Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Court

Giants of rock in the 1970s, Plant, Page, Jones and Bonham turned out a succession of mighty albums that created some of the greatest rock hits the world ever saw. But for now, the surviving members are headed for the court-house:

Copyright row over opening riff to Stairway

A case which claims that the opening chords to Led Zeppelin’s biggest hit were in fact stolen from a 1967 song Taurus, by the band Spirit, will be heard by a jury in May, a US judge has ruled. The lawsuit for copyright infringement was brought by Michael Skidmore, a trustee for Randy Wolfe, also known as Randy California, who was Spirit’s guitarist and the composer of Taurus, who died in 1997.

The lawsuit alleges that Page and Plant would have heard Taurus when Spirit and Led Zeppelin were on tour together in the late 1960s, and that it was then directly copied on Stairway to Heaven without ever crediting Wolfe.

A To Zeppelin
A straightforward run-through of the Led Zep story, from 2004, with comments from Roy Harper, Carmine Appice and JJ Jackson, and archive footage of Page, Plant, Bonham and Jeff Beck. Their place in rock legend remains the same.

Led Zeppelin: Celebration Day
Another bunch of rock legends, here shown in concert from Dec 10, 2007, when they paid tribute to the late Ahmet Ertegun. Many familiar numbers were done here: Black Dog, Dazed & Confused, Kashmir, Whole Lotta Love etc. Plant remains unwilling to do this more often, but Page at least would be willing. I suspect Plant has the right idea, actually.

Robert Plant and the Band of Joy: Live at the Artist's Den
This time at the War Memorial Auditorium, Nashville from Feb 9, 2011, as Plant ran through a mix of the well-known and less-well-known (I assume, still no OSG to help the casual viewer). Plant shared some of the vocal duties, but clearly seems happier with this world than his Led Zep days.

Robert Plant: By Myself
The man himself talks through his career journey, from meeting John Bonham in the Band of Joy, to joining the New Yardbirds, the sad end of Led Zeppelin, his fun solo work in the 80s, the Strange Sensation, globe-trotting in the name of experimentation, working with Alison Krauss, and finally a new Band of Joy. Though rather a lot of LZ fans just want him to go back to those days, he seems far happier with his lot.

Robert Plant @ Glastonbury
From the Pyramid Stage, the veteran rocker ran through assorted songs from across his career, with the backing of yet another band, the Sensational Space Shippers, or something. He did a few Led Zep numbers, which would have kept the crowd happy.

Rock Milestones - Led Zeppelin IV
Graham McTavish presents again, as some familiar names chew the fat on the story of the rock legends, and their finest hour. I've maybe taken time to come to appreciate 'Stairway to Heaven', but I'm happy to agree on its brilliance now.

Rock Milestones: Led Zeppelin I
How the rock legends got together, and how they quickly turned out to be something really rather special. Not just journalists but DJs and biographers were on hand to rhapsodise about these early building blocks in the wall of their success. Given that LZ IV tends to get the most adulation, it was good to see other albums of theirs accorded some respect.

Led Zeppelin: In Their Own Words
In fact, not just archive of the band, but their publicist and bodyguard, and the inevitable Steven Rosen. Only really covered their first 4 albums, which might well be fair enough.

Led Zeppelin - In The Light : Part 4 1973-1980
I can only wonder at there having been 3 previous episodes that cover their first 4 albums. This edition covered their latter 4 albums, their concert film, and the demise of John Bonham and hence the band. Even their Live Aid reunion got covered. Familiar names told the tale, with Physical Graffiti considered possibly as great as LZ4. Their allure continues, though.

Led Zeppelin: In The Evening
An hour of the usual, cramming their story from start to the sad end. The premise that their great creative success fed back to them some negative karma is a bit too trite to do them justice. When they hit the heights, they left huge marks.

Led Zeppelin - Dazed and Confused
Pretty solid effort mainly focussed on their early years, then rushing through the rest. Archive footage provided plenty of Plant, a bit of Page and Jones, but quite a bit of Peter Grant for once. Other celeb fans were Ozzy Osbourne and David "Gilmore".

Led Zeppelin: In The Light - Part 1 - The Beginning
A while ago I saw Part 4, and now finally I see how they padded out the first 3. Here, there was some waffle about how the band got together, but the bulk looked at their first album, and key tracks on it. A wide circle of names contributed, with archive of the four band members too.

Led Zeppelin: In The Light - Part 3 : Stairway to Heaven
Regrettably, still no Part 2. This went in depth on their infamous 4th album, and it's epoch-shaking highlight 'Stairway to Heaven'. Some tried to hold back from declaring it one of the greatest records ever made, but most went for it.

The court case has finally come up this week. Jimmy Page helpfully claimed the song shared similarities with Chim Chim Cheree from Mary Poppins Robert Plant, conversedly, helpfully claimed it was all a long time ago and he didn't remember the band that LZ are being accused of ripping off.

Wouldn't you know, by the time I managed to get that update done, the case was over, and Led Zeppelin won. Though they did decide that Robert Plant, despite his amnesia had in fact known the other band in question after all.

It wasn't all good news after all:

Led Zeppelin lose fight to recoup legal fees from Stairway trial

The judge overseeing Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven copyright trial has rejected the group's attempts to recoup almost $800,000 (£620,000) in costs.

While the rock legends were found not guilty of plagiarising Spirit's song Taurus in June, Judge R Gary Klausner said the case was not frivolous.

He ruled there was no evidence that the estate of Spirit guitarist Randy Wolfe "harbored nefarious motives".

For that reason, the estate was not obliged to repay the band's legal fees.

SoundStage: Robert Plant and Strange Sensation
A jolly hour from 2005, with a few LZ songs along the way including the closer Whole Lotta Love. He paid tribute to John Bonham on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the drummer's death. The other songs, including the glorious Shine It All Around show that he's moved on and kept busy since the band ended.

Brian Johnson's A Life on the Road: Robert Plant
Brian came to a secret place in North Wales, near the Malvac Valley, where he talked to Robert on the site of a ruined castle. He was perhaps happiest talking about his early years and influences, and his post-Zep odyssey. He repeatedly talks of John Bonham being his closest friend in the band, and how much of a challenge it was to start all over again when Bonzo died. He's visited Morocco and Mali for ideas, and to learn. Even his spell working with Alison Krauss fired him up with its challenge. He doesn't want to do any more Zep reunions. He's always moving forward, a seeker for knowledge.

Conspiracy: Drugs, Punk, Pop & Death
A fun little hour from 2015 looking into 4 notorious cases which might have had more to them than is often said. The first was about the time that the Rolling Stones were busted for drugs - was it an FBI plot to stop them getting US visas? It seemed that it backfired and Jagger and Richards were soon off the hook, and the story of Marianne Faithfull's Mars Bar merely enhanced their myth.
Next was the idea that the Sex Pistols were cheated of being #1 during Jubilee week in the summer of 1977. A chap from Radio 1 denied it could have been their work, if it happened. It had the most plausibility on this show.
Next a new one to me, that Eddie and the Hot Rods saw their promising career nosedive because Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page put a black magic curse on them for mocking Aleister Crowley. Unsurprisingly, this got very short shrift, but at least some of the original band are still around and playing "Do Anything You Wanna Do".
Finally, did Jim Morrison die in his Parisian bath-tub, or did he have a misadventure with heroin in a nightclub and get moved to the bath-tub to disguise this fate? It's well-known that there's no way to prove this one as his body was disposed of very quickly, and his girlfriend Pamela was a junkie and unreliable. Might as well argue that aliens got him.

Austin City Limits: Robert Planet & the Sensational Space Shifters
He rambles on  but he does at least know any crowd wants some Led Zepp material, and he doesn't disappoint them, in this 2016 show. He even uses I Just Want To Make Love To You aka the Diet Coke song, as a lead-in to their version of Whole Lotta Love  

Well, the court case is back on (or rather, another one):

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/sep/28/led-zeppelin-plagiarism-taurus-spirit-stairway-to-heaven-new-trial 

A US appeals court has ordered a new trial in a lawsuit accusing Led Zeppelin of copying an obscure 1960s instrumental for the intro to their classic 1971 rock anthem Stairway to Heaven.
A federal court jury in Los Angeles two years ago found Led Zeppelin did not steal the famous riff from the song Taurus by the band Spirit.
But a three-judge panel of the ninth US circuit court of appeals in San Francisco ruled unanimously that the lower court judge provided erroneous jury instructions that misled jurors about copyright law central to the suit. It sent the case back to the court for another trial.

Oh dear...

They won the court case again 

They've had an extra judgement that the court case can't be reopened.

Later w/Jools Holland - Robert Plant
He had a new/old album out, and talked about his younger days, the attraction of the blues, the value of the other members of Led Zeppelin, the chance to see the great and the good live, his lack of desire to do more of LZ, working with Phil Collins on his early solo albums, his interest in West African music, and works in Nashville. He seems a happy, challenged, artist.

John Paul Jones turned 75 yesterday

Hammer of the Gods - Led Zeppelin Unauthorized, by Stephen Davis
This 2008 edition was the 3rd iteration, but that's not a problem as it's pretty thorough on the main actual years of the band. The story does seem to start with Jimmy Page, some guitarist whizz, who happened to put together a new version of the Yardbirds, and one thing led to another. I was glad that the music seemed of sufficient importance than the many riotous anecdotes of band mis-deeds. The author's clear disdain for other competing bands is quite amusing, as other rock bands are often dubbed as imitators or otherwise rip-off merchants. A plusibly definitive read.

The Big Interview w/Dan Rather - Robert Plant
From around 2017 when he was pushing his Carry Fire album. He won a Grammy in 2007 with Alison Krauss. He was 69. He talked about growing up in the post-war world, times in Led Zeppelin, and times since. His travels, his changes of music, living in the US for a long time, but returning to the UK. Always a good source to talk to.

Glastonbury 2022: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
He's made a 2nd album with her, over a decade after their first. This set understandably pushed said record, though they did manage to do some Zep numbers such as Rock and Roll, the Battle of Evermore and When The Levee Breaks.

Led Zeppelin - The Origin of the Species
A fairly steady look back at how the band came together (Jimmy Page fingered as the prime mover), and then through their first two albums. Chris Farlowe was a name inclusion, and I did find it odd when Keith Altham talked about his friend, a session drummer who sounded to be called Klankatini, which sounds more like a magician. Luckily, the next person contributing was drummer Clem Cattini, which makes more sense.

CMT Crossroads - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
A show from 2022, in concert with their latest album. There was backstage chat banter between them between some songs, and a bit on stage too. They did a couple of Led Zepp covers along the way too.

6music Live: Robert Plant
From 2017 and pushing the Carry Fire album, he was at Maida Vale Studios to chat to Lauren Laverne, and perform several tracks, with some help from Seth Lakeman, and the Sensational Space Shifters.

Jimmy Page turned 80 on Tuesday