Led Zep to face copyright trial over Stairway

ICBM

not_the_dj said:

Philly_Q said:

Bygone_Tones said:

The one that sticks in my mind is a song by Lonestar called Amazed.

Which reminds me, the (excellent) 1970s Welsh rock band Lone Star had a song called "All Of Us To All Of You" which has a main riff remarkably similar to Deep Purple's "Burn".

Is that the Deep Purple that nicked the Black Night riff from Rick Nelson's Summertime?

It would certainly be the same Burn that the same Ritchie Blackmore of the same Deep Purple nicked from George Gershwin…

(Riff starts at 0'11")

Philly_Q

not_the_dj said:

Philly_Q said:

Bygone_Tones said:

The one that sticks in my mind is a song by Lonestar called Amazed. 

Which reminds me, the (excellent) 1970s Welsh rock band Lone Star had a song called "All Of Us To All Of You" which has a main riff remarkably similar to Deep Purple's "Burn".

Is that the Deep Purple that nicked the Black Night riff from Rick Nelson's Summertime?

Them's the ones.

I think it's all horseshit.  Everything in music sounds like something else.  It might be "inspired by", it might be copied subconsciously, it might be pure coincidence.  Very occasionally it might be deliberately nicked.  Even then I don't think the person who wrote the song it sort-of-partly-sounds-like should be entitled to a cut of all the income it generates forevermore.   

scrumhalf

Blur's House in The Country and The Vapors' Turning Japanese - not entirely dissimilar.

As has been said so many times before, all guitarists steal, The difficult thing is knowing what to steal.

RocknRollDave

I think one of the things that this all proves is how limited the Western approach to music can be - for all its rich and wonderful variety.

It blows my mind to think that not only to other cultures have different styles of music, they even use different scales and microtonal notes, very different rhythms and all that...fascinating that they can have a totally different mindset to music, hearing it in an almost totally different way, if you see what I mean. Admittedly, I DO have a very conservative and linear approach to music myself, so almost anyone else's approach seems radical, but still..

impmann

Wow there's quite an echo in here about Changing Man/ELO/Dear Prudence... ;-)

The point was made last night that the whole reason that this has come back up is that the remasters that have recently been done mean that the Statute of Limitations that had been exceeded previously has now been reset... therefore the trustees of the Spirit back catalogue can try their luck.

Every band has borrowed bits from someone else - consciously or not. The only people who will win here will be the lawyers...

xSkarloey

@icbm Burn and Fascinating Rhythm? Wow who would have thought? Apparently the PSB's It's a Sin and Cat Stevens's Wild World are similar too. Which all goes to confirm yet again for me that the arrangement and instrumentation for me a key and is the red herring in this case. Two acoustics playing a loosely similar set of arpeggios? I could see why some would cry foul. For many it'd hide the points where the passages differ. Heavy guitar playing the same notes as a horn section? I was duped. Upbeat electronica vs a slower acoustic ballad? Many express real surprise.

chillidoggy

Although I saw Spirit years ago, and have always been impressed by Randy's playing, I can't connect Taurus to Stairway anywhere like as close as the remainder of the 10 songs on that Youtube vid.

I also think the Tull/Eagles thing is cobblers.

Reverend

I seem to recall hearing Zeppelin berate Chicago for nicking the progression from Babe I'm Going To Leave You. Which was "inspired" by John Baez?

Was it Gary Moore that list a case for a song where there was no reasonable expectation that he could have heard the song in question?

hobbio

impmann said:

The only people who will win here will be the lawyers...

And by extension, PRS.

eSully

An update to the story

Led Zeppelin told they can settle the lawsuit for $1 - and writing credit

According to Bloomberg News, the $1 offer would, however, come at a bigger price: Randy California would need a writing credit on the track – not to mention sharing its future profits. “It’s always been about credit where credit is due,” said attorney Francis Alexander Malofiy, representing Michael Skidmore. 

Skidmore has said any windfall would support the Randy California Project, which supplies musical instruments and lessons to students at low-income schools in California.

impmann

I wonder if Clapton owes them some money, then? I think the chord progression and main riff is just as close to that Spirit thing...

Col_Decker

Well if it supports a good musical cause then I reckon they should suck it up and settle

RocknRollDave

eSully said:

An update to the story

Led Zeppelin told they can settle the lawsuit for $1 - and writing credit

According to Bloomberg News, the $1 offer would, however, come at a bigger price: Randy California would need a writing credit on the track – not to mention sharing its future profits. “It’s always been about credit where credit is due,” said attorney Francis Alexander Malofiy, representing Michael Skidmore. 

Skidmore has said any windfall would support the Randy California Project, which supplies musical instruments and lessons to students at low-income schools in California.

Could be argued that is emotional blackmail.

Run the risk of being taken for a lot more, or give us a credit for future profits FOR CHARIDEE MAAAAAAN.


Purely by coincidence, I have been flicking through Mick Wall's "When Dinosaurs Walked The Earth" Led Zep biog and there is a mention of the Spirit/ Led Zep thing in there and he says if they did borrow from the song it is like taking some wood out of someone's garden shed and building a cathedral out of it.

hobbio

Not plagiarised.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-36611961

monofin

Common sense prevails