A lawsuit claimed that the opening riff to Led Zeppelin’s iconic “Stairway to Heaven” was plagiarized from the earlier song “Taurus” by the rock group Spirit. A jury has just ruled in Led Zeppelin’s favor.
Go to this site, which lets you play both tunes. Do they not sound EXACTLY THE SAME?
From Jury Clears Led Zeppelin In ‘Stairway To Heaven’ Plagiarism Suit : The Two-Way : NPR:
A California jury has ruled that the members of Led Zeppelin did not plagiarize the opening bars of their hit “Stairway to Heaven,” a seminal song in rock history.
The estate of Randy Wolfe, the deceased guitarist of the band Spirit, had filed the federal copyright infringement lawsuit in 2014. It argued that guitar intro was stolen from the opening notes of Spirit’s song “Taurus” — which came out before Stairway. At the time, Wolfe was performing under the pseudonym Randy California.
The case was originally filed in Philadelphia but was moved to Los Angeles the following year, as we reported. . . .
As NPR’s Andrew Limbong tells our Newscast unit: “After a trial which included testimonies from all of the living members of Led Zeppelin, the jury sided with the more famous rock band.”
[Keep reading. . .]
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