Led Zeppellin

777RockNRollin says:

Zep ripped it – Period ! ,… Spirit an awesome pretty much forgotten
brilliant band ,….but I fuckin’ know the feeling ,…

Eryk Gembalik says:

A lawyer and a Rocker! The ideal man for making this video!

777RockNRollin says:

Fuck Zeppelin ,..I mainly only like Zep 1 and 2 ,..the rest is shit ,.. and
the fact that Jimmy Page came out of the Yardbirds and the Swinging London
Scene in the 60’s ,… Jeff beck and Clapton have way more soul ,….

TheOldOakSyndicate says:

Did Led Zeppelin ever have to pay any money to Jake Holmes?

jt says:

Anyone who has ever sued or tried to sue Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin for
plagarism, ought to be paying and even thanking them for the fact that
their songs were re-invented and introduced to new generations. Without Led
Zeppelin’s versions of those songs,they may not have otherwise ever been
heard or made as famous as what some of them have become. The musicians who
have sued, owe Jimmy Page’s genius mind a debt of gratitude. He has openly
stated in many interviews how much he admired the old blues music and the
music from the south. If one would choose to understand Jimmy Page’s point
of view, then one would also understand that those artists are the ones who
inspired him to want to play the guitar. So much so that he wanted to
re-invent their music, so that it could be introduced to an entirely
different audience. Jimmy wasnt trying to steal their music. He is an
artist who was inspired to try to raise the caliber of that music to a
whole new level to pay homage to the ones who came before him. The entire
music world owes Jimmy Page a debt of gratitude for having the foresight to
produce a band that looked and sounded like Led Zeppelin! They single
handedly changed the face and the future of blues and rock music. Just take
a look at every rock band that has come along since, and you will see a
lead guitar player, lead singer, drummer and bass player, who obviously are
trying to immulate the greatest band in the history of rock and roll! Why?
Because they have been inspired by Led Zeppelin so much so that they want
to re- invent what they did and take that to yet another level. So, should
Led Zeppelin sue someone for being inspired by them? They have way too much
class for that, and besides, they dont need someone else’s money 40 years
later. This isnt an opinion, it is a fact. Led Zeppelin are the greatest
selling band of all time. They were the first, the best, and they will
always be! “Thank you” Jimmy Page, for your contribution to the modern
music world! I, for one, understand and very much appreciate your life’s
work. Case closed.

Gilberto Albino says:

Spirit has a beautiful music, however, Stairway to Heaven is way much
better, and by far an immitation from Taurus. This is so ridiculous to say
that a song was stolen just for some chord sequences are the same… What
if Blues, Country, and Jazz bands would search for similarities in Blues,
Country, and Jazz Music? They would all have to wash dishes to pay the
bill!

MaggaraMarine says:

The thing is, all musicians “rip off” other musicians. That’s how music
evolves. You are influenced by other bands and write something new. Try
writing a song without never having heard songs before. I bet you couldn’t
come up with anything. Of course some songs have more obvious influences
than others and some songs sound really close to each other.

There’s definitely similarities between the two riffs. They are the same
tempo. The rhythm is similar. The chords are similar. But there are so many
songs that use the same chords. I would just say Stairway to Heaven was
inspired by Taurus. But if you look at other parts of the songs, they don’t
sound any similar. It is just one chord progression! I mean, how many 4
chord songs are there? How many songs are there that use almost the same
riff as “2 Minutes to Midnight”?

What makes this so stupid is that they decided to sue Led Zeppelin now. I
mean, I’m pretty sure they have heard Stairway to Heaven many times before
and heard the similarities. If they thought it was a rip off, why didn’t
they sue Led Zeppelin when the song was released? That would have made a
lot more sense. But even then I wouldn’t have agreed with it.

eugene poteet says:

Good Essay ! Very Informative but although the intro is similar they are
two different songs. I also heard a George Benson song has a similar intro.
This suit is groundless. Taurus really never moves but Stairway to Heaven
does. I guess the pressures of the cyber age which is ruining the
economic incentive of the creative arts is bringing all this about. AND
YES YOU TUbe is a contributor.

A. Mairican says:

Thank you so much for this video with everything going on around this
controversy nobody but real experts would know about the part in something
in the way she moves very cool.
Now, did Jimmy borrow? 🙂 better than anybody in history for my money. The
funny part for me about this is I never liked stairway to heaven much,
black dog was the first song do you ever introduced me to Led Zeppelin and
I would wear the grooves out on that along with when the levee breaks and
ramble on and would skip over stairway to heaven I thought it was just
because they played on the radio so much but I never cared for it except on
the live album.
Point is most Zeppelin songs we’re borrowing heavily but watch them when
they were all 20 the black and white footage from Earls Court and deny that
that band could smoke anybody to ever step foot on stage

tankrulez615 says:

Yeah a judge allowed for the lawsuit to persue now. I honestly think its
crap.

ProjectFlashlight612 says:

Yes, they did rip it off. It is very very obvious that they did.. I just
saved you ten minutes. You’re welcome.

IndisputableAttitude says:

OK, so assuming the song was totally ripped off. The Taurus song was very
much available all this time and had run its course as far as sales go. In
other words, it peaked and then declined into oblivion. Led Zeppelin
didn’t rob them of any money because Spirit got its share of the market,
and Led Zeppelin got the share it was deserved because they played it
better and toured harder and packaged it better. So, when I hear the term
“damages” I want to see damages, something physical. To me, Spirit first
waited far too long (42 years) and they had every opportunity to say
something. And, it’s impossible to determine what portion of the music
buying public chose LZ at the expense of Spirt. Finally, it looks like LZ
and Spirit had a gentleman’s agreement over this. If they were touring
together, they were living together and therefore this dispute would have
been already resolved. Spirit just wants someone else’s money.

univibe23 says:

I always go back to an interview I read in Guitar Player magazine in the
early 70’s with the then Guitar God Ritchie Blackmore and at the end of the
interview he was asked to give some advise to young ‘up and
coming’/aspiring guitar players and he said “yeah, just steal all you can
from anybody you can” somewhat paraphrasing here. And he said there’s
nothing new under the sun. I immediately found that extremely liberating
and–it’s so damm true!! And by the way Chuck Berry could sue nearly every
rock band from his time on!!

Joel Vaughn says:

If I were the judge hearing this case I would charge this jackass from
spirit with contempt of court and throw his ass in jail for wasting my time
and the taxpayers money.

l'Hawaiiano Sempre Genoano says:

Led Zeppelin were so great but they were involved into many copyright.
There are not any riff from the music of THE WHo that sound similar to that
one of other artists
For this reason i consider the Who above the Led.
Led Zeppelin Shame on You!

1drible says:

you are a giant Dbag

William Oney says:

This crap is just ridiculous. If you want money, produce something people
want, don’t leech off of someone else who has given people what they
wanted. If this is a rip-off then all artists rip each other off. A
progression is a progression. There are only so many patterns you can come
up with that appeal to people. Art deals with composition and expression.
To me this argument is like, well, one artist used yellow and cyan and
green in their piece and another artist used the same colors and ripped
them off. But the first artist paints a picture of a sunset and the 2nd
artist paints a picture of the apocalypse. Did the 2nd artist rip the
first one off because they used the same colors? Even if they used the
same brushes, the same thickness of canvas, the same stroke techniques –
doesn’t really matter to me because the first artist did not give me what
the 2nd artist gave me. When you look at the finished product, you’re
ending up with 2 ENTIRELY different outcomes; unique outcomes. I don’t
think you should be able to say, oh THAT riff is MY riff and if anyone
generates anything even CLOSE to that riff, they must pay me. It’s just a
riff. It’s just a pattern and chances are you and everyone else has
already heard the core of that pattern thousands of times before for
centuries whether you realize it or not. Can I say oh, the progression G,
Am, F, C is my progression, that’s mine, you can’t use it. That
progression is used in well over 1000 top songs, especially in the 50’s to
the 70’s and even still today. So how can you put a claim on that? I
admit the two songs sound pretty similar in that one area. But am I going
to sit and listen to Taurus all day, hell no. It stirs little emotion if
any for me, it’s bland and boring, like they took brown and green and
painted a picture of a cartoon canoe with it. It does not even come close
to providing the inspiration I feel when I listen to Stairway to Heaven.
So what value does that riff have? None. It has no value in itself and
being able to lay claim to a riff is just a ridiculous concept to me. If
that’s the case, then I’m claiming A,B,C,D,E,F and G as my chords, if you
want to use those chords or any variation of them in your song (minors and
7ths, etc), then you need to pay me royalties.

rhart123 says:

This is not clearly a ripoff in my opinion. Similar yes, but not direct
theft of the exact same chord progression.

axe2grind911 says:

In 1970, I owned a copy of this Spirit album, and remember several of the
songs such as “Fresh Garbage”, “Uncle Jack”, and “Girl in Your Eye”, but
this song “Taurus” was completely forgettable, and in fact I barely
remember it when hearing it today. So if Page started with one of Randy’s
chord progs and built one of the biggest rock classics of all time around
it, then Randy certainly did deserve a PARTIAL writing credit. If I’m on a
jury, I’d credit him with a couple % points, but that’s it. Taurus is just
a starting idea and a building block for something so much greater. The
real issue that I see with regard to a lawsuit is that Randy never chose to
exercise his right to claim partial ownership in the piece and chose not to
do so for the rest of his life. This implies that Zep had his consent for
whatever reason to use his opening 4 arpeggios. It’s not as though Randy
was unaware of the song with the most airplay in history at that time. This
is how I would defend this case against the greedy heirs of California:
Implied Consent. 

Brett Johnson says:

First of all, this is a completely ridiculous suit. Jimmy’s too nice a guy
but here’s what he could do. Pay someone to file numerous frivolous
lawsuits against Spirit. All music comes from somewhere. Their song didn’t
cut it. Jimmy’s did.

Edward L. says:

“How Many More Times” will Zep get sued for plagiarism?

Peter Garcia says:

Why did they wait so long? The existence of a notorious thug called Peter
Grant may have had something to do with that. Bearing in mind that he
regularly beat the shit out of anyone who so much as looked at him in a way
he didn’t like, heaven knows what he would have done (or have others do) to
someone who took his band to court.

Jake Holmes waited a similarly long time to take action over the blatant
theft by LZ of his song “Dazed and Confused”, btw.

And The Beatles’ “Something” came out after “Taurus”, so not really a good
example there.

Fakename70 says:

Hey, before they became headliners, didn’t Zep support or at least share a
bill with Spirit? If so, with Pagey’s rep as a guy who is/was known for
making mental notes for future usage, I could totally picture him lurking
around backstage while Spirit did their set or sound checked and cocking
his ear at that passage.

Sheimer says:

good analysis