In a recent video, the music expert Rick Beato talked about the releation between Led Zeppelin and Spirit songs, “Stairway to Heaven” and “Taurus”.
“I could probably play at least 25 more songs that use this line cliche. It’s incredibly common. This lawsuit is totally bogus. You can’t sue someone for something that’s not even close, that uses one small segment of a chord progression.
“It doesn’t matter if Led Zeppelin and Spirit played together. These people grew up hearing these tunes. Jimmy Page was born in, what, 1944? He heard ‘In a Sentimental Mood’ [Duke Ellington’s 1935 tune that also uses the line cliche]; so did Paul McCartney; so did George Harrison.
See the full video below:
Trial
The “Stairway to Heaven” case will get back in court. The classic Led Zeppelin song from 1971 has received a new appeal in the United States, and it was ordered a new trial to defend the band Spirit, that claims that the Zeppelin song intro was inspired by they tune “Taurus”, released in their debut album in 1968.
In 2016 Zeppelin was found not guilty on the case, but a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has unanimously ruled that “the lower court judge provided erroneous jury instructions” and sent the case back to court for another trial