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Led Zeppelin - the most successful cover band of all time?

Discussion in 'General' started by NemesisR6, Feb 14, 2019.

  1. NemesisR6

    NemesisR6 Gristle McThornbody

    I'm no rock historian, but here is a very interesting article on a guy going after Zep claiming a big part of Stairway to Heaven was lifted off a band that they opened for a few years before Stairway was released.

    https://www.phillymag.com/news/2019/02/11/francis-malofiy-led-zeppelin/

    I listened to the song in question ("Spirit" by Taurus) and can definitely hear subtle similarities to the opening chords of Stairway, but man if a I were a juror on that case it would be a hard sell. I think there is a very large grey area between inspiration/evolution and downright plagiarism.

    If this is plagiarism, then Robert Plant should have sued Josh Kiszka of Greta Van Fleet years ago for pretty much carbon copying his lyrical style....
     
    SpeedyE likes this.
  2. CRA_Fizzer

    CRA_Fizzer Honking at putter!

    Isn't this really old news...
     
    5axis, noles19 and TurboBlew like this.
  3. ChemGuy

    ChemGuy Harden The F%@# Up!

    Lol.
    I hadn't heard that stairway arguement before, but ice hears people say they are a blues cover band since several of 'their' big songs were originally blues songs.
     
  4. tzrider

    tzrider CZrider

    Really, really old.

    This has been tossed out of court a few already.
     
  5. NemesisR6

    NemesisR6 Gristle McThornbody

    The article mentions that the original trial settled in Zep's favor (in 2016, I think), but the prosecution won an appeal, and now they are headed back to trial.

    The jury wasn't even allowed to listen to the song by Taurus as a comparison in the original trial.
     
  6. fastfreddie

    fastfreddie Midnight Oil Garage

    If a song, at some point or another, didn't sound like some other song, songs would never get written. There's only so many notes and so many configurations.
    Besides, if Jimmy was "inspired" by this, so what? He added his artistry and made a killer.

    Zeppelin's manager is dead. He kept everyone from dipping into Zep's pockets. Now, the sharks think they smell blood, but it's gonna be their own, just as it has been in the past.

    At any rate, this is no where near as flagrant as "sampling", which PoofDuddy tried with Kashmir (Godzilla soundtrack.) Page jumped on that shit and said, if you're gonna steal from me, we're working on it together...which they did.
     
    Yzasserina likes this.
  7. fastfreddie

    fastfreddie Midnight Oil Garage

    Remember when Santana sued Miller beer? Miller's soundtrack and Santana's soundtrack was listened to by the judge. He declared they were not at all similar, they were exactly the same! Miller lost.
     
  8. OGs750

    OGs750 Well-Known Member

    All of the British bands from the late 60's and early 70's are blues cover bands.
     
    noles19 likes this.
  9. NemesisR6

    NemesisR6 Gristle McThornbody

    That's how I see it. Music evolves.......it doesn't just spring up out of nowhere without any consideration for what came before it.
     
  10. Motofun352

    Motofun352 Well-Known Member

    Hey, I used blue in my painting...this new painting ripped off my idea of using blue...I'm suing! See the similarities?
     
  11. noles19

    noles19 Well-Known Member

    For the most part. But the first zeppelin album is basically a cover. They had to pay for that one also.
     
  12. rd400racer

    rd400racer Well-Known Member

    When I first heard these Zep songs as a 10 year old back in 70, I didn't have a clue that they had covered other peoples music. And then I listened to the originals because of Led Zep. If anything the old blues dudes should have paid a royalty to Zep for getting their music into the mainstream (yes boys and girls, there was a time when nobody listened to blues music).
     
    scottn, R Acree and motoboy like this.
  13. tzrider

    tzrider CZrider

    In the US, at least....
     
  14. noles19

    noles19 Well-Known Member

    Agreed for the most part. And that's how most of it work, Hendrix and buddy guy. Clapton and the king's. EtcetcE but zeppelin straight up ripped Willie Dixon off..
     
  15. rd400racer

    rd400racer Well-Known Member


    Agree on the Willie part...kind of stupid on their part to not include his name in the credits.
     
    noles19 likes this.
  16. Pneumatico Delle Vittorie

    Pneumatico Delle Vittorie Retired "Tire" Guy

    In the UK of the 60s the vibe was to look to American blues for inspiration and many consider Alexis Korner is the lead British guy that went in this blues direction. England is not exactly huge so there was a lot of cross over of musicians working together in studio and live in bands. If you look around you will see Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, John Mayall, Peter Green, John McVie, Cristine Perfect(McVie), Mick Fleetwood, Ronny Wood, Danny Kirwin, Ronny Lane, Rod Stewart, Steve Marriott, and others that I have forgot played with each other at one time or another. And they didn't have a lot of studios around to record in so I think it was accepted to somewhat plagiarize others?

    Check out Zeppelin in Denmark in 1969 in this YouTube video
     
  17. the relic room

    the relic room Well-Known Member

    Yes, a very old story.

    One citation among many:

    https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2016/04/19/robert-plant-and-jimmy-page-blatantly-admit-to-stealing-their-music-led-zeppelin/

    As you may be aware, Willie Dixon wasn't the only one clearly ripped off.

    When Page was in the Yardbirds, he, along with bandmates, heard Jake Holmes in a small club. The Yardbirds added Holmes' song"Dazed and Confused" to their set. The Yardbirds broke up, Page formed Led Zeppelin, and took the song with him. Only now, there was no longer any mention of Jake Holmes.

    "Dazed and Confused" appeared on an album entitled The Above Ground Sound of Jake Holmes. (Easily found on Youtube, of course.)

    Page stole it note for note, word for word, and claimed authorship.

    https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtd.asp?ppn=MN0047614

    Holmes sued and won.

    Drawing inspiration from older blues musicians is one thing.

    Crediting sources would be a gallant gesture. Compensating people for using their work would be nice.
     
    Last edited: Feb 14, 2019
    scottn and noles19 like this.
  18. Pneumatico Delle Vittorie

    Pneumatico Delle Vittorie Retired "Tire" Guy

    I'm a big blues fan and from what I see there isn't too many listening to the blues now, LOL
     
    rd400racer likes this.
  19. motoboy

    motoboy Well-Known Member

    From what I remember, "The Blues Brother" resurrected the petered-out careers of every blues player in the movie except Ray and maybe Aretha, who were still working. Now 30+ years The Blues definitely seems to need another boost.
     
  20. motoboy

    motoboy Well-Known Member

    BTW, I was blowing a little LZ1 in my car on the way to work this a.m.


    20190214_145643_resized_450505846257330.jpg
     

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