Justice Department Sides With LED ZEPPELIN In 'Stairway To Heaven' Copyright Case

Blabbermouth ^ | August 16, 2019 | N/A

[Fiji Hill]

I love Stairway to Heaven--a big hit in the spring of 1960.

[seastay]

Zeppelin was the best cover band if all time. Most of the songs on their early albums were plagiarized, we just didn't have the Internet back then to know. Truth is Stairway wasn't the first , many of the artist they ripped off were settled with out of court

https://youtu.be/o8VG80RxDMw

[DoodleBob]

Neil Sedaka did a song "I Go Ape" that was covered by one of my favorite punk bands, The Undead (except the Undead took it at warp speed and ex-Misfit guitarist Bobby Steele looks cooler).

[Tired of Taxes]

That’s what I always say: “Zeppelin was the greatest cover band of all time.”

But their diehard fans get very angry when they hear that. lol

[Moonman62]

Listen to Taurus for yourself, starting at 0:45. Zeppelin opened for Spirit and must have heard this song at some point.

...

IIRC, the melody is traditional. Nobody has a copyright on it.

Taurus is a really nice song.

[Mr_Moonlight]

J S Bach was unavailable for comment

LOL :) Many years ago I was listening to an LP of Bach's Inventions (played on Clavichord) and one of the tracks was going on and on, four part counterpoint ... when all a sudden I hear the opening riff to "Satisfaction" !!! /laugh

So, of course my joke from then on was that "Bach invented the Rolling Stones" :)

[Seruzawa]

The same chord progression was used any nuber of times decades before Taurus. Spirit stole it themselves.

[Seruzawa]

Lol! The artist is long dead. It’s the moochers who control the estate seeking a payday. Eff em.

[Mr_Moonlight]

Unfortunately for Spirit and Randy's estate, is that "Stairway To Heaven" will always be considered a brilliant timeless classic, and "Taurus" won't.

Besides, "Stairway" is much much more than just that opening arpeggiated chord progression. OK, yes, it starts with that progression, but then dynamically builds up to the high flying coda at the finale.

"Taurus" doesn't even come close to the entire composition nor performance that is "Stairway".

Just MHO ;)

[Mr_Moonlight]

The same chord progression was used any nuber of times decades before Taurus. Spirit stole it themselves

Exactly. Descending bassline, just off the top of my head; "Something", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "White Room", "The Rain Song", probably a million others during that era, as well as most likely before that era as well ...

[Mr Ramsbotham]

When is this guy going to sue?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFlKx3YPL5I

[Mr_Moonlight]

The Eagles rip-off of Jethro Tull’s “We Used to Know” for “Hotel California” was more blatant

LOL ... I already know how to play "Hotel California" (including the brilliant solo at the coda, one of Joe Walsh's finest), but now I know how to play Tull's "We Used To Know" as well .... Thank Ya, DFW :)

[dp0622]

Screw that. Maybe 10 seconds of an 8 minute song appear in this song.

led Zeppelin has done FAR worse in the theft department than this :)

But whatever they stole, they sounded a thousand time better than the original so who cares anyway?

BTW..it HAS been a long time since I rock and rolled.

i think I’d get a hernia at this point :)

[DainBramage]

I smiled when I watched an interview with Robert plant and he was putting down Greta Van Fleet for copying their sound.

[FreedomPoster]

I’m quite surprised Freebird isn’t listed.

[Savage Beast]

Nor was W. Shakespeare.

[knarf]

you really SHOULD listen to this short clip

[a fool in paradise]

>> the only work subject to copyright protection was the sheet music, because the song was written before Congress changed the law in 1972, which gave protection to sound recordings.

Some have argued that such a stance makes many famous guitar solos “public domain” works.

Play the classic riff in your “new” song and have a recognizable hit.

[a fool in paradise]

Communication Breakdown is really something though, right?

[a fool in paradise]

Jimi Hendrix wasn’t a shabby cover band artist and he even covered contemporary songs including “junk” like Wild Thing and Gloria.