Court Rules Plant, Page Must Face "Stairway to Heaven" Jury Trial/ Decision*

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by segue, Apr 11, 2016.

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  1. tmtomh

    tmtomh Forum Resident

    Great post! I don't have that level of emotional investment in this, but I am a huge Zep fan, and I must admit I was concerned they would lose, and was quite relieved and happy when I saw the verdict.

    I've listened to the Taurus and Stairway intros many times in the past year or so, and I of course hear the similarity in the descending chord sequence. But what sealed it for me that Stairway was not a rip-off of Taurus, was the fact that even if you take Stairway's initial chord sequence in isolation and throw out the other 8 minutes of the track, Stairway's initial sequence is longer than Taurus's and has an additional part (sorry I'm not a musician so I don't know how to describe it) that changes the whole feel and progression - and again, that's leaving aside the entire rest of the track.

    But of course it doesn't matter what I or any of us thinks now. It's been decided, and I doubt the plaintiffs even will appeal, let alone win an appeal.
     
  2. elaterium

    elaterium Forum Resident

    Spirit got a lot of AirPlay here in the states in the late 60s, at least where I lived. Their 1st album is still one of my all time favorites.
     

  3. A band full of sophisticated musical omnivores, as Zeppelin was, would have had no problem hearing a major release album. The irony with Zep has always been they were much more sophisticated than the hard rock they created and their listener base.
     
  4. bababooey

    bababooey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX USA
    Lennon got sued and lost for Come Together so there is precedent for just one line.
     
  5. bababooey

    bababooey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX USA
    W
    When I first heard the Clayton intro, I immediately thought of Revolution without even knowing which song it was that the intro ripped off. I love Chuck but that didn't remind me of Berry in the least.
     
  6. bababooey

    bababooey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX USA
  7. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    I believe that was a settlement, not technically a loss.
     
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  8. John Rhett Thomas

    John Rhett Thomas Forum Resident

    Location:
    Macon, GA, USA
    I'm 44 and listened to classic rock radio for hours a day from 1986-1992 and never heard "I Got a Line on You" or any other Spirit song. Not once. (Just don't put me on the witness stand to testify to that!) In fact, the first time I ever heard of Spirit was through Zeppelin's callback to "Fresh Garbage" on a bootleg tape I had. I've always meant to get a few of their records, they sound like a great band and I'm sure I'd like them. After this experience, though, I'm gonna wait a little while so I can approach it without any undue negativity.
     
  9. bababooey

    bababooey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX USA
    C'mon now. John had to agree to do that "Rock and Roll" album for album for Allen Klein in exchange. To me, that's a loss.
     
  10. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Nothing to do with Klein:
    Per wiki
    Lennon was being sued by Morris Levy over copyright infringement of one line in his song "Come Together". As part of an agreement, Lennon had to include three Levy-owned songs on Rock 'n' Roll.
     
  11. clayton

    clayton Senior Member

    Location:
    minneapolis mn
    Now that that's setted it's back to our regularly scheduled daily Beatles thread.:D
     
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  12. Rfreeman

    Rfreeman Senior Member

    Location:
    Lawrenceville, NJ
    You mean he agreed to record covers of songs published by Morris Levy. Klein did not sue him here.

    It was not John's desired result, but a decision by one party to settle a suit (particularly in a way that cost him nothing z he had to record songs he loved) does not in any way show that quoting one line is an actionable infringement.
     
  13. bababooey

    bababooey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX USA
    Well, if it helps, they're not the only ones to accuse Led Zeppelin of plagiarism. I like a lot of their music but they just need to give credit where credit is due. It's Page's arrogance that he thinks he can get away with it.

    Plus, it wasn't really Spirit but the estate of Randy California. He died in the mid nineties and while he was aware of it, all he said was it would be nice to receive an acknowledgement. And if it makes you feel less guilty about listening to Spirit, Randy drowned trying to save his child. By all accounts, he was a decent guy.
     
  14. dudley07726

    dudley07726 Forum Resident

    Location:
    FLA
    As Rfeeman said above, he agreed to cover some Big 3 songs as a settlement. I'm not saying there isn't a precedent but the beginning of STH has a lot more in common with Taurus than CT does with the Berry song. Much more. Lennon even said that it is only 1 line and that CT remained independent of any other song. And in the end, Lennon won the case and received money because of the Roots album.
     
  15. S. P. Honeybunch

    S. P. Honeybunch Presidente de Kokomo, Endless Mikelovemoney

    But would he drown to save Jimmy Page? That is the question.
     
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  16. bababooey

    bababooey Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, TX USA
    The last thing in the world I want to do is defend those shameless money grubbers but I just don't see enough similarities. Somebody posted a song on facebook, I forgot the name, but it sounded a lot more like Stairway to Heaven than Taurus did. Either way, though I enjoy both bands, both songs suck, as I stated before.
     
  17. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    Wow. Reach any lower?
     
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  18. Anyone who watched 'Vinyl', the Muary Gold character, played by Paul Ben Victor, would be Morris Levy.
     
  19. S. P. Honeybunch

    S. P. Honeybunch Presidente de Kokomo, Endless Mikelovemoney

    Don't see how loving one's own child is a redeeming quality.
     
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  20. Wright

    Wright Forum Resident

    Why wouldn't he?
     
  21. Tristero

    Tristero In possession of the future tense

    Location:
    MI
    I think that sacrificing your life to save your child is undeniably laudable. Not that it has any bearing whatsoever on this case or on the quality of Spirit's music more broadly. . .
     
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  22. Rojo

    Rojo Forum Resident

    Legally and technically it is not as, precisely, offcourt settlements do not set legal precedents.

    As to whether Lennon at the time felt the offcourt settlement as a defeat, it is of course, entirely possible as the two songs do not have that much in common other than the "quoted" opening line.
     
  23. Fullbug

    Fullbug Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    John must have received the worst legal advice ever when he agreed to settle that suit.
     
  24. Zeki

    Zeki Forum Resident

    ???!!!!
    Now I've heard everything.
    Well, the thread WAS fun.
     
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  25. Rojo

    Rojo Forum Resident

    The tunes are really not very similar, but they say that even a poor settlement is often preferable to a lawsuit and the risks it entails. That was probably the spirit behind the advice.
     
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