Stairway to Heaven in soup

Jess Denham

Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant and Jimmy Page will face a jury trial over accusations that they stole the iconic Stairway to Heaven intro.

The British rock band’s lead singer and guitarist will appear in a UScourt on May 10 after US district judge Gary Klausner ruled that their 1971 hit had “substantial” similarities with a 1967 track called “Taurus” by Spirit. Michael Skidmore, a trustee for Spirit’s guitarist and composer Randy Wolfe, filed the lawsuit, claiming that Page was inspired to write Stairway to Heaven after touring with Spirit in 1968 and 1969. It is now among the most famous and bestselling rock songs in history. Skidmore also notes that Wolfe, who drowned in 1997 while trying to save his son, was unhappy about the similarities.

In the year of his death, Wolfe told Listener magazine that he thought the song was a “rip-off”: “The guys made millions of bucks on it and never said ‘Thank You’,” he said. In defence, Plant and Page are arguing that the chord progressions used in Stairway to Heaven are too widely known to be protected by copyright, which Wolfe had no claim to as he was a songwriter for hire.

Judge Klausner said: “While it is true that a descending chromatic four-chord progression is a common convention, the similarities transcend this core structure.

“What remains is a subjective assessment of the ‘concept and feel’ of two works — a task no more suitable for a judge than for a jury.” The band have been subject to copyright claims before and pay portions of royalties for some songs.

The case continues.

— The Independent