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Led Zeppelin sued over Stairway To Heaven
Henne Music ^ | May 19, 2014

Posted on 05/19/2014 9:21:33 PM PDT by ConservativeStatement

Led Zeppelin are being accused plagiarising the introduction of their iconic 1971 anthem, “Stairway To Heaven”, in a new lawsuit brought by the estate of Spirit guitarist Randy California and members of the band.

Business Week reports the estate – and group’s members – believe the acoustic introduction to “Stairway” was lifted from their 1968 instrumental, “Taurus.”

(Excerpt) Read more at hennemusic.com ...


TOPICS: Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: music; plagiarism; rockandroll; worstrocksongever; zeppelin
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To: Jeff Chandler

T = I


101 posted on 05/20/2014 7:06:12 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Hillary may have brain damage, but what difference does it make?)
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To: Jeff Chandler

But I’ve got dibs on all the augmented chords.


102 posted on 05/20/2014 7:07:25 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: martin_fierro

Couple of similarities but yeah it’s a pretty big stretch.


103 posted on 05/20/2014 7:11:02 AM PDT by Wyatt's Torch
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To: dfwgator

I like chords which are naturally robust, without chord augmentation surgery.


104 posted on 05/20/2014 7:11:54 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler (Hillary may have brain damage, but what difference does it make?)
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To: lurk

I think there has been some ambiguity over time. Plant, the lead singer, has often downplayed the son’s general significance and has cited other works as his personal favorites (”Kashmir” being one example).

However, Wikipedia has a detailed offering here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stairway_to_Heaven


105 posted on 05/20/2014 7:14:07 AM PDT by ConservativeStatement ("World Peace 1.20.09.")
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To: ConservativeStatement

TYPO: song’s (not son’s).


106 posted on 05/20/2014 7:14:59 AM PDT by ConservativeStatement ("World Peace 1.20.09.")
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To: ConservativeStatement

I honestly think that Children of Dune ripped off from Deep Blue Sea was a lot closer:

Deep Blue Sea
http://youtu.be/yhWkI1TZSPQ?t=11m30s

Children of Dune
http://youtu.be/zGYiX1beDlk?t=8m15s

But then, Brian Tyler rips off even himself on occasion.


107 posted on 05/20/2014 7:50:58 AM PDT by RandallFlagg (Uninstall Fascist Firefox. Get Pale Moon.)
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To: ConservativeStatement

What about the George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” and the Chiffon’s “He’s So Fine”?

I believe the ruling was Harrison “subconsciously” plagiarized the song.

I’m still not sure what that means.


108 posted on 05/20/2014 8:16:39 AM PDT by Verbosus (/* No Comment */)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

Supreme Court just overturned the Ninth Circus on this sort of thing. The estate of one of the screenwriters of Raging Bull sued MGM over copyright infringement. MGM sited ‘laches’ as the reason the suit had no merit (laches is the legal term that describes ‘waiting too long to sue’.

SCOTUS basically said that lawsuits are expensive, and waiting to see what happened in the market was appropriate, even if it took a while.

To win, now, you have to show there was no infringement. Waiting too long is out.


109 posted on 05/20/2014 8:25:53 AM PDT by RinaseaofDs (.)
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To: nickcarraway
I remember seeing a song from the 40s calles Stairway to Heaven, but can't remember who preformed or wrote it.

There's a 1960 song by Neil Sedaka called "Stairway to Heaven," but it's a doo-wop song and clearly no influence on Zeppelin.

110 posted on 05/20/2014 8:29:10 AM PDT by RansomOttawa (tm)
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To: ConservativeStatement
Led Zeppelin opened for Spirit for a time, so it's not beyond the realm of possibility. The chord progression and arpeggios, while not identical, are very similar.

I'd be inclined to think Spirit has a case. Zeppelin also had a reputation for copying old blues songs without credit. I'm actually more curious why it's taken them over 40 years to decide to sue.

111 posted on 05/20/2014 8:38:42 AM PDT by RansomOttawa (tm)
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To: nickcarraway

How old are you Nick?

Honestly

56 here

14 when the ubiquitous Stairway came out

What music do you like just to give perspective...


112 posted on 05/20/2014 8:42:30 AM PDT by wardaddy (we will not take back our way of life through peaceful means.....i have 5 kids....i fear for them)
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To: nickcarraway

How old are you Nick?

Honestly

56 here

14 when the ubiquitous Stairway came out

What music do you like just to give perspective...


113 posted on 05/20/2014 8:44:12 AM PDT by wardaddy (we will not take back our way of life through peaceful means.....i have 5 kids....i fear for them)
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To: ConservativeStatement

Plagiarizing music riffs is so... analog.


114 posted on 05/20/2014 8:47:33 AM PDT by Tallguy
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I found out that Mark Andes and the estate of Randy California were making the suit. Randy California was the son in law of Ed Cassidy, the drummer of Spirit. Andes stated that he wanted California to get recognition for writing the opening music for STH. I read years ago and cannot come up with the source that California and Page swapped licks often and California showed Page the progression. I have wondered for years why there wasn't a suit for this issue. California also taught Van Halen tapping on the fretboard for unique sounds. California and Hendrix played together in Greenwich Village and it was Hendrix that gave Randy his nickname "California".

Pink copied music from Spirit's Fresh Garbage for the theme song for Charlie's Angel but gave California and the members of Spirit writing credits.

115 posted on 05/20/2014 10:51:05 AM PDT by vetvetdoug
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To: Norm Lenhart

The “best” of both worlds...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT0x0aNRkUs


116 posted on 05/20/2014 5:16:00 PM PDT by rockrr (Everything is different now...)
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To: null and void

I know I’m late responding to this, but.....”Stairway to Gilligan’s Island”...it’s sick......no....really sick....Ha...actually I laughed out loud...what a crazy combo...my hat [if I was wearing one] is off to you sir...ha ! ....again I say HA !


117 posted on 06/20/2014 6:23:31 PM PDT by virgil283 (GOD loves you...'He's not mad....He's not even in a bad mood'...)
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To: tumblindice
I never thought of that before. Why didn't the folks on Gilligan's Island just fix the boat? All they had to do was fix the boat and guess what? No sitcom. No Skipper and Gilligan hijinks. No movie star and no professor and no Mary Anne. No Thurston Howell with his funny hat and stacks of money.

With regard to "Stairway to Heaven" - I favor the Dolly Parton version. Seriously. Look it up on the YouTube.

118 posted on 06/20/2014 6:42:42 PM PDT by SamAdams76
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To: SamAdams76
Why didn't the folks on Gilligan's Island just fix the boat?

There was an episode that dealt with this. Gilligan made a pancake syrup that turned out to be a super glue. The professor patched the boat with Gilligan's glue and just before they were to set sail, the glue completely disintegrated the boat.

119 posted on 06/20/2014 6:50:35 PM PDT by aomagrat (Gun owners who vote for democrats are too stupid to own guns.)
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To: cartoonistx

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_LED_ZEPPELIN_COPYRIGHT_SUIT?SITE=NMALJ&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


120 posted on 04/11/2016 7:08:05 PM PDT by jaydubya2
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