The cover of “Led Zeppelin IV” from 1971. “Stairway to Heaven” is song No. 4. The album was remastered in 2014. (credit: vinylmeister)
There’s a lady who’s sure
All that glitters is gold
And she’s buying a stairway to heaven
“Stairway to Heaven” intro.
Starting Tuesday, one of rock and roll’s most iconic songs, “Stairway to Heaven,” will be scrutinized by a federal jury tasked with deciding whether the 1971 Led Zeppelin song—which has generated some $500 million in revenue—infringes the 1968 instrumental song “Taurus” produced by the psychedelic band Spirit.
This isn’t the first time Zep has been accused of infringement. In 2012, the band struck an out-of-court deal with singer-songwriter Jake Holmes regarding his 1967 song “Dazed and Confused.” Zep’s 1969 debut album has a track with the same name and similar lyrics.
Despite being filed in 2014, the “Stairway to Heaven” case is only now making it to trial because of a slew of pre-trial motions, including those by Led Zeppelin seeking to have it dismissed. The case is being brought by the trust of Randy Wolfe, aka Randy California, and it essentially declares that Zep’s mind-numbing opening to “Stairway to Heaven“—an acoustic guitar arpeggiating chords in a descending pattern—is a complete ripoff of California’s “Taurus” which he wrote for the band Spirit. Zeppelin toured with Spirit in 1968, and California’s complaint alleges that Zep guitarist Jimmy Page had heard “Taurus” before the debut of “Stairway to Heaven, which appears on “Led Zeppelin IV.” Billboard describes the album as “a cultural touchstone and one of the most popular releases in US history.” “IV” has gone platinum 23 times.
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Source: Ars Technica – Did Led Zeppelin ripoff “Stairway to Heaven?” Ooh, it makes me wonder