What?!! I guess the guitar shop in “Wayne’s World” should add Dolly Parton to the sign… (video: Wayne’s World “No Stairway to Heaven” scene)
I’m not sure how Dolly Parton got away with using Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” in her song “We Used To“. For more Led Zeppelin on this site click here
Update: On June 23,2016 Led Zeppelin was cleared in court for the similarity of “Stairway to Heaven” and Taurus’ “Spirit”. Have a listen.
Read more about that case here
BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE! This is not the only song Led Zeppelin has been accused of ripping off. And on the other side of things, Many artists have borrowed from Zeppelin.
Led Zeppelin vs. Chicago vs. Green Day vs. The White Stripes
Coheed and Cambria vs. Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin vs. Rage Against the Machine
why is it that whenever a band or someone does a cover of something they usually end up making something that directly copies it
check this one out
pearl jam: given to fly
led zep: going to california
how about tori amos’ “silent all these years”?
I’d have to throw another one on the pile here. Eric Clapton’s song “Let It Grow” (ca 1974) borrows heavily from the “Stairway” chord progression in the fade in the final 90 seconds of the song. In fact, every time I hear the Eric Clapton song I can’t help but sing “Stairway” over the top of that chord progression.
There are only so many chords out there, some of them are bound to end up sounding alike. How many original songs have you written lately? I’m sure that if any one person out there tried to write an original song right now, it would end up sounding similar to any number of songs that already exist. It’s almost inevitable.
Thanks for your comments Tonya. I agree! The goal of this site isn’t to necessarily call out artists on their originality (although sometimes it’s unavoidable) but to help people find these similarities and/or influences in modern music. Sometimes you hear a song and it just sounds like something else. Google it! And you just might end up back here!
It’s certainly happened to me. The first five or six compositions of mine sounded unique to me, but after that, I usually found similarities to other songs.
Zeppelin ripped off tons of old songs.