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Stairway to plagiarism (slight return)


danswift

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Out of curiosity why do you say that Steve ? its not exactly the first time Led Zeppelin have been sued for plagiarism, I can guarantee you that theres a line around the block of musicians both dead and alive who would have loved to take them on in court if only they had the money and resources to do so, Led Zeppelin built their career on stealing other artists works and they made millions of pounds in the process,why do you think the concert footage and subsequent cd from the 02 arena took so long to be released ? it was litigation with Jake Holmes over the rightfull ownership of Dazed and Confused as Jimmy Page was still refuting Holmes' claims..and lets not forget the instances where Led Zep have had to pay out of court settlements to other artists and believe me there have been a few of those down the years,for one example Bob Moseley from Moby Grape springs immediately to mind,Robert Plant took entire verses Moseley had written and incorporated them into "since ive been loving you" and credited them to himself as his own work,thats wrong full stop,you know that Zeppelin were and are a gigantic cash cow for Atlantic Records and many people grew obscenely wealthy on the back of Zeps colossal record sales (I know this as fact because ive actually met some of these people in person) I know a record producer who lives in the most beautiful house ive ever been to out in Epsom,it literally backs out onto the racecourse there,his association with Zeppelin paid for that house,he told me and Deeswift that himself when we went to a party there in 1990,Atlantic and Zeppelin can well afford to pay these less fortunate artists which they stole from what is rightfully theirs,and so they should be made to do so .. Jimmy Page may be a great guitar player but hes also a deeply unpleasant human being & a ruthless corporate buisinessman and its a disgrace that its taken so long for this lawsuit to finally come to court in the first place IMO

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This song was originally recorded in 1927

 

 

Led zeppelin recorded it in 1975 for the Physical Graffiti Lp ,can you guess who were credited as the writers of the track ?

Page,Plant,Jones & Bonham. (AKA four rich white millionaires)

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RE: Mark Ronson. A friend of mine worked with him (he's in the Valerie video and played horns at the european shows in place of the Daptones). This guy really knew his stuff muscically but said Ronson was on some next level shit especially with in depth of knowlege of rare funk & soul stuff.

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@Dan - In the case of Stairway to Heaven, I think that at best you can argue that part of one song was inspired by part of the other, not that one is stolen from the other. A few similar descending arpeggios does not a theft make.

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@Dan - In the case of Stairway to Heaven, I think that at best you can argue that part of one song was inspired by part of the other, not that one is stolen from the other. A few similar descending arpeggios does not a theft make.

Is that why its regarded as probably the most iconic rock guitar riff of all time ,just because its a series of simple descending chords ? You make it sound as if its something a child in the infants school could compose,well personally I beg to differ and I truly believe that Jimmy Page copped that riff wholesale from Randy Canlifornia and I think he (Page)knows it also IMO, Spirit opened for Zeppelin on their first US tour,musical coincidence ?,I dont believe so.. its funny that anyone who seemed to do that ended up with a song that sounded just like one of their own compositions turning up on a Led Zeppelin lp as was also the case with both Jake Holmes and Moby Grape who "coincidentally" just happened to be Robert Plants favourite band..I think that anyone who reads just a casual appraisal of Led Zeppelin and their buisiness practices would come to the conclusion that they were a bunch of scumbags who treated more or less everyone they came into contact with pretty appallingly so it shouldnt come as too much of a suprise that they just happened to be a bunch of plagiarists as well

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Lol... :d ..then I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this,but I honestly think this will turn out in Randy California' and Spirits favour when all is said and done

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However it turns out, it's not going to help Randy California. He's been dead for 20 years.

 

He didn't own the copyright to the song when he was alive, so the lawsuit may fall on its arse through that alone. When once questioned about the similarities between the 2 riffs, he said "I'll let them have the beginning of Taurus for their song without a lawsuit". Led Zeppelin did open for Spirit 3 times, but they never played Taurus at any of those shows. There's also the laches defence, due to the large amount of time between the songs being released and the lawsuit being brought. And that's before you even get into whether there's substantial similarities between the songs that constitute theft.

 

Maybe there will be a settlement, but if LZ don't settle then I would bet on them winning.

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I'm in two minds about this. I don't really have time for distant relatives and aquaintences of dead celebrity musicians getting paid for their work long after they've gone. Also, I do think that the legal copyright nonsense and sampling laws are out of control and stifling creativity. But LZ were the biggest appropriators in the music game.

 

From one point of view, in blues, all the old artists copied and re-used lyrics and riffs from each other all the time. But LZ did take it very far and they did claim ownership and make a shitload of money from it along the way. Perhaps when big sums of money get involved it does change things?

 

You have to remember that Page had been in and behind the scenes of the music industry for nearly a decade by time he started LZ and where most 60s bands got totally screwed and made no money, despite their success, he went into LZ knowing what he was going to do. He's watched bright young hopefuls get big and get screwed and he even aided quite few of them via his session work which just got him a flat fee and the record label rich. I'm not condoning him at all, but I can see how his 60s experiences may have shaped him into the businessman he became. He was a cynic, but a cynic that was surviving in a cynical industry. Actually if you look at his whole career from session player onwards there's quite a good argument that the one thing he never had was his own original good ideas. He always relied on adding to, or refining someone else's.

 

What really grates me with him and LZ in general is that they will go on about what fans they are of all these old bluesman and other legendary artists who came before them, but they are more than happy to rip them off. Whereas the Stones made success and then went to Chess Records in awe, LZ just ripped off Willie Dixon so hard that had to give him a large out of court settlement (and only when they knew they were about to lose a big lawsuit).

 

So yeah, I see LZ for what they are. I do quite like some of the music the made or at least played. And there are other things about them as a band I admire, like the whole mystique thing they nutured and how they dealt with fame. But I see what goes on... TBH though, many musicians I really like for their music weren't great people.

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

If you ever happen to meet Mark Ronson by chance

just do the world a favour...

and kill him

 

Not sure I'd go that far, but Uptown Funk deserves at least some jail time...

 

preferably In a maximum security prison

in solitary confinement for 5 years & with no chance whatsoever of parole

 

And then they hang him

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If you ever happen to meet Mark Ronson by chance

just do the world a favour...

and kill him

Not sure I'd go that far, but Uptown Funk deserves at least some jail time...

preferably In a maximum security prison

in solitary confinement for 5 years & with no chance whatsoever of parole

 

And then they hang him

 

blimey, I feel sorry for anyone who crosses you ;-)

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  • 1 month later...

The jury — eight California citizens — delivered its verdict that the plaintiff owned the copyright to "Taurus" and that Led Zeppelin members indeed heard it, but that there was no substantial similarity in the extrinsic elements of "Taurus" and "Stairway." The decision came after the jury took one last listen of both songs. Within a half hour of doing so, the jury had made up its mind.

Led Zeppelin Wins 'Stairway to Heaven' Jury Trial

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I'm surprised. I'm all for chilling out on the copyright laws but based on case law I would have guessed it went the other way. It's a jury tho not a judge--always a crap shoot.

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Shame

 

Im not going to go into rant mode over this as ive already made my views on Led Zeppelin and this case pretty clear previously in the thread

 

But in the light of the previous plagarism claims made by other artists against LZ for appropriation of their work i think its the wrong decision personally but there you go

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  • 4 years later...
On 4/12/2016 at 3:47 AM, danswift said:

 

Supreme Court refused to hear the case. Seems like a rip to me but legally thats the end of it. 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/led-zeppelin-stairway-to-heaven-plagiarism-supreme-court/

 

Quote

Experts called by the plaintiffs at the lower court trial said there were substantial similarities between key parts of the two songs, but defense witnesses testified the chord pattern used in the melancholic guitar intro to "Stairway" was so commonplace that copyright didn't apply.

 

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