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Led Zeppelin wins 'Stairway to Heaven' copyright case

18 Comments
By Jonathan Stempel

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18 Comments
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It's a fine line between influence and copying. Both bands were great, anyway.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Listen to both songs.... I think the judge called this one wrong.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

The judge was right. Spirit was by far one of the most creative bands of the era, sadly forgotten. But Taurus was not even a song, just a common chord progression. It's like Randy California had an idea for a song but put it on the record without finishing it. Jimmy Page took a similar progression but built a masterpiece on top of it. Pop and fold music has always been building on the work of others, and flourished until the lawyers got involved. Musicians use to openly acknowledge this. But in this case, it's not even that. This is like someone claiming Beethoven's 5th was stolen because another composer wrote a tavern song with the same 4 notes. Worth noting that Randy California, the guy who actually wrote Taurus, never pursued legal action while he was alive, though he was fully aware of the similarities.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Arrgg... "pop and folk" music.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Clapton’s ‘Let it Grow’ sounds similar to ‘Stairway to Heaven/Taurus”.

As Commanteer posted, it is a common chord progression.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Robert Plants latest album "Carry Fire" is very nice.

Agreed. He is one of the very few rock stars that didn't just rest on his laurels raking in money repeating the same formula. A true musician.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I think all these "they stole my song" lawsuits are ludicrous.  So much music builds on what went before.  and the success of a song is not just down to what is on the page.  it is image and presentation and a whole raft of other things.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Lots of circumstantial evidence -

Spirit toured with LZep in USA.

Robert Plant had a copy of Spirit's debut album ( a big hit) with Taurus on.

2 important video commentaries by TJR worth listening to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCEg9gMJakU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgIL8yBWE_w

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I think all these "they stole my song" lawsuits are ludicrous. So much music builds on what went before. and the success of a song is not just down to what is on the page. it is image and presentation and a whole raft of other things.

I agree. These laws are basically killing music and culture. The exact opposite of what copyright laws were originally supposed to do.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Funky Town is a ripoff of Sunshine of Your Love.

Owner of a Lonely Heart is a ripoff of Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Both are clearly influenced by Giovanni Battista's Sonatta di Chittarra, e violinio, con

1 ( +1 / -0 )

This is kind of ironic because Zeppelin clearly ripped off loads of bluesmen, the Small Faces, and the Dazed and Confused guy, not even giving them writing credits for big chunks of lyrics, but this Stairway to Heaven claim is really tame and should not have made it to court. There is a similar Davy Graham riff that predates Taurus anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWeejHJxGjs

3 ( +3 / -0 )

...il suo basso continuo.

Baroque is pop and rock.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Nice to see fans of both Zep and Spirit.

To be fair, "borrowing" from other artists has been going on since a human first picked up an instrument.

Call it sampling, inspiration, hommage, call it what you will but it's a constant in music. Even the great composers were known to be inspired (and parodied) by other great composers.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

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