Yesterday the verdict in the case brought on by the estate of the late Randy Craig Wolfe of the band Spirit and against Led Zeppelin for copyright infringement vis a vis the song Stairway to Heaven and its similarity to Spirit’s Taurus was reached and Led Zeppelin was found not guilty.
When I first heard a comparison between Spirit’s Taurus and Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven, it was clear there were similarities. Strong ones. So strong that on an earlier post I was convinced Led Zeppelin must have swiped the material.
But listening to the longer clip above and reflecting (and reading) learned opinions regarding music creation and the use (and re-use) of certain notes over the years/centuries, my opinion changed.
There’s a saying that goes: “there’s nothing new under the sun” and, after so many years of civilization and artistic creation, this may well be true.
Any story you write will have echoes to others before it. Any movie made will build on the history of movie technique which came before it.
And any song created, likewise, is bound to have echoes of things that came before. While there are clear similarities between Taurus and Stairway to Heaven, it is equally clear, especially in the larger clip above, that Led Zeppelin and Spirit may have started their respective songs in a similar way but each song went in far different directions.
During his lifetime Randy Craig Wolfe, the man behind Taurus, didn’t bother to initiate a lawsuit against Led Zeppelin though he was the one who was most justified -if indeed he had perceived they had lifted his material- in doing so.
In the end, I believe the right verdict was rendered, even if initially I thought quite the opposite. The entire case becomes a footnote in the history of Led Zeppelin and their most famous song.
Ironically, in some small ways the lawsuit has had a positive effect on the works of the late Mr. Wolfe. Perhaps people will re-examine his career in light of this lawsuit, one he didn’t bring about himself.
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:
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…
For the most part and with very few exceptions, I love the music of Led Zeppelin. Their first six albums, from Led Zeppelin (or Led Zeppelin 1) through Physical Graffiti are, IMHO, stone cold classics and the three final albums that followed, Presence, In Through the Out Door, and the “bits and pieces” present in Coda are pretty damn good as well even if they aren’t, IMHO, quite as great as the songs in that first batch of albums.
Having said that, Led Zeppelin, unlike many other bands, has had its share of controversy regarding their music. More specifically, the group has been sued numerous times for allegedly “stealing” others’ music while making their own. In fact, if you do a simple search through youtube for Led Zeppelin musical “thefts” or “plagiarism” you’ll find stuff like this…
and this, which features several Led Zeppelin songs which, according to the video’s description, became the subject of court action with the judgment resulting in favor of those suing Led Zeppelin…
One of the last examples of Led Zeppelin plagiarism as presented in the above video concerns Stairway to Heaven, arguably Led Zeppelin’s most famous song, and its similarities to the band Spirit’s 1968 song Taurus. The below video focuses on those similarities…
Frankly, its hard to not hear the similarities between the compositions. Apparently, a judge hearing the case against Led Zeppelin brought forth by Michael Skidmore, a trustee for the late Randy Wolfe, aka Randy California, who was Spirit’s guitarist and the composer of Taurus, found enough similarities between the two songs to allow a copyright trial to go forward…
I believe Led Zeppelin was/is a great band. Further, I can see how some might defend the band by arguing there are only so many notes and cord progressions and that some songs can and will sound like others but that doesn’t mean there was an active attempt to steal anything, etc. etc. and etc.
But, come on, the examples above are more than just a case of “coincidental” creativity. In some cases, the band clearly took lyrics and the general sound of songs and made it their own.
Mind you, they did this brilliantly in many cases and subsequently created classic music…
…BUT, they did this by using something someone else created beforehand.
A great analysis of the legal issues behind this possible song theft can be found in this article by Oliver Herzfeld and presented on Forbes.com:
Setting aside many of the legal issues, one question that needs to be answered in a case involving theft of creative material is: Can it be determined the accused (in this case the band members of Led Zeppelin) had access or knew about the Spirit song before writing Stairway to Heaven?
In this case, the evidence is more than clear. From the article:
…there is ample evidence of access (to the Spirit song) since it is well-documented that the two groups performed together the day after Christmas 1968 and four additional times in 1969, all at concerts and festivals where Spirit played “Taurus.”
Ouch.
Anyway, I can’t help but feel Led Zeppelin is going to lose this one. Again, I love the band and I love their music and, yes, I absolutely love Stairway to Heaven and consider it a great song…
But the reality is to my ears elements of that song were directly lifted -or if you want to be mean about it, stolen– from Spirit’s Taurus and, that being the case, credit -and whatever monetary settlement- should be made to the original artist.
In some ways this diminishes my feelings about Led Zeppelin. Someone commented, based on these examples of song theft, if it is appropriate to consider Led Zeppelin a great “cover” band.
It’s a shame, really. I’ll still love Led Zeppelin’s work, but clearly their creativity at times involved lifting the works of others.
