Led Zeppelin “Stairway to Heaven” legal issues…redux

A couple of days ago (you can read it here) I noted the similarities between what is arguably Led Zeppelin’s most famous song, Stairway to Heaven, and Spirit’s Taurus and how a judge has ruled that a copyright infringement lawsuit can go forward against Led Zeppelin regarding this most famous song.

Now comes Paul Campos for Salon.com to defend Led Zeppelin:

Led Zeppelin are not thieves: Stairway to Heaven fight rests on a nearly impossible copyright standard

In my post, frankly, I sided with the late Randy Wolfe, aka Randy California, the man who wrote Taurus and whose estate is now suing Led Zeppelin for copyright infringement.  I presented the below video which shows the similarities between the two songs:

I still believe Led Zeppelin took the riffs from Taurus in the creation of Stairway to Heaven but I have to give Mr. Campos credit for opening the argument up a little.

While he notes Led Zeppelin had taken material from others, it is clear, even to me, that Stairway to Heaven is far more than those very similarly sounding Taurus opening cords.

That being the case, it is to Mr. Campos’ credit that he has swayed my opinion, if only a little.  While I still feel it obvious Led Zeppelin “appropriated” those opening chords for Stairway to Heaven, it is equally obvious they created something far more intricate than those opening few seconds of music with their song.

Further, if Randy Wolfe, the artist who actually created Taurus, didn’t bother to sue Led Zeppelin for copyright infringement during his lifetime (again, this lawsuit was brought about by the Wolfe estate), then perhaps this is the strongest testament to the fact that he as an artist didn’t feel Led Zeppelin “robbed” him.

As with so many other things, we’ll see what happens…