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Led Zep Stairway To Heaven

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Led Zep ‘Stairway’ testimony results in win

Members of Led Zeppelin are feeling a whole lotta love for members of a Los Angeles jury who ruled in favor of the British rockers in a court case claiming copyright infringement. Allegations were that the group’s signature song ‘Stairway to Heaven’ was built on a ripped-off riff from 60s psychedelic band Spirit.

Testimony from band members and ‘Stairway’ writers, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, along with testimony from bandmate John Paul Jones were key in helping the jury come to a decision in the case.

Plant lightened the mood in the courtroom on one occasion when Francis Malofiy, the attorney representing the estate of Randy Wolfe (a.k.a. Randy California) of the band Spirit, grilled members of Led Zeppelin, accusing them of “selective” memory regarding their activities of more than 40 years ago, specifically …show more content…

The riff in question pertains to the introduction of “Stairway to Heaven”, of which the estate of Randy Wolf claimed was actually a riff stolen from the Spirit song “Taurus”, composed in 1968.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFHLO_2_THg – Taurus

Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page took the stand and testified that while the introduction of “Stairway to Heaven” was similar to “Taurus” in its chord sequence, they were otherwise different songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q7Vr3yQYWQ – stairway

Jurors were played live versions of both “Stairway” and “Taurus” on both guitar and piano to determine their audible similarities and differences, in addition to comparing original sheet music of the songs.

Expert testimony from the defense also aided jurors in their findings, as several experts agreed with Page in that the only similarity between “Stairway” and “Taurus” are their descending chord sequence, which is common and dates back some 300

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