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Staiway to heaven riff...


deepblue

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Posted
Does anyone remember the song and band that Zeppelin ( allegidly )...ripped off the Staiway to Heaven riff?

 

Spirit is the band...Taurus is the song

Posted

I've heard they ripped off a lot of other stuff... To name a few... Willie Dixon's "Bring it on Home". "Dazed and Confused" by Jake Holmes. Lemon Song (which is Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor") - apparently sued and settled back in the 70's.

 

There are whole sites on this stuff...

 

I certainly love Zep and always will... but makes you wonder a little about their integrity...

Posted

bring it on home, you shook me, babe im gonna leave you, dazed and confused, i cant quit you, whole lotta love, the lemon song,stairway, gallows pole, pretty sure white summer/blackmountainside was copied or "borrowed" ...there are more, but thats off the top of my head

Posted

I have to bristle a little at the "integrity" comment. Blues is blues and there's not much to reinvent, and it's perfectly okay to use a blues riff or song and make it your own and transcend the genre it came from. Doing it in a way that makes it more famous than the versions before, well, that's the genius of it.

Posted

It came off perhaps a bit harsh - but I didn't intend to be... Even though there's only so much that can be done in the world of 'blues' - it's more their lack of acknowledgment to the original artist on their album jackets than the actual "borrowing" that is where I question the integrity... May not even be their doing, maybe the publisher, I don't know. Regardless, any artist should not claim something completely their own if part or all of it is "borrowed" from another artist, regardless if the original is unpopular or "boring", even if their spin is put on it.

Posted
I have to bristle a little at the "integrity" comment. Blues is blues and there's not much to reinvent' date=' and it's perfectly okay to use a blues riff or song and make it your own and transcend the genre it came from. Doing it in a way that makes it more famous than the versions before, well, that's the genius of it.[/quote']

 

 

Is that what they're calling it now? Yeah Weird Al does the same thing. At least he gives credit to the original artists.

Posted
I've heard they ripped off a lot of other stuff... To name a few... Willie Dixon's "Bring it on Home". "Dazed and Confused" by Jake Holmes. Lemon Song (which is Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor") - apparently sued and settled back in the 70's.

 

There are whole sites on this stuff...

 

I certainly love Zep and always will... but makes you wonder a little about their integrity...

 

Oh yeah, they did take a lot of stuff. "The Lemon Song" was actually taken from like 2 or 3 different songs. They got sued for that one too.

Posted
I have to bristle a little at the "integrity" comment. Blues is blues and there's not much to reinvent' date=' and it's perfectly okay to use a blues riff or song and make it your own and transcend the genre it came from. Doing it in a way that makes it more famous than the versions before, well, that's the genius of it.[/quote']

 

That's true. Although for a lot of the songs they essentially took the entire song, made minimal changes, and then claimed sole credit for the song. It's one thing if you give credit. It's another to totally steal it.

Posted

Quite true. Much as I love Zeppelin, they definitely ripped some people off with many of their earlier "blues" songs. Take a standard riff or two, change some lyrics, rock it up a bit ... bam... Zeppelin tune. No problem - but they should've paid royalties. And they wrote tons of great songs of their own - which kinda makes it all the more egregious not to pay royalties on the "covers".

Posted

Reconsider Baby.

 

Do you slam Stevie Ray Vaughan for not "crediting" Freddy King? Ever listen to Willie Dixon and think, hey, didn't the Allman Bros cover this? How about All Your Lovin - I'll bet whatever version of it you have in your record collection isn't the original. If you heard John Hiatt doing "Riding with the King" would you realize he's the one who wrote it? How about all the Brit invasion dudes who did "I'm a man" without even crediting the correct title, "Mannish Boy," let alone the author? All you Santana fans - how long before you found out Peter Green did "Black Magic Woman" first? The House is a Rockin, Reconsider Baby, Boom Boom, Texas Flood, Thing Called Love, I Don't Need No Doctor, Key to the Highway.

Posted
Reconsider Baby.

 

Do you slam Stevie Ray Vaughan for not "crediting" Freddy King? Ever listen to Willie Dixon and think' date=' hey, didn't the Allman Bros cover this? How about All Your Lovin - I'll bet whatever version of it you have in your record collection isn't the original. If you heard John Hiatt doing "Riding with the King" would you realize he's the one who wrote it? How about all the Brit invasion dudes who did "I'm a man" without even crediting the correct title, "Mannish Boy," let alone the author? All you Santana fans - how long before you found out Peter Green did "Black Magic Woman" first? The House is a Rockin, Reconsider Baby, Boom Boom, Texas Flood, Thing Called Love, I Don't Need No Doctor, Key to the Highway.[/quote']

 

and when i look at the liner notes for Beano, All Your Lovin is credited to Otis Rush and Hideaway to Freddie King. sorry, but covering a song is completely different from saying you wrote it.

 

as i recall, mr page has been sued at least twice...and lost/settled.

Posted
Reconsider Baby.

 

Do you slam Stevie Ray Vaughan for not "crediting" Freddy King? Ever listen to Willie Dixon and think' date=' hey, didn't the Allman Bros cover this? How about All Your Lovin - I'll bet whatever version of it you have in your record collection isn't the original. If you heard John Hiatt doing "Riding with the King" would you realize he's the one who wrote it? How about all the Brit invasion dudes who did "I'm a man" without even crediting the correct title, "Mannish Boy," let alone the author? All you Santana fans - how long before you found out Peter Green did "Black Magic Woman" first? The House is a Rockin, Reconsider Baby, Boom Boom, Texas Flood, Thing Called Love, I Don't Need No Doctor, Key to the Highway.[/quote']

 

 

Oh, that's right. I forgot. If other people do it, it's okay. Not! You seem to have included a number of legitimate (royalties paid) covers in your list above. I don't think anyone has a problem with those. The Allman Brothers credited their covers and paid royalties even though they were often times quite different that the originals.

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