Led Zeppelin Targeted for Plagiarism
While Led Zeppelin were a singular and exceptional rock combo worthy of their gargantuan reputation, they were also notoriously wretched thieves; particularly on their first album.
“Dazed and Confused,” for example, does not merely resemble the 1967 song of the same title by singer-songwriter Jake Holmes; it is the same song, released originally without crediting its source. Bert Jansch, Willie Dixon, Joan Baez, and many others found their compositions, lyrics, and/or arrangements brazenly liberated by Jimmy Page (PeekYou profile here), and company, as Zeppelin quickly captured the imagination of stoned teenagers the world-over, and became gazillionaires with their partially appropriated repertoire.
Soon enough they would find their own unmistakable sound, and Page’s gifts as a composer and arranger would reveal themselves as substantial. Even still, a riff or two found its way in, as they will.
No song in Zeppelin’s catalog — jam-packed with FM radio standards as it is — is either more popular or associated not only with Zeppelin, but all of 70s rock, than “Stairway to Heaven” (a couple match it, but none surpass it); their 8 minute paean to bustles, hedgerows, and May queens. It is by no means a new discovery that “Stairway”‘s instrumental introduction more than passingly recalls — in both music and sound — a song called “Taurus” by the band Spirit.
The surviving members of Zeppelin (Page, Robert Plant (PeekYou profile here), and John Paul Jones) — and the machine behind them — are busy promoting this upcoming June’s high-profile and elaborate reissues of their first three albums. Alexander Molofiy, a lawyer representing deceased Spirit guitarist Randy California, wants to prevent the planned, subsequent release of Led Zeppelin IV, the album on which “Stairway” appears.
“The idea behind this is to make sure that Randy California is given a writing credit on ‘Stairway to Heaven,'” Malofiy said. “It’s been a long time coming.”
It is known that Zeppelin played shows with Spirit where “Taurus” was part of Spirit’s setlist. Also, Zeppelin used to, in part, cover a different Spirit song in concert; a song from the same album as “Taurus.”
Randy California said of the alleged lift, not long before he died, that “Stairway to Heaven” was a “rip-off.” “The guys made millions of bucks on it and never said ‘Thank you,’ never said, ‘Can we pay you some money for it?’ It’s kind of a sore point with me. Maybe someday their conscience will make them do something about it.”
A YouTube user named TotallySoundsLike has kindly put the two tracks side-by-side enabling you to make up your mind for yourself.
And some more…