joyboyo53

They are not the greatest band of all time, albeit they are all exceptionally talented... and really enjoyable to jam out to.

Wayfarer

They played other people's songs and gave credit for those songs to themselves. I'm pretty sure that's stealing.

Son of JayJamJah

Had they done that, it would have been, but you are mistaken. You have made a common error. I hate this argument so much.

Wayfarer

When Led Zeppelin's debut album was released, it received generally positive reviews, however John Mendelsohn of Rolling Stone magazine, criticized the band for stealing music, notably "Black Mountain Side" from Bert Jansch's "Black Water Side" and the riff from "Your Time Is Gonna Come" from Traffic's "Dear Mr. Fantasy". He also accused the band of mimicking black artists, and showing off. This marked the beginning of a long rift between the band and the magazine, with Led Zeppelin rejecting later requests for interviews and cover stories as their level of success escalated.

One song from the album, "Dazed and Confused", was a song originally written by Jake Holmes on his album "The Above Ground Sound" of Jake Holmes. The Yardbirds, Jimmy Page's old band, had made a version called "I'm Confused", and Page reworked the song again for Led Zeppelin's debut recording, with Holmes having never received any royalty payments for their recording. Holmes did not file suit over the song, although he did send the band a letter stating "I understand it's a collaborative effort, but I think you should give me some credit at least and some remunity." His letter was never replied to and he did not follow up on it. Holmes is however also reported to have said "what the hell, let him [Page] have it [Dazed and Confused]".

Led Zeppelin II's credits have also been the subject of debate since the album's release. The prelude to "Bring It on Home" is a cover of Sonny Boy Williamson's "Bring it on Home" and drew comparisons with Willie Dixon's "Bring It on Back". "Whole Lotta Love" shared some lyrics and an overall pattern with Dixon's "You Need Love/Woman You Need Love". In the 1970s, Arc Music, the publishing arm of Chess Records, brought a lawsuit against Led Zeppelin for copyright infringement over "Bring It on Home" and won an out-of-court settlement. Dixon himself did not benefit until he sued Arc Music to recover his royalties and copyrights. Years later, Dixon filed suit against Led Zeppelin over "Whole Lotta Love" and an out-of-court settlement was reached. Later pressings of Led Zeppelin II credit Dixon.

The opening chord progression and verse in "Stairway to Heaven" are nearly identical to the 1968 instrumental "Taurus" by the group Spirit. Led Zeppelin was the opening act for Spirit's 1968 tour, three years before "Stairway To Heaven" was written.

The Dave

How's about we just change the name of this forum to Led Zeppelin Banter?

MURDER JUNKIE

Kashmir???

Wayfarer

Copied RATM tbh.

Son of JayJamJah

Yes I've read that section of the wikipedia article too...Notice that never was a song shown to have been stolen. Only in one song was Dixon given a credit and his estate does not collect royalties from said song.

Every song could be compared to another song and similarities found. Bands cover songs all the time, Rap music is founded on sampling which is directly stealing an artists work and not even playing the song yourself. Rolling Stone is a laughing stock in the journalism community because of how much they allow grudges and politics to impact their reviews of movies and music. George Harrison was forced to give up all future earnings for "My Sweet Lord" after it was found to be similar to another song which escapes me right now etc etc etc. It's like the Kennedy conspiracy if it held any credence it would be accepted as fact by now, but instead it is a laughable ploy Zep haters use to try and discredit the band that hundreds of musicians credit as an enormous influence and was for most of my formative years the "Biggest Band in the World" (another good section I helped pen in the wiki article)

Son of JayJamJah

I am in favor!

On another subject:
By the way I have Stage Names now too and I like Don't fall in love... a lot better so far.

Wayfarer

"Black Mountain Side" and "Dazed And Confused" are two examples of songs that Page did not write and took full credit for. The band was successfully sued for plagiarizing music. It's right there. Read it again. Whether or not you want to admit it, they did take credit for songs that weren't theirs.

Yeah, but you see, the difference is that most bands, when they cover a song, actually give credit to the original songwriter. Led Zeppelin didn't always do that.

Aha. You don't listen to very much rap, do you?

A grade two science student could probably watch that clip and tell you that something fishy was going on. Back and to the left, back and to the left...

But let's not get too off-topic now.

I don't hate Led Zeppelin. As I've said, I actually like a few of their songs/riffs, but I'm not going to deny the fact that they played other people's songs and took credit for them. It's not like they deserve no credit - obviously they were immensely influential and wrote many more songs than they stole. But, ultimately, none of that changes anything. They stole songs. End of story. The story just ended. See it? It ended. Right there. There is no appendix, no sequel. The story's over. So shut up. That rap question...yeah, right over...that one. Up there. See it? That rap question there, that was rhetorical. Shut up.