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Category: News
Led Zeppelin being sued by surviving member of Spirit over 'Stairway to Heaven'
May 19th 2014 10:35AM
By ANDREW TAVANI
Led Zeppelin is being sued for copyright infringement over 'Stairway to Heaven,' perhaps the most well-known song in the legendary rock band's vast music catalog. The suit is being brought by the founding bassist of Spirit, an obscure 1960s band that Led Zeppelin toured the U.S. with back in 1968 and 1969. Bloomberg Businessweek was the first to report the news of the lawsuit, which brings with it the potential to have a seismic impact on the history of rock and roll.
At the heart of the lawsuit is a claim that the iconic opening notes of 'Stairway to Heaven' were lifted by guitarist Jimmy Page from 'Taurus,' a relatively unknown folk song Spirit often played in concert, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. Lawyers for Spirit say that Randy California, the original composer of 'Taurus,' wrote the song back in 1968. They argue that Page had the opportunity to hear the song while the two bands played several shows together, and that Page then used those notes to write the beginning of Stairway to Heaven, which in 1971 appeared on Led Zeppelin's untitled fourth studio album known as 'Led Zeppelin IV' or 'Runes.' The rest was history as 'Stairway to Heaven' went on to become one of the most celebrated rock and roll songs ever, claiming such sensational titles as 'the most requested song on the radio' and simply the 'greatest song of all-time.' In 2000, it ranked No. 3 on a VH1 list of all-time greatest rock songs, and it placed 31st on Rolling Stone's list of the '500 Greatest Songs.'
Randy California (or Randy Wolfe, as his parents named him) died in 1997, but Bloomberg Businessweek reports that just before his death, he finally spoke out to a journalist about having always felt that the opening of 'Stairway' was stolen from his work.
California told journalist Jeff McLaughlin in the winter 1997 issue of Listener magazine that Led Zeppelin had filched his song. "I'd say it was a ripoff," California said. "And the guys made millions of bucks on it and never said 'Thank you,' never said, 'Can we pay you some money for it?' It's kind of a sore point with me. Maybe someday their conscience will make them do something about it."
As WZLX points out, the move comes just before Led Zeppelin is about to release a remastered version of 'Stairway' along with many of its other classic hits, and even some never-before heard material.
Mark Andes, Spirit's founding bass player, and his legal team are aiming to force Led Zeppelin to share proper writing credit for the iconic song with the late California.
In addition, Bloomberg Businessweek reports that this is hardly the first such legal claim made against the rock and roll titans. Similar accusations have been leveled at Led Zeppelin throughout the years over hit tracks like 'The Lemon Song,' 'Babe I'm Gonna Leave You,' 'Whole Lotta Love,' and 'Dazed and Confused'. In all of those cases, Led Zeppelin was forced to change writing credits as they appear on albums and share subsequent royalties.
One high-profile case involved the band's highest-charting U.S. single, 'Whole Lotta Love.' Attorneys for blues legend Willie Dixon argued some music and lyrics in 'Whole Lotta Love' were lifted from 'You Need Love,' a Dixon-Muddy Waters collaboration that dates back to 1962. In 1987, Led Zeppelin settled that suit and agreed to include Dixon's name in the song's writing credits.
But in an interview with the New York Times published on May 15, Jimmy Page seems to dispute that the music in the song was even inspired by the blues great. 'I had a riff, which is a unique riff, O.K., and I had a structure for the song that was a unique structure. That is it,' he told the Times. Then he added, 'However, within the lyrics of it, there's "You Need Love," and there are similarities within the lyrics. Now I'm not pointing a finger at anybody, but I'm just saying that's what happened, and Willie Dixon got credit. Fair enough.'
Ultimately, a court will decide whether Led Zeppelin stole the famous opening notes of 'Stairway to Heaven' from Spirit's 'Taurus.' WZLX found versions of each song on YouTube. Take a listen to the two songs below and decide for yourself whether the song was plagiarized or if, as Mick Wall wrote in 'When Giants Walked the Earth: A Biography of Led Zeppelin,' what Jimmy Page did 'was the equivalent of taking the wood from a garden shed and building it into a cathedral.'
'Taurus' by Spirit, 1968 (wait for the :44 mark):
Please make sure you are voting on the Same Song Title Madness! The poll will end in a few more days so please vote!
I also wanted to thank everyone who has been doing song reviews!! If you are receiving song reviews, please do the courteous thing and provide some feedback on their music!! I am guilty of not reviewing songs lately so I too need to jump back in and start doing them. Maybe we need to do another contest on Most Song Reviews!
What do you guys think?
Hey Everyone!
I wanted to let everyone know that I added a small email icon on the artist pages so it will make it easier to message each other. It just links you into the private message system and has the user pre-populated. I know finding people could be problematic so I hope this helps!
Todd
It looks like we will be going with a Same Song Title Madness for the next Site Tune. What we need now is some song titles. Please post some song titles and then we can vote for one.
Some things to keep in mind. When suggestion titles like "My Girl Just Left Me And Took My Life Savings and the Dog" might be fun, but it is also very difficult to write around a long title. Smaller titles will work best that leave it open to all genres.
So what title would you suggest?
A huge congratulations to Gary Teed for being the Mixposure.com Artist of the Month! Please stop by his page and have a listen!
I am an old aircraft engineer who was taken out of work due to my health. Wanting something to do, I got back into my music. I had learned the basic chords while in my 20s but had put the guitar away for 20 years. I was not serious about the music and kept my writing to myself. My mentor was a John Denver fanatic but, he pushed me to learn and the fingerstyle picking that he taught me kept me playing. In my late 20s, life got busy and I stopped. I even sold all of my gear. I have been bitten by the bug again and I am off and running now! Playing my guitar and singing all around here locally.
I also like to play with loops and samples to create music. Some of my loops I also played synth to and even sang on a couple. But, my best work, I think, is my singer/ songwriter creations. I do not really promote myself aside from this page.
Here are a few of my works. Give a listen and see what you think.
I think it is time we do another Mixposure Site Song. The question is what do we want? Same Song Title Madness? Same Lyric Challenge? Chime in and speak up!!
Just wanted to apologize for the down time everyone. Our server indicated we needed a reboot and after the restart, it kind of went the way of the dodo bird. After playing with it for a day we just decided it was better to get a new server up and transfer the data over which only took a few hours. The only casualty right now appears to be the radio station and we will get that up and running asap.
Thanks for hanging in there with us!!
Todd
Congrats to Trevor Sewell for having the Mixposure.com Song of the Week! Amazing musician! Please check out the tune below!!
Bio:
Breaking News: Feb 7th 2014 Lovitz Theatre Universal Walk, Hollywood - Trevor Sewell wins The Best Blues Artist Award in the Artists In Music Awards for the second year running and also gains honourable mention in the Producer Of The Year category.
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Winner in the Hollywood Music in Media Awards 2011, Runner up in the British Blues Awards 2012 and winner of The Artists in Music Award for Best Blues Artist 2013 in Los Angeles. November 2013 saw Trevor return to America for a string of live shows, radio sessions and on the very day that his second album ‘Independence’ was released once again pick up the ‘Best Blues’ award at the highly prestigious Hollywood Music In Media Awards held in the lavish Henry Fonda Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard with his song ‘The Train’. The past two years have seen Sewell continue to go from strength to strength as his fan base continues to grow particularly in America where his debut album 'Calling Your Name' spent a staggering 7 weeks at number one on the American Blues Scene Chart.
A recent return to his roots has seen him widely recognised as one of the great emerging British guitar talents currently riding the wave of New British Blues gaining popularity
in the U.S.A. (source Artists In Music Official Programme).
Legendary Producer/Engineer Stuart Epps (Led Zep, Elton John, Bill Wyman) had this to say:
"I've only just met this brilliant musician but I can tell you he is the real thing. Heart felt, passionate and truly excellent rock/blues guitar playing and singing. Comparable with some of the greats I've had the pleasure to work with. Two of them called Lee, Albert Lee and Alvin Lee.
"Trevor is in my opinion from the same mould he gives rock/blues a new boost. You've just got to love it!!!"
The Trevor Sewell Band are:
Trevor Sewell - Lead Guitar and Lead Vocals
Brian Emerson - Bass Guitar
Steve Vine – Drums
Trevor was recently inducted to the American Heritage Blues Hall of Fame in the very same category as some rather better known artists such as Tommy Castro and Joe Bonammassa.
STOP PRESS: Trevor has once again been shortlisted for the Artists In Music 2014 ceremony where he is in the final 5 nominees (Best Blues) – The ceremony will take place at The John Lovitz Theatre at Universal in N. Hollywood on Feb 7th 2014 where he has also received an honorable mention in the category ‘Producer of the year’.
Well I hate to be back and forth on stuff but I think I have finally ditched the old forum and went back to the integrated forum . The login issues were just too much. While I hate to lose over 100k posts, I would rather start over than deal with users not being able to access the forum. The old forum is still up and can be accessed by going to http://www.mixposure.com/forum/ . I removed all of the code that linked it to Mixposure so you can reset your password in the forum if you ever want to go in there.
You will also notice on the main page, I moved the premium blogs out to the forefront. While that does make the main page a bit longer, since you guys are supporting the site I wanted to give you more visability. As a reminder, please remain respectful with what you post. While I know there are many similar sites like Mixposure, I can guarantee you they will not let you advertise Mixposure on their main page. We kind of have the same thinking 
. If you want to link to MusiciansFriend I am all for it, Just please refrain from Visit me at thisnewsite.com. I thank you in advance,
Todd
Big congrats to Scotswolfe for being the Mixposure.com Artist of the month! Stop by his page and have a listen!
Bio:
Scotswolfe being my recording persona,my real name being Jim McMurtrey.I answer to Jim or Mac.
Started picking out one finger melodies on the piano by ear around age six.Still play by ear as I never seemed to had the patience to learn to read music.Many times I wished that I had forced myself to learn.Maybe someday yet...heh.
Began playing in bar blues/rock bands around Fort Worth in the late sixties.Moved to East Texas in the eighties where I played for several years with country/rock bands.Spent a few years in Oklahoma,then moved back to my hometown and settled here.
Finally I have the time to do what I enjoy most,composing ,creating and recording my music.
I only play keyboards,piano,organ,synths.Started using analog synths in the eighties.Now my studio consists of the bare necessities...a Casio WK-1800 as a standalone keyboard and midi controller,Computer and Mixcraft6,a very affordable and versatile recording program with virtual instruments to expand my virtual orchestra.
Stumbled across Mixposure a month back and now it feels like a second home.Friendly folks and awesome musicians here.I've posted my music on a couple of other sites,but none of them compare to Mixposure,not even close.Plan to be here for a long while .
