multi-instrumentalist Jay Ferguson (69) who played with Spirit and later wrote music for film and television, described Taurus as a “really special number”.
It was a palate cleanser… it was beautiful. It was a different style of music than anything else we played in the shows.
Ferguson, who has written music for Arnold Schwarzenegger action movie The Terminator (1984) and comedy series The Office, said Spirit played the song at the majority of their concerts.
He described having a “meet and greet” with Plant at a Spirit gig in Britain in the 1970s, recalling he was “flattered” that the singer had turned up to see the band.
The trial is expected to last about five days. http://www.thejournal.ie/stairway-to-heaven-taurus-2824470-Jun2016/
Which song of theirs didn't Jimmy Page/Led Zeppelin steal?
I feel if they put as much energy into their own creativity as they did into stealing others' music, they'd never of been heard of.
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Acidic_Sloth
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Re: Led Zeppelin denies stealing opening chords of Stairway to Heaven [Re: LobsterSauce] 1
#23345778 - 06/15/16 02:06 AM (7 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
LobsterSauce said: Wolfe, of Ventura, California
hahaha. neat.
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dixienormous
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Re: Led Zeppelin denies stealing opening chords of Stairway to Heaven [Re: Acidic_Sloth]
#23345844 - 06/15/16 02:41 AM (7 years, 9 months ago) |
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People have killed themselves to Stairway to Heaven... My dad once spoke of his friend who did. If I was on the jury I would vote in favor of Zeppelin because this case is rubbish wealth seeking. It's not even the author taking this to court.
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deucedbi9
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Re: Led Zeppelin denies stealing opening chords of Stairway to Heaven [Re: LobsterSauce]
#23345987 - 06/15/16 04:24 AM (7 years, 9 months ago) |
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That Taurus track sounds like it has a little bit of plagerism from Bach or handel or somesuch.
If Zep were inspired, slightly, by the tune so fucking what, the two numbers are worlds apart so Fuckem.
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Atreyu
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Re: Led Zeppelin denies stealing opening chords of Stairway to Heaven [Re: dixienormous]
#23345993 - 06/15/16 04:26 AM (7 years, 9 months ago) |
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The song from Spirit is pretty good. I see the similarity but I think they are for the most part two completely different songs.
There was a 1980 song "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie that Vanilla ice sampled but Mr. Ice never got permission to use it. No lawsuit was filed, but it is possible that V. Ice agreed to pay Queen and Bowie a settlement.
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LobsterSauce
Registered: 11/09/08
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Re: Led Zeppelin denies stealing opening chords of Stairway to Heaven [Re: Atreyu] 1
#23346080 - 06/15/16 06:12 AM (7 years, 9 months ago) |
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Led Zeppelin sound like a paedophile priest from the 70's whose only now being accused of sexual crimes from back then.
"Never heard of them", even though they opened for them at a concert.
From 0:58 to 1:07 is a very similar progression is not the exact same.
At 1:08 is when Jimmy Page altered the chord to not be the same song any more.
Obviously, it is a money grab attempt but Jimmy Page would steal a granny's favourite whistle melody and call it his own.
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UncleCid
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Re: Led Zeppelin denies stealing opening chords of Stairway to Heaven [Re: LobsterSauce]
#23346124 - 06/15/16 06:34 AM (7 years, 9 months ago) |
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Sounds like people are just looking for free handouts to me
Fuck this other band. I'm taking Zeppelins side. Stairway is an epic song
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trscstghst
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Re: Led Zeppelin denies stealing opening chords of Stairway to Heaven [Re: UncleCid]
#23346251 - 06/15/16 07:42 AM (7 years, 9 months ago) |
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like zeppelin, on of my favorite bands actually. there, is on the other hand no denying that they have a history of plagiarism. is it coincidence in the case of stairway to heaven, maybe.
I'm sure we have all seen this
Edited by trscstghst (06/15/16 07:45 AM)
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hex_enduction
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Re: Led Zeppelin denies stealing opening chords of Stairway to Heaven [Re: trscstghst]
#23346587 - 06/15/16 09:31 AM (7 years, 9 months ago) |
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Led Zeppelin totally plagiarized Spirit and bit many songs from many other artists. It's a well known and EASILY verifiable fact. I love them, but I do wish they'd simply give credit where it's due. All music is imitation in some form or another, but denying the influence of others just makes you look like a massive douchebag.
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Ras Rising
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Re: Led Zeppelin denies stealing opening chords of Stairway to Heaven [Re: hex_enduction]
#23346637 - 06/15/16 09:57 AM (7 years, 9 months ago) |
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originality died long ago.
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Konyap
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Re: Led Zeppelin denies stealing opening chords of Stairway to Heaven [Re: Ras Rising]
#23346659 - 06/15/16 10:02 AM (7 years, 9 months ago) |
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it's not hard to completely copy someone elses song while in free thought i used to do it all the time when i practiced thinking the songs and melody's were completely original then realizing they were a popular song stuck in my head just slightly different
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Ras Rising
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Re: Led Zeppelin denies stealing opening chords of Stairway to Heaven [Re: Konyap]
#23346681 - 06/15/16 10:08 AM (7 years, 9 months ago) |
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you can only bend the waves so many ways
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EllisDSox
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Re: Led Zeppelin denies stealing opening chords of Stairway to Heaven [Re: LobsterSauce] 1
#23347565 - 06/15/16 02:22 PM (7 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
LobsterSauce said: Led Zeppelin sound like a paedophile priest from the 70's whose only now being accused of sexual crimes from back then.
"Never heard of them", even though they opened for them at a concert.
From 0:58 to 1:07 is a very similar progression is not the exact same.
At 1:08 is when Jimmy Page altered the chord to not be the same song any more.
Obviously, it is a money grab attempt but Jimmy Page would steal a granny's favourite whistle melody and call it his own.
I think a few of the other things they stole are now being credited on re-issues, though I don't know about any money involved.
Dazed and Confused is probably the most horrendous theft, but there are absolutely tons of them. Led Zeppelin had a nice sound, but they really were thieving, lying pieces of shit.
Actually, Hats off to Harper might be the worst, since they wrote it as a sort of thank you for all the Roy Harper stuff they'd "borrowed", and it wasn't even an original song in itself. Hahaha.
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Alexestalex
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Re: Led Zeppelin denies stealing opening chords of Stairway to Heaven [Re: LobsterSauce] 1
#23347584 - 06/15/16 02:29 PM (7 years, 9 months ago) |
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I could care less if they stole it or not. Led Zeppelin is still dope as fuck and Page and Plant are legends.
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EllisDSox
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Re: Led Zeppelin denies stealing opening chords of Stairway to Heaven [Re: Alexestalex] 1
#23347591 - 06/15/16 02:31 PM (7 years, 9 months ago) |
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They had a really good sound, they're just shitty people for not giving credit or money to people who had a lot less of both than they did themselves.
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whattaf
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Re: Led Zeppelin denies stealing opening chords of Stairway to Heaven [Re: EllisDSox]
#23347607 - 06/15/16 02:36 PM (7 years, 9 months ago) |
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The notion that one can have exclusive ownership a given sequence of sound waves and that reproducing it should be outlawed is preposterous beyond belief, and anyone who perpetuates this notion or agrees with it need to cease all their activity on this planet until they regain sanity. For the sake of everyone.
Jeez.
Edited by whattaf (06/15/16 02:37 PM)
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EllisDSox
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Re: Led Zeppelin denies stealing opening chords of Stairway to Heaven [Re: whattaf] 1
#23347619 - 06/15/16 02:40 PM (7 years, 9 months ago) |
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Again, check Dazed and Confused above. That was recorded before Led Zeppelin was formed. Copied lyrics and vocal nuances alongside near identical musical backing is not a coincidence.
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Konyap
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Re: Led Zeppelin denies stealing opening chords of Stairway to Heaven [Re: EllisDSox]
#23347637 - 06/15/16 02:47 PM (7 years, 9 months ago) |
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It's a form of whitewashing that only gets criticized if its from a hack, unless it's punk.
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EllisDSox
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Re: Led Zeppelin denies stealing opening chords of Stairway to Heaven [Re: Konyap]
#23347643 - 06/15/16 02:48 PM (7 years, 9 months ago) |
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What now?
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Konyap
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Re: Led Zeppelin denies stealing opening chords of Stairway to Heaven [Re: EllisDSox]
#23347648 - 06/15/16 02:49 PM (7 years, 9 months ago) |
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stealing songs from black people is something mainstream does and prospers doing.
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