Stairway was Led Zeppelin’s own work, US jury finds
Imagine how many floodgates would have opened had Led Zeppelin been found guilty of ripping off Stairway to Heaven.
It’s hard to imagine how many floodgates would have opened had Led Zeppelin been found guilty of ripping off the guitar riff on Stairway to Heaven from another song.
A costly and at times bizarre legal battle ended in the US District Court in Los Angeles yesterday (AEST) when a jury ruled that the guitar intro to the English band’s classic anthem, released in 1971, did not plagiarise a similar passage in the song Taurus, released in 1967 by American band Spirit.
The estate of Randy Wolfe, known as Randy California, was suing Led Zeppelin songwriters, singer Robert Plant and guitarist Jimmy Page, for a share in Stairway to Heaven royalties, which in the past 45 years has earned Led Zeppelin an estimated $450 million. Wolfe, who wrote Taurus for his girlfriend, drowned in 1997.
The verdict wrapped up a case that at times bordered on the surreal, with Page carrying a guitar into court and Plant singing some of the Stairway lyrics while explaining their origins. A prosecution witness claimed to have seen Plant at a Spirit gig in Birmingham, England, in 1970, but Plant said he had no recollection of it or of hearing the song Taurus.
Lawyers summoned musicologists to back or dismiss the authenticity of the suit’s main claim, that Stairway to Heaven is substantially similar to Taurus. It appears a crucial influence was the defence’s claim that the chord progression on both songs was one that had featured regularly in songs for hundreds of years.
The result will have caused a collective sigh of relief in music industry circles. Last year pop stars Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke were found to have plagiarised Marvin Gaye’s Got to Give it Up with their hit Blurred Lines. Gaye’s estate was awarded $4.7m. That, however, was a stronger claim than the Taurus one.
After the result, Page, 72, and Plant, 67, issued a statement thanking the jury and said they looked forward to putting the matter behind them.
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