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OK; a bit nervous about bringing this up (administers may remove at will) but... recently learned about the great Led Zeppelin's habit of "borrowing" songs from old, blues artists. First The Monkees, now LZ? Seriously, don't know how to process this! My very existence is shaken. Thought this would be a good place to get some feedback. Sorry it's been a while-'just can't find the time'. Sorry Chris.

Neil goes into the origin of Stairway in the lesson, subtly, so as not to alarm the lawyers... Seems the old bluesmen were not the only ones to have had their work 'inspire directly'.

Many rock songs borrow HUGELY for those that came before them.
Nothing wrong with it- and they freely admit it.

There's only so many chords to go around!

http://listverse.com/2010/08/23/top-10- ... -rip-offs/

I borrow nothing 'cos I don't know,,they only teach me that way,, :laugh: B)

well...I've seen at least 6 documentaries on YT lately. Not borrowed actually "covered" these old bluesmen's song's and credited themselves on their first IV LP's. The reason I checked this out is because I saw so many comments on YT about all this.

OK; have to check it out. I have seen the intro was actually from an old rock band from the '60's who opened for the Yardbirds.

Seems Zep did have a habit of 'borrowing freely'!

Yeah; this is what I'm talking about. All I can think is J. Page played on so many other band's records as a session musician without receiving credit; he just felt it's my time.

Led Zeppelin, and Page in particular, quite shamelessly and prolifically stole the work of others, and not just old bluesmen. Just for instance, he outright nicked Bert Jansch's highly original arrangement of "Blackwaterside," and recorded it as "Black Mountainside." Jansch wanted to sue, but he couldn't afford to do so. There's is also the aforementioned theft of the opening to "Stairway."

Making matters worse, Page has never fully acknowledged any of this, though I think there have been some legal settlements over the years, at least.

If you think people who write songs deserve to be compensated for them in both money and recognition, you bet there's something "wrong" with this kind of thing. This isn't Dylan lifting a line here or a bit of melody there. Nor is it just part of the folk tradition where people take the work of others (often songs where the origin is uncertain) and build on it (like, say "Scarborough Fair"/"Girl from the North Country"). It's wholesale theft of either very original whole songs or big swaths of them.

I still love Zeppelin, of course, and if Page had just given songwriting credit where it was due, I wouldn't have thought any less of him. I would have thought - as I do think - that he put a brilliant spin on the work of others. And he'd still be filthy rich. I also don't think this means Page wasn't a fantastic writer of original songs himself: there's no indication I know of that "The Rain Song" came from anywhere other than his brain, just for one example.

Frankly I dont care. Of course they were inspired by others. I didnt see anyone pick up a Les Paul and do it like Page or belt it out like Plant thought! If the industry thought they were a bunch of plagerists they would'nt have recieved honors at the Kennedy Center a few months ago.
Just my input.
Mike