Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin now stand accused of stealing the introduction to the song from a lesser-known psychedelic band, in a case that revolves in large part around musical memory.
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Mark Andes, a founding member of the band Spirit, arrives at federal court in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Page told the panel that although he did find a copy of the Los Angeles band’s eponymous first album in his collection, he has no recollection of actually listening to it or buying it.
So was Page’s claim that he’d never heard Spirit’s first album wholly credible? Millions of dollars in damages and royalties are at stake.
Jimmy Page said he didn’t recall Spirit being in the lineup of a December 26, 1969 concert in Denver which Zeppelin played ahead of the heavy rock band Vanilla Fudge, and he also claimed not to recall interviews in which he praised Spirit and their live shows.
A more thorough report on what’s happening during the “Stairway to Heaven” trial has surfaced via Chicago Tribune, pointing out that lawyers representing Spirit might have a more hard time in proving plagiarism than initially thought. “I don’t know how it got there or anything”, Page said. When it started, I was confused by the comparison… The 1968 album contains “Taurus” as its fourth track, as well as the song “Fresh-Garbage”, which Led Zeppelin frequently covered during the band’s early days. “[I thought] “What’s this got to do with ‘Stairway”?”
The estate of Spirit’s founder, the late Randy Wolfe, claims Led Zeppelin violated the song’s copyright.
Page did acknowledge that he owned three Spirit albums and that Led Zeppelin used a riff from another Spirit track in a medley played during their first tour in Scandinavia.
“Page seemed relieved whenever music became the trial’s focus: He nodded to the groove to both Stairway to Heaven and Taurus alike when acoustic renditions of each song were played for the jury”.
“These are the versions of Taurus that Led Zeppelin had access to, they did not have access to the deposit copy or some recording that was limited to the notes in the deposit copy”, Malofiy writes in the motion.
Responding to repeated plaintiff questioning about the exact number of times he listened to Spirit’s other albums four decades ago, an exasperated Page drew laughs when he said, “Let’s say eight times”. Music copyright lawyer Steven Weinberg told the Associated Press that he found Page to be “charming, confident and well prepared”. He also said that he “hung out” and “had a blast” with Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant after a Spirit show in Birmingham in 1970.
The lawyer said: “If they used one riff from Spirit, they might have used another riff from Spirit”.
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Plant, Page and the band’s bassist John Paul Jones are all expected to testify about the song’s creation.
