A San Francisco appeals court has ordered a new trial in the plagiarism case involving Led Zeppelin and their song "Stairway to Heaven." The band faces accusations of stealing its riff from a 1966 song called "Taurus."
Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant (r) and drummer John Bonham (l) in 1970Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Advertisement
Rock band Led Zeppelin is set to face another court battle over its 1971 hit "Stairway to Heaven" after a US appeals court threw out a previous verdict in favor of the band and ordered a retrial.
The case pits the musicians against Michael Skidmore, a trustee for late guitarist Randy Wolfe of the American band called Spirit. In 2015, Skidmore filed a lawsuit alleging that the Led Zeppelin plagiarized the "Stairway to Heaven" riff from the Spirit's instrumental "Taurus."
Randy Wolfe, also known as Randy California, wrote "Taurus" in 1966. In 1968, Led Zeppelin marked their American debut by opening for Spirit in Denver, and the two bands later toured together.
In 1971, Led Zeppelin released "Stairway to Heaven" which went on to become one of the most famous rock songs of all time.
In later decades, Spirit's guitarist Wolfe publicly commented on the similarities between the riff featured in "Taurus" and the one heard in Led Zeppelin's more famous song.
However, the musician never took legal action against the British band.
In 1997, Wolfe drowned while saving his son during a vacation in Hawaii.
The lawsuit by Wolfe's trustee Michael Skidmore prompted Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and Robert Plant to testify before a US district court in 2016. During the trial, they said that the riff they had used "had been around forever" but insisted that "Stairway to Heaven" was original.
Eventually, the jury sided with the band, ruling that there were substantial differences between the two songs.
5 little-known facts about Led Zeppelin
On September 7, 1968, four British musicians appeared together on stage for the first time. Shortly after, the formation also had a name: Led Zeppelin. Their goal was to launch an attack on people's ears.
Image: picture-alliance/Photoshot
'Stairway to Heaven' was never supposed to be released as a single
The band's most famous song was never intended to stand on its own. The band believed in the power of an album. But they couldn't push that notion through for long. The recorded version of the song is over eight minutes, but during their concerts, they often played it much longer. In fact, 30-minute-long versions were not uncommon.
Image: picture-alliance/Photoshot
Robert Plant was actually third choice as singer
When selecting the singer for his new band, Jimmy Page first asked British singer Terry Reid, who also later turned down Deep Purple's offer. The second candidate was Steve Marriot from the Small Faces, but he refused as well. Only then did Jimmy Page think of Robert Plant as an option. Maybe not the first, but a good choice. He later wrote the lyrics for the band's world hits.
Descendants of Count Zeppelin wanted to ban the band from using their name
The burning Hindenburg on the cover of the band's first album caused a lot of trouble with a descendant of the aviation pioneer Ferdinand von Zeppelin. She tried in vain to prevent a TV appearance of the band. Nevertheless, she did win a small battle. During their Scandinavian tour in 1970, the band briefly changed their name to "The Nobs." They never played under this name again.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Robert Plant warmed up his voice with slow Elvis songs
The Led Zeppelin singer himself talked about this ritual of his, even telling the King about it personally. Elvis Presley had invited the band into his hotel suite after one of his concerts in 1974. Robert Plant boldly sang one of Elvis's songs to him right then and there. The rest of the band held their breath, Jimmy Page reported later. But Elvis just grinned widely.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Jimmy Page appeared on television for the first time as a kid
Even the wildest rock stars used to be cute little ones. Jimmy Page appeared as early as 1957 on a BBC talent show. He was only 13 years old at the time, though in some YouTube clips the year 1958 is mentioned. Asked back then about his future plans, the young Page did not say that he wanted to become a musician, but that he wanted to do research and discover a cure for cancer.
Image: Getty Images
5 images1 | 5
Judge blamed for misinforming the jury
The Friday verdict, however, overturned this decision, with the San Francisco-based judges finding that the jurors had received some "erroneous and prejudicial" instructions in the lower court.
District judge Gary Klausner misinformed the jury about copyrighting musical elements in the public domain, according to the appeals court.
For example, Klausner wrongly told jurors that copyright does not protect chromatic scales, arpeggios or short sequences of three notes.
Additionally, the lower court allowed the jurors to hear only an expert's rendition of the two songs, and not their studio recordings.
A lawyer observing the trial later said that the sheet music was not faithful to the recording.
The case was been sent back to the Los Angeles court for a retrial.
A ruling against Led Zeppelin could prompt Wolfe's estate to ask for millions of dollars in damages.
