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

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

Blues and folk music have long been full of borrowing. But so has pop and rock -- and the legal standard is blurry.

PAUL CAMPOS

Just Backdated: STAIRWAY TO THE HIGH COURT

Just Backdated: STAIRWAY TO THE HIGH COURT: Like a nasty dose of some STD that simply won’t go away, the issue of whether or not Jimmy Page and, to a lesser extent, Robert Plant, ...

Who's Buying This 'Stairway to Heaven' Lawsuit?

Who's Buying This 'Stairway to Heaven' Lawsuit?: A 2014 lawsuit alleging that Led Zeppelin ripped off a lesser-known band to produce Stairway to Heaven will proceed to a jury trial, a California judge decided this week. The filing claims that Stairway's opening acoustic guitar part sounds almost identical to a portion of the song Taurus, written and performed by the American rock band Spirit. Writing in the complaint filed on behalf of the trust established in the name of Spirit's late vocalist, Randy Craig Wolfe, lawyer Francis Malofiy states that the similarities are obvious. Any reasonable observer, when comparing 'Taurus' and 'Stairway to Heaven,' must conclude that—at the very least—significant portions of the songs are nearly identical, the document reads. U.S. District Judge Gary Klausner bought the argument enough to allow the suit to proceed to trial. While the chord progression shared by the two songs is common in music, Klausner wrote in his opinion, the similarities here transcend this core structure. An expert for the plaintiff said some of those include musical accompaniment (the presence of acoustic guitar, strings recorder/flute sounds, and harpsichord) and the Renaissance style of both songs.

On This Day 11 April

The never ending Magick...

2010 11 April On This Day Jimmy Page went to a Bad Company concert at Wembley

2010 Paul Rodgers & Jimmy Page, Bad Company at Wembley (Ross Halfin photo)

• 1968 The Yardbirds-Boston,MA  at Boston Tea Party
• 1970 Led Zeppelin - St. Louis MO at Kiel Auditorium

Today is Mage Music's last daily On This Day post!  Last year I committed to providing a full year's worth, and now that it's done I won't post any more unless Jimmy Page's website offers some new ones. You can view each of them by clicking on the date in the right-hand navigation column.

Stay tuned for new posts here on the Mage Music blog about the music and Magick of Jimmy Page, as well as previews of new Mage Music projects. In the meantime, enjoy a few magazine covers featuring Jimmy Page over the years plus more of the best music in the world.

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♪  Baby Who's Driving Your Car (Jimmy Page, John Williams 1970) YouTube
♪  Asylum (Box of Frogs feat. Jimmy Page 1986) YouTube
♪  Writes of Winter (Jimmy Page, Outrider 1988) YouTube
♪  Absolution Blues (Coverdale/Page 1993) YouTube
♪  Depot Studio Session/Domino (Soundcloud)
♪  Domino (Jimmy Page, Net Aid East Rutherford NJ 1999) YouTube
♪  Kashmir (Page/Plant/Jones/Jason Bonham, O2 2007) YouTube
♪  Ramble On (Jimmy Page, It Might Get Loud 2008) YouTube
♪  Stairway to Heaven (Led Zeppelin, Sunset Sound Mix/Remaster 2014) YouTube

♪ Mage Music 1 playlist at YouTube
♪ Mage Music 2 playlist at YouTube
♪ Page & Plant playlist at YouTube

On This Day 10 April

Jimmy Page, fashionista

1977 10 April On This Day Stormtrooper outfit debut, Chicago

• 1968 The Yardbirds - Miami Beach FL at Thee Image Club (day 3 of 3)
• 1970 Led Zeppelin - Miami Beach FL at Miami Beach Convention Center
• 1977 Led Zeppelin - Chicago IL at Chicago Stadium (day 4 of 4)
• 1995 Page & Plant Unledded Tour - Boston MA at Boston Garden

1970:

Much was made in the press of the fact that there were now no opening acts for Led Zeppelin shows, and that the shows were 2 1/2 hours and more long. "We think people come to see us, not an unknown opening act," Jimmy Page was quoted as saying. "So we play the whole thing." Nevertheless this show was cut short, apparently due to conflict between fans who could not get into the sold-out performance and Miami Beach police.

1970 Led Zeppelin, Miami Beach

1977:
Serendipity: when something that happens seemingly not on purpose turns out to be a good thing.

The storm trooper outfit has generated much speculation over the years as to its symbolism, but to me there's a simple, if inelegant, explanation: Jimmy Page had food poisoning the night before. If you've ever agonized through it yourself you'll know what I mean when I say that the storm trooper outfit might have been what he had to wear until the white satin poppy suit was returned from the cleaners. Am I saying this is what actually happened? No. But maybe.

1977 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, Chicago

2004 April Player Magazine (Ross Halfin photo)

2014 Matt Cameron, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Tokyo (Ross Halfin photo)

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♪  Audience footage (Led Zeppelin, Chicago 10 April 1977) YouTube
♪  Gallows Pole (Page & Plant, Boston Garden 1995) YouTube

♪ Mage Music 1 playlist at YouTube
♪ Mage Music 2 playlist at YouTube
♪ Page & Plant playlist at YouTube

NOTICE: Tomorrow will be the last daily On This Day post as that will be a full year's worth. I won't post any more unless Jimmy Page's website offers some new ones. Stay tuned for new posts here on the Mage Music blog about the music and Magick of JIMMY PAGE and previews of new Mage Music projects!

On This Day 09 April

1969 09 April On This Day Led Zeppelin, Tolworth England at the Toby Jug

• 1968 The Yardbirds - Miami Beach FL at Thee Image Club (day 2 of 3)
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Tolworth England @ Toby Jug
• 1970 Led Zeppelin - Tampa FL at Curtis Hixon Hall
• 1977 Led Zeppelin - Chicago IL at Chicago Stadium (day 3 of 4)
• 1995 Page & Plant Unledded Tour - Boston MA at Boston Gardens

1970:
Check out how Jimmy Page handles Becks Bolero at approximately 7:00 in the How Many More Times medley in Tampa. What an extraordinary show that was.

1977:

Day three of Chicago, after a break due to the hockey game at the Chicago Stadium, and this night's show was cut short because our Mr. Page was sick with probable food poisoning.  "If I hadn't sat down I would have fallen over," he said. Various accounts have Jimmy Page swaying, dropping his pick, collapsing onto the drum riser or into a chair that a roadie had brought out for him, throwing up, and/or passing out. No wonder he looked so grumpy in the photos.

The show was to be rescheduled for August, with a promise by Jimmy Page published the next day in Circus to do an "all-request show", but it was not to be.

1977 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, Chicago

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♪  White Summer/Black Mountain Side (Led Zeppelin, Tampa 1970) YouTube

♪  Thank You (Led Zeppelin, Tampa 1970) YouTube

♪  How Many More Times (Led Zeppelin, Tampa 1970) YouTube
♪  Whole Lotta Love (Led Zeppelin, Tampa 1970) YouTube

♪ Mage Music 1 playlist at YouTube
♪ Mage Music 2 playlist at YouTube
♪ Page & Plant playlist at YouTube

NOTICE: April 11 will be the last daily On This Day post as that will be a full year's worth.  I won't post any more unless Jimmy Page's website offers some new ones. Stay tuned for new posts here on the Mage Music blog about the music and Magick of  JIMMY PAGE and previews of new Mage Music projects!

On This Day 08 April

...all will be revealed 

2004 08 April On This Day Jimmy Page visited the Cairo Museum

• 1968 The Yardbirds - Miami Beach FL at Thee Image Club (day 1 of 3)
• 1969 Led Zeppelin - Welwyn England at Bluesville 69 Club 
• 1970 Led Zeppelin - Raleigh NC at J.S. Dorton Arena 

1968 Jimmy Page / The Yardbirds, Miami Beach FL

1969:
"If Led Zeppelin plays ten times stronger than the Yardbirds, the sound is similar. In that, it is primarily the group of Jimmy Page. Hopefully the Led Zeppelin will also be appreciated that the Yardbirds were in their time."
~Bruno Ducourant, Rock & Folk, No. 29, 5/69

1969 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, Welwyn England

1970:
Unlike most rock concerts, the audience spent a great portion of the show saluting the solos in standing ovations.
~Steve A. Jones

1970 Jimmy Page / Led Zeppelin, Raleigh NC

1977 Jimmy Page, Shirley Dixon, Robert Plant, Chicago 

2004:
The Stele of Revealing is a painted, wooden funerary tablet discovered in 1858 at the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut, fifth pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of Egypt. It was made for the priest Ankh-ef-en-Khonsu i, a Theban priest of the god Mentu, whose coffin was in the temple.

Not long after coming across the stele in a museum in Cairo in 1904, Aleister Crowley authored The Book of the Law (the Law of Thelema), the basis for which was the hieroglyphic text on the stele.

The number 666 on the reverse of the stele is the catalog number assigned to the object by the Egyptian Museum.  666 has numerological significance in the system of Thelema, a religion based on a philosophical law (the stele's current catalog number is A 9422).

Thelema is a Greek word meaning "will" or "intention". One of the earliest mentions of the spiritual philosophy of Thelema is found in the five-book serial novel, Gargantua and Pantagruel, written by Francois Rabelais in 1532, which recounts the adventures of a father and son who happen to be giants. In one book, a Friar John founds an "anti-church", the Abbey of Thélème, for the purpose of providing an education that countered the Christian standards and morals of the day. The rule of the Abbey was "Do what thou wilt", one of the basic tenets of Thelemic philosophy today.

The Stele of Revealing, Cairo Museum Egypt

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♪  Kashmir (Led Zeppelin, Knebworth 1979) YouTube

♪ Mage Music 1 playlist at YouTube
♪ Mage Music 2 playlist at YouTube
♪ Page & Plant playlist at YouTube

NOTICE: April 11 will be the last daily On This Day post as that will be a full year's worth.  I won't post any more unless Jimmy Page's website offers some new ones. Stay tuned for new posts here on the Mage Music blog about the music and Magick of  JIMMY PAGE and previews of new Mage Music projects!