FlyerTon Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 A row that the intro of one of their most well known songs, may have been 'lifted' from 'Taurus' by the band 'Spirit' Here's a vid of the song in question and then the Led Zep song after that. http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/apr/12/stairway-to-heavens-opening-chords-may-have-been-stolen-judge-says Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Nederlander Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 A row that the intro of one of their most well known songs, may have been 'lifted' from 'Taurus' by the band 'Spirit' Here's a vid of the song in question and then the Led Zep song after that. http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/apr/12/stairway-to-heavens-opening-chords-may-have-been-stolen-judge-says I'd say they have a case, especially since both bands toured together, there's definately a similarity. Zeppelin lifted and covered a great deal of other peoples music but generally they acknowledged it − this omission could cost them millions − we'll probably see a one−off concert or a wee tour now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zen Archer (Raconteur) Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 I've listened to both and it seems to me that the song remains the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillonearth Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 Zeppelin were notorious plagiarists more or less throughout their career - most of their shtick certainly in the early years was heavying up old blues songs with no credit given to the original author. Their real genius was what they then did with the lifted source material. Here's a few examples: The odd one here is why it's take the members of Spirit from the late 60s to cotton on and raise an action. It's not like they can't have heard Stairway to Heaven before now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sureiknow Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 Indeed! Guilty your Honour. I remember there were costs awarded against the group Men At Work for partly copying Land Down Under. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black and White Tragic Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 If they were touring together who's to say that Led Zep weren't playing around with that intro when they were backstage/rehearsing but were figuring out where to go with it and the other band nicked it? Nearly all music has similarities, where does it end? The majority of STH has no similarities at all to the other record. Next someone will be saying that Ice Ice Baby was ripped off of something else... Unless there is something which is an exact copy e.g. A sample, used in a record or it is a cover version then there should be no case to answer. Would there have been a Blurred Lines case if it hadn't been a hit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmontheloknow Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 Samples are completely different.. If you borrow a progression or melody you're potentially in bother. I remember Oasis had to pulp the early presses of What's The Story because a song ripped off Stevie Wonder's Alright - Noel plainly didn't see that one coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black and White Tragic Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 Samples are completely different.. If you borrow a progression or melody you're potentially in bother. I remember Oasis had to pulp the early presses of What's The Story because a song ripped off Stevie Wonder's Alright - Noel plainly didn't see that one coming. So how many notes have to be in sequence before it's considered as plagiarism? The Led Zep case isn't even an exact clone and appears to have a variation in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arch Stanton Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 Unless there is something which is an exact copy e.g. A sample, used in a record or it is a cover version then there should be no case to answer. Would there have been a Blurred Lines case if it hadn't been a hit? I always wondered about The Verve having to give up all the royalties to Bittersweet Symphony to former Rolling Stones manager Allan Klein, surely it couldn't have sounded that similar to the orchestral version of The Last Time? Well, listen to this... https://youtu.be/9YrllfAMwHI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet Pete Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 Samples are completely different.. If you borrow a progression or melody you're potentially in bother. I remember Oasis had to pulp the early presses of What's The Story because a song ripped off Stevie Wonder's Alright - Noel plainly didn't see that one coming. So how many notes have to be in sequence before it's considered as plagiarism? The Led Zep case isn't even an exact clone and appears to have a variation in it. Two of the guys from The Hollies sued Radiohead for pinching the chord prgoression from The Air That I Breathe for Creep, they were awarded partial songwriting credits for Creep as a result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shandon Par Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 Don't mean to Ramble On but this reminds me of the Guns n Roses case from last year (Sweet Child O' Mine)... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WILLIEA Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 If they were touring together who's to say that Led Zep weren't playing around with that intro when they were backstage/rehearsing but were figuring out where to go with it and the other band nicked it? Nearly all music has similarities, where does it end? The majority of STH has no similarities at all to the other record. Next someone will be saying that Ice Ice Baby was ripped off of something else... Unless there is something which is an exact copy e.g. A sample, used in a record or it is a cover version then there should be no case to answer. Would there have been a Blurred Lines case if it hadn't been a hit? Spot on. The Eagles were accused of pinching Hotel California from Jethro Tull. This was Ian Andersons take on it. Was Hotel California based on a Jethro Tull song? Ian Anderson: "It was a piece of music that we were playing around the time... I believe it was late '71, maybe early '72 when we were on tour and we had a support band who had been signed up for the tour, and subsequently, before the tour began, had a hit single. The song, I believe, called "Take It Easy." And they were indeed the Eagles. We didn't interact with them very much because they were countrified laid back polite rock, and we were a bit wacky and English and doing weird stuff. And I don't think they liked us, and we didn't much like them. There was no communication, really, at all. Just a polite observance of each other's space when it came to sound checks and show time. But they probably heard us play the song, because that would have featured in the sets back then, and maybe it was just something they kind of picked up on subconsciously, and introduced that chord sequence into their famous song "Hotel California" sometime later. But, you know, it's not plagiarism. It's just the same chord sequence. It's in a different time signature, different key, different context. And it's a very, very fine song that they wrote, so I can't feel anything other than a sense of happiness for their sake. And I feel flattered that they came across that chord sequence. But it's difficult to find a chord sequence that hasn't been used, and hasn't been the focus of lots of pieces of music. It's harmonic progression is almost a mathematical certainty you're gonna crop up with the same thing sooner or later if you sit strumming a few chords on a guitar. There's certainly no bitterness or any sense of plagiarism attached to my view on it, although I do sometimes allude, in a joking way, to accepting it as a kind of tribute. It's a bit like this tribute Rolex that I'm wearing" I think the Spirit guys just spent all their money on bad weed or something and are looking to ease their twilight years a bit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fullerene Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 The website www.whosampled.com is good for seeing who borrowed from who. The riff from Black Night (Deep Purple) is borrowed from Summer Time (Ricky Nelson) Summer Time in turn was a cover of a song by Helen Jepson (Porgy and Bess) - also covered by Louis Armstrong. Apparently Deep Purple were needing a new single. Ritchie Blackmore starting playing Summer Time by Ricky Nelson Another band member said "Hey that's good" Ritchie replied "Can't use it - It is Summer Time by Ricky Nelson" The reply was "Oh shit - I have never heard of him" - so they used it! I also like the story of George Harrison. "My Sweet Lord" borrows from "He's so Fine" (by the Chiffons) George Harrison avoided a court case by buying the rights to "He's so fine"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harlowspider Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 In the 1980's Saul Zaentz, owner of Fantasy Records and holder of the publishing rights for the entire Creedence Clearwater Revival catalogue, unsuccessfully sued John Fogerty for plagiarising himself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DA Baracus Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shandon Par Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 Dundonians are not above it... Bob the Builder - closing riff at 0.44 secs.. The View - Same Jeans - closing riff at 3.35 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillonearth Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 In the 1980's Saul Zaentz, owner of Fantasy Records and holder of the publishing rights for the entire Creedence Clearwater Revival catalogue, unsuccessfully sued John Fogerty for plagiarising himself. I still think the funniest one was Geffen suing Neil Young for putting out records that didn't sound like Neil Young. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Granny Danger Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 Is there any explanation given as to why it has taken 45 years for someone to notice this similarity or at least to do something about it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paranoid android Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 The irony is that Robert Plant hates Stairway. If Spirit are suing over Stairway, they should sue Clapton for this too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXDf9UwHGF4 The Taurus/Stairway case is contentious - Page's lift of Dazed and Confused from Jake Holmes is damning. I thought the many Zep alleged plagiarism had been settled out of court years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE KING Posted April 13, 2016 Share Posted April 13, 2016 The website www.whosampled.com is good for seeing who borrowed from who.The riff from Black Night (Deep Purple) is borrowed from Summer Time (Ricky Nelson)Summer Time in turn was a cover of a song by Helen Jepson (Porgy and Bess) - also covered by Louis Armstrong.Apparently Deep Purple were needing a new single.Ritchie Blackmore starting playing Summer Time by Ricky NelsonAnother band member said "Hey that's good"Ritchie replied "Can't use it - It is Summer Time by Ricky Nelson"The reply was "Oh shit - I have never heard of him" - so they used it!I also like the story of George Harrison."My Sweet Lord" borrows from "He's so Fine" (by the Chiffons)George Harrison avoided a court case by buying the rights to "He's so fine"! Ricky Nelson and Louis Armstrong covered 'Summertime'?...add at least another 30'000 names to that list , it's the most covered song in history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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