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Led Zeppelin Trail

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argubs2

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Yes, they are very guilty....and not just in regard to Stairway to Heaven. They consistently "borrowed" other people's music without giving credit and have lost other lawsuits in the past for it.
 
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argubs2

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Also....Page is vastly overrated (to the point of deification) as a guitarist by the general public in terms of ability.

Still love Zep, though.
 
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UKwizard

UKwizard

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I don't really give a eff if they did or did not rip off stuff. They executed what they did perfectly. They could have played Mary had a Little Lamb and it would have been glorious.
 
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DSmith21

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They openly admit to ripping off a bunch of old blues tunes but then again so did everyone else. I guess those tunes were out of copyright protection.
 
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argubs2

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Everyone else did not.

The Stones, for example, gave credit to the blues song writers for the songs they covered, especially early in their career. Page willingly and egregiously stole riffs, lyrics, and entire song structures.
 
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DSmith21

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argubs2 said:
Everyone else did not.

The Stones, for example, gave credit to the blues song writers for the songs they covered, especially early in their career. Page willingly and egregiously stole riffs, lyrics, and entire song structures.
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To me, there is a big difference between stealing a riff and doing a full on cover of a song. Then again the Stones successfully sued The Verve for stealing a riff for their hit, Bittersweet Symphony. The Stones ended up with 100% of the profits.
 
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argubs2

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No, there isn't really a big difference at all.

Page taking that Taurus riff or reformatting Howlin' Wolf songs into their style without providing credit is stealing the music just the same.
 
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WildcatfaninOhio

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The obvious thievery from old American blues men by Led Zep was far, far worse. They stole Whole Lotta Love from Willie Dixon, Traveling Riverside Blues from Robert Johnson, Gallows Pole from Leadbelly, When The Levee Breaks from Memphis Minnie, and on, and on,.....

They were incredibly talented band, no doubt! But they rarely wrote any original music. I hope they lose the lawsuit.
 
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Big_Blue79

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funKYcat75 said:
Many a good woman was lost going down the Led Zeppelin trail.
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I heard there were fish involved. FISH!

-LEK- said:
I listened to the stairway rip off song. Does not sound like it.
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I see the similarities, but there's only so many ways to arrange chords. One thing I learned from my very limited guitar dabbling is that many old rock songs are similar, and the devil's in the details.
 
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gamecockcat

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The opening sequence of both songs are damn near identical. 95% of the song is different but that opening descending chord sequence is a direct copy. Think Zep owes Spirit some dough. Not a ton as the songs quickly diverge from each other after the opening but, still, pretty obvious ripoff. Much closer than the Doors 'Hello, I Love You' to the Kinks' 'You Really Got Me', imo.

And, yes, Zep did 'borrow' a lot of riffs and even, sometimes, lyrics directly from other artists without crediting them.
 
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slick rick.ksr

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Zakk Wyldcat said:
Isn't it fairly well established that a bunch of their songs were, ahem, "influenced" in some form or another.
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You can listen to some blues from back in the 50's and the drum and guitar licks sounded exactly like Zeppelin. So yes, they did adopt the styles of others.
 
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dgtatu01

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I guess the point is did they acknowledge it? The Black Keys sound just like Junior Kimbrough, and have used his riffs, but they always acknowledge him.as one of their influences. They even did a tribute album to him
 
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TexasTimCat

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WildcatfaninOhio said:
The obvious thievery from old American blues men by Led Zep was far, far worse. They stole Whole Lotta Love from Willie Dixon, Traveling Riverside Blues from Robert Johnson, Gallows Pole from Leadbelly, When The Levee Breaks from Memphis Minnie, and on, and on,.....

They were incredibly talented band, no doubt! But they rarely wrote any original music. I hope they lose the lawsuit.
Click to expand...

Jeez - how can someone be so wrong...
 
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WildcatfaninOhio

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KopiKat

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I would suspect that the Stairway into / progression may have been influenced by the Spirit piece, which is very boring. For them to be able to convince a legal panel of infringement based on that comparison alone is going to be difficult. Best part of Stairway is the first strikes of John Bohnam's drums. From that point forward the similarities are scarce if at all, as Bohnam beats a sound that every drummer who has ever picked up a pair of sticks has failed to reproduce. RIP JB
 
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DSmith21

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I read that this case was only allowed to proceed because Zeppelin released a remastered version of the song in 2014. I guess that there was a statute of limitations on the claim. I also read that the author of the Spirit song did not want to sue Zeppelin but that his family did once he passed away. I wonder if the family prevails if they will win payment from all sales of the song or only those from the remastered version.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/judge-clears-stairway-to-heaven-copyright-case-for-trial/
 
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TexasTimCat

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WildcatfaninOhio said:
Led Zep was sued by Willie Dixon over Whole Lotta Love. The case was settled out of court and Zep paid him.

http://turnmeondeadman.com/led-zeppelins-influences-whole-lotta-love/

Let's have The Paddock be the judge on the rest, shall we?

Muddy Waters (written by Willie Dixon) "You Need Love".



Leadbelly "Gallis Pole"



Memphis Minnie "When The Levee Breaks"

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WFIO - I was not questioning whether they knicked stuff - they readily admit that in countless interviews and in performance, I was responding to the thought that they did not write much original music - they wrote some of the biggest songs in classic rock cannon.
 
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jameslee32

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The British Invasion bands and the artists in that era were blues bands first and foremost. They are credited for rescuing rock & roll and making blues artists wealthy in the process. So yeah it's okay to hate RR style but that energy is probably better served elsewhere.
 
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Real Deal 2

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Willie Dixon was given money, there are other settlements that they have had come down. I think even Chicago had a beef with them on a song, 25 or 6 to 4.

Like I always say, Jimmy Page is the third best guitarist of the Yardbirds, he would have been 4th best if they had 4 guitarists. Led Zeppelin does not age well, I will get all the people come on here and say that is crazy, sorry but true. Led was fun but nothing else.​
 
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jameslee32

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Heard "Since I've been loving you" again last night and it still rocks as the blues have aged quite nicely. Let's see how Matchbox 20 and Kid Rock songs sound in 2043. lmao
 
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MegaBlue05

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Stairway might be the most boring super popular song I've ever heard. (Ducks hurling trash from every one in this thread)

And, yes, Zeppelin "borrowed" riffs, chords and structures from a lot of old blues guys. I thought this was common knowledge.

The funny thing is, I'm a metal head and these guys influenced a lot of bands I grew up loving, but I find most of their work to be zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
 
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UKwizard

UKwizard

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Black Dog
Dazed and Confused
Houses of the Holy
Over the Hills and Far Away

these are my favorites
 
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DSmith21

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If Led Zeppelin doesn't age well, why did the producers of "The Big Short" pay seven figures just to use When the Levee Breaks in the trailer and for the ending credits. Also why were they offered over half a billion dollars to do 30 concerts in five cities last year. Plant killed that deal by the way.
 
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