Led Zep sued for stealing Stairway intro from Spirit. After 40 years. Finally?

[H. P. L.]

From Businessweek:

 

“Can you think of another song, any song, for which, when its first chord is played, an entire audience of 20,000 rise spontaneously to their feet, not just to cheer or clap hands, but in acknowledgment of an event that is crucial for all of them?” Observer critic Tony Palmer wrote in a 1975 profile. Dave Lewis writes in Led Zeppelin: The Complete Guide to Their Music that “Stairway has a pastoral opening cadence that is classical in feel and which has ensured its immortality.”

But what if those opening notes weren’t actually written by Jimmy Page or any member of Led Zeppelin? What if the foundation of the band’s immortality had been lifted from another song by a relatively forgotten California band, Spirit?

 

http://www.businessw...rus-a-reckoning

 

Edit: I hadn't noticed there's also a "game". Guitar players, go for it!!

 

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-05-15/the-stairway-to-heaven-game-did-led-zeppelin-steal-the-greatest-song-opening-in-rock-history

Edited May 20, 2014 by H. P. L.

[Lorraine]

I don't know. Somehow I find it hard to believe that Jimmy Page had to resort to "stealing" music from Randy California. It isn't like he is talentless, you know?

[Babycat]

I find that hard to believe too.

[ReRushed]

Ask Jake Holmes what he thinks of Jimmy Page.

[H. P. L.]

Ask Jake Holmes what he thinks of Jimmy Page.

:lol: :lol:

[Babycat]

Ask Jake Holmes what he thinks of Jimmy Page.

:lol: :lol:

Who's Jake Holmes?

Edited May 20, 2014 by Babycat

[H. P. L.]

I don't know. Somehow I find it hard to believe that Jimmy Page had to resort to "stealing" music from Randy California. It isn't like he is talentless, you know?

 

Personally I think Jimmy is mightly talented, but also he is (was?) smart enough to know a good tune when he heard it - and take it. If you know a little bit of Zeppelin history, you know this was quite a habit for him.

[H. P. L.]

Ask Jake Holmes what he thinks of Jimmy Page.

:lol: :lol:

Who's Jake Holmes?

 

[Union 5-3992]

Surprised they didn't go after Zeppelin sooner. It isn't the first time they got shit for "borrowing" elements of someone else's song.

[ReRushed]

I firmly believe there isn't an established artist/band out there that hasn't "borrowed" something from somewhere. It just seems like Jimmy Page does it more often than any of his contemporaries. With that said, I love Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin. Their biggest crime? Not giving credit where credit is due right from the start.

[Lorraine]

Didn't George Harrison get sued for stealing the opening bars from someone for My Sweet Lord?

[H. P. L.]

Didn't George Harrison get sued for stealing the opening bars from someone for My Sweet Lord?

Yeah, and I think he lost, IIRC.

[J2112YYZ]

This is the first i've heard of this. It's possible that Page heard the other tune somewhere before and when he wrote Stairway, he wrote it subconsciously and just didn't realise what he was doing . I listened to the version from Spirit and Stairway certainly sounds like it but it seems Page added some more notes to it. It's not a direct rip off of the Spirit song but you can't deny the similarities. All artists take influence from somewhere and not all original music is completely original. I may have missed it but besides that game I couldn't make heads or tails out of, the article didn't provide a link for the original song.

[Lorraine]

I'd like to hear the first few bars from both songs too so I can make up my own mind. I've got Stairway engraved in my brain until the day I die, but I can't recall off the top of my head the Spirit song. Edited May 20, 2014 by Lorraine

[ReRushed]

Didn't George Harrison get sued for stealing the opening bars from someone for My Sweet Lord?

Yeah, and I think he lost, IIRC.

He basically rewrote "He's So Fine".

[ReRushed]

I'd like to hear the first few bars from both songs too so I can make up my own mind. I've got Stairway engraved in my brain until the day I die, but I can't recall off the top of my head the Spirit song.

Google "Taurus" by Spirit:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd8AVbwB_6E&feature=kp

[Lorraine]

I love Spirit. It was the very first band I ever liked enough to want to see in concert.

 

With that said, yes. That is certainly the first few notes of Stairway. But I don't understand what took Spirit forty years to figure this out.

 

Jimmy!! You should be ashamed of yourself!!! :)

[Union 5-3992]

Spirit and Led Zeppelin played together in the late 60's. It's very possible that Page did hear that song

[Turbine Freight]

Page is a well-known riff thief. He's nicked a shed load of stuff from other artists his whole career.

 

I don't know how anyone can be surprised by this, it's not like he hasn't got previous.

[bathory]

spirit knew about this, everyone's known about this forever. it's just, now spirit needs some money and probably wants a little relevancy because they're reaching the end of their lives...

 

whoever manage's zep's money will give em enough to shut em up and that'll be the last you hear about this

[theredtamasrule]

Though they sound very similar, a descending line...arpeggio...cadence....whathaveyou...like that is hardly original or groundbreaking. You strum around on a guitar for any length of time you'll pull out a progression like Stairway, it's natural I think and I don't think Taurus wins if they sue.

[Ancient Ways]

It's not the same, not even close. They are both arpegiatting figures and share a tiny element: they both have a section that has A to Ab to G with different notes played in between. In fact, Taurus has a repeating figure with the bottom strings B and E being played open together while stairway doesn't have this. Also, while spirit continues with this descending figure to F#, F and finally an open D, stairway switches from the (very brief) descending motif into a chord change to D and then F add E chord. There is no way I could be convinced this is plagiarism.

[custom55]

If Stairway was not a huge musical hit, we would not be discussing this. Edited May 21, 2014 by custom55

[H. P. L.]

spirit knew about this, everyone's known about this forever. it's just, now spirit needs some money and probably wants a little relevancy because they're reaching the end of their lives...

 

whoever manage's zep's money will give em enough to shut em up and that'll be the last you hear about this

 

Actually 3 key members of Spirit have been dead for a while: keyboardist John Locke, drummer Ed Cassidy (Randy California's stepfather) and California himself, who drowned saving his son's life.

 

The ones doing the sueing are bassist Mark Andes and the Randy California Foundation, and of course they are doing it now because Zep are re-re-re-re-releasing their discography for the 100000 time (not a money grab in itself, of course not).

Now, a small Foundation needs money, no doubt about it. As for Andes, I tend to think this is all driven by lawyers much more than the actual people involved in this. Even because, if the article is true, most of the hypothetical money would go to Lou Adler, former band producer.

 

Randy knew and I like to think that he never sued because it was against his ethical behaviour. If you read the article, it says that he was on the fringe of poverty in his later years (a very sad fact nonetheless) but still all he did was playing for food.

 

That said, as a fan, I'd love to see his name credited. Just that.

[H. P. L.]

If Stairway was not a huge musical hit, we would not be discussing this.

So we'd have more free time to discuss 2015 set lists.