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 ...
I remember “Stairway to Paradise” from the 40s,but not the other one.
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Awfully damned close! If they can prove that Page heard this, on record or in concert, they’ve got a case.
This is an exponentially further stretch than Vanilla Ice stealing Queens song.
STAIRWAY TO THE STARS (Parish-Malnek-Signorelli)?
It says the band opened for Spirit in the 1960s and heard the song, and they played other songs they heard by Spirit.
I thought it sounded like "Run Through The Jungle".
There’s a huge grey area of songs that vaguely suggest other songs. It’s like the software biz and patents, there would be enough potential debatable material to keep the scene totally locked up in court forever, but most participants walk away from lawsuits in practice.
I think once they get their Danegeld, they’ll go away.
It’s been pretty well known that it was lifted for decades. Randy California would sometimes mock Page for stealing it. But depending on how you looked at it, he was either A) a Bohemian who didn’t give a crap about money; or B) an addict who couldn’t think clearly enough to figure out on how much money he was missing.
In either case, his heirs and the people handling his estate aren’t so forgiving of Page.
What is the world coming to?
Seven bars the same; I think that’s the test. They stole it.
There’s some virtue in being a Bohemian. Less money maybe, but less stress too. Heirs can upset that applecart.
The British 1946 Powell-Pressburger film also called ‘A Matter of Life and Death’. It’s great.
Some folks would have felt honored to have been considered worthy of “ripping” by an act that caught on like wildfire.
Some take umbrage and sue.
Usually the suing doesn’t take this long, however. Isn’t there a statute of limitations even for copyright actions?
Zeppelin and Spirit did tour together for awhile. I think it was swiped, but I don’t think Spirit had a problem with it at the time. I think Taurus is a very good song and it’s been on my playlist for a long time.
They were making cars out of bamboo and telephones from coconuts. Why didn’t they just fix the boat?
I’m not a copyright lawyer, or any type of lawyer, but my understanding from reading about this is that if they prevail they can only get a share of future royalties and back royalties starting three years before they filed the suit.
Spirit was a favorite of mine, and I saw them in concert a couple of times.
That album was their best, their oldest member was born in 1923.
“Cassidy was instantly recognizable by his shaven head (hence his nickname “Mr. Skin”) and his fondness for wearing black. He was around twenty years older than the rest of the group (born in 1923). His earlier career was primarily in jazz and included stints with Cannonball Adderley, Gerry Mulligan, Roland Kirk, Thelonious Monk and Lee Konitz. He was a founding member of Rising Sons with Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder.”
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