Led Zeppelin the legendary classic hard rock band has been accused of allegedly plagiarizing the bands biggest hit “Stairway to Heaven.”
A late 60s and 70s band called Spirit has filed a complaint with their attorney claiming that Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” closely resembles their 1968 song, “Taurus.”
Led Zeppelin recently announced that the legendary rock band would be reissuing the band’s first three albums for an early June release.
Now an attorney who is representing deceased Spirit guitarist Randy California has made the that Zeppelin had stolen claim c the intro for their 1971 single “Stairway to Heaven” from Spirit’s 1968 song “Taurus.”
At this time Francis Alexander Molofiy has filed a petition to halt the release of the Led Zeppelin IV reissue stating,
“The idea behind this is to make sure that Randy California is given a writing credit on ‘Stairway to Heaven,'” Malofiy said. “It’s been a long time coming.”
In 1968 and 69 it was revealed that Zeppelin and Spirit played four shows together, shows where Spirit performed their song “Taurus.”
LZ has been reported to have played a medley of songs that included Spirit’s “Fresh-Garbage” which appeared on Spirits’ LP with Taurus during their first tour in the United States.
In an interview prior to Spirit’s Randy Califoria’s death in 1997, California stated during an interview with Listner magazine that he believed that Zeppelin’s hit “Stairway to Heaven” was a “rip off.”
“The guys made millions of bucks on it and never said ‘Thank you,’ never said, ‘Can we pay you some money for it?'” he said. “It’s kind of a sore point with me. Maybe someday their conscience will make them do something about it.”
The reason that all of this is just NOW coming about is stated as that the band Spirit and California’s family did not have the financial means to challenge Zeppelin about the song’s authorship.
It has been revealed that at the time of Randy California’s death the singer was playing sitar at an Indian restaurant in exchange for food.
At this time Zeppelin’s reps and members are not commenting on thsi matter publicly.
Led Zeppelin fans can look for Zeppelin II and Led Zeppelin III are due in stores on June 3rd. Each is available in a deluxe edition that contains a full disc of never-before-released studio takes and live tracks.
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Check out both songs below.
Spirit’s Taurus:
Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven
