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Originally Posted by forindooruseonly
Led Zeppelin was pretty notorious for borrowing riffs and melodies. Led Zeppelins first US tour was opening for Spirit, so...
Over the years, the writer of the ripped off song was magnanimous about the whole thing. Interesting blog about it below. I guess now that he is gone, the family has decided to get him some recognition and some cash in their pocket.
Led Zeppelin: Plagiarism? ?Stairway to Heaven? | Turn Me On, Dead Man
I don't like Led Zeppelin for a number of reasons, including the fact they stole Dazed And Confused from another artist. Lots of artists pilfer music. It's really common. But Led Zeppelin became notorious for it. There's lots of information outs there on it, but they're such a popular band that it doesn't seem to mar their reputation.
I suppose it doesn't help that I absolutely despise classic rock. Ugh. |
Interesting thread. I was listening to an old Howard Stern show on Sirius today (don't judge me...), and he was interviewing an author/rock music historian that wrote a book on this very subject of LZ blatantly ripping off other song writers. They played side-by-side recordings, and there is no doubt they have directly plagiarized a bunch of people, and did not give writing credit/money to the original song writers. In the creative arts world, this is very bad form.
The author tied all but on of the songs from LZ1 to other artists, and LZ never credited any of them at the time. There have been subsequent lawsuits and awards. I still think LZ is a kick *** band, but I lost a lot of respect for them after hearing all of this. But hey, it's only rock and roll, and I like it...