Are you following the Led Zeppelin “Stairway to Heaven” plagiarism trial? Then you’ll want to see this.

September 25, 2019 Alan Cross 3 Comments

Five years on, the estate of Randy California of the band Spirit is still trying to prove that Jimmy Page blatantly ripped off elements of a 1968 instrument called “Taurus” for use in the intro to some song called “Stairway to Heaven.”

The first trial ended with a victory for Zeppelin, but that was then overturned on appeal. And here we are again in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

There are eleven(!!!) judges presiding this time. And if you’ve ever wanted to see how one of these musical plagiarism trials work, watch this.

Thanks to Pamela for the link.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

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3 thoughts on “Are you following the Led Zeppelin “Stairway to Heaven” plagiarism trial? Then you’ll want to see this.”

David McDonald

September 25, 2019 at 11:46 am
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Rik Emmett deconstructs both songs and states that they’re definitely not the same (albeit they’re similar) in the following video… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT64JH-Vh98
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Colin Kirkpatrick

September 26, 2019 at 11:10 am
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A chord progression cannot be copyrighted.
The descending chords appear in lots of compositions. The Mary Poppins Chim Chiminy song has them.
Where does this end?
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Piero Ferrari

September 27, 2019 at 9:59 am
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Closing Argument from Zeppelin’s laser says it all. Listen to “Ice Cream Dreams” By Cartoone . Jimmy used Chromatic Decending Chords before he had heard Taurus.
Case closed.
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