Music

43 years later, Led Zeppelin are being sued for stealing "Stairway to Heaven"

by Tyler Munro

Accusations of plagiarism against Led Zeppelin are nothing new. Their first two albums consisted largely of appropriated blues and folk traditionals, and from “Boogie with Stu” to the numerous songs they stole from Willie Dixon the matter always seemed to find its way to court. Except for “Stairway to Heaven,” the main riff from which we’ve known for years was totally lifted from Spirit’s “Taurus.”

Sure, you might say nobody has heard of Taurus, but Led Zeppelin certainly had. “Taurus” was written and released by the summer of ’68 while “Stairway to Heaven” didn’t make it out until the fall of 1971. In those three years, the band linked up on Led Zeppelin’s inaugural North American tour.

This video compares both tracks. What do you think?

It’s damning, and something Taurus have acknowledged in the past. But after 43-years, they’re finally taking it to court just in time for the Led Zeppelin IV reissue. Like with Willie Dixon and “Whole Lotta Love,” Taurus more than anything want songwriter Randy California to get the songwriting credit they say has been a longtime coming.

Before his death in 1997, California had long been vocal that the band’s biggest song was largely his stolen work. He told Listener magazine that the alleged thievery was a “sore point with him,” hoping that some day the band would “do something about it.

“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. And while those comments came at the tail end of his career, they’re far from the first. One year prior, in the linear notes for band’s reissued debut album, California noted their touring connection.

His family says they’ve waited this long to challenge the copyright because they couldn’t afford the requisite legal fees, noting that California would busk in restaurants to feed himself towards the end of his life. And while surely those legal fees would be insurmountable to the average person, you’d have to think the status of such a suit would more than make-up the slack.

Regardless, as they so often have, Led Zeppelin and they’re attorneys are refusing to comment on the suit. Reissues of their first three albums hit stores in early June; Led Zeppelin IV‘s reissue doesn’t yet have a release date. And if this lawsuit makes it through litigation, it might not for a while. [H/T Rolling Stone]