The instantly memorable opening to Led Zeppelin's most iconic tune, "Stairway To Heaven"—a song every guitarist can play by plucking the first two notes and saying, "welp, you get the idea"—isn't theirs at all. It appears to have been ganked from "Taurus" by the band Spirit, whom Zeppelin toured with back in the late-1960s. Both song's intros are almost exactly alike, from chords down to the order of the notes picked. Being a lesser-known band, it took Spirit years to gather the funds (and the nerve) to challenge one of rock's biggest bands in court, a lawsuit that's still ongoing as of this writing.
Zeppelin, obviously, denies stealing anything, because that's not a thing sane people admit to. They did, however, admit the lawsuit's claims of Zep being "exceptionally talented" and "one of the greatest bands in history" are 100 percent true. If that's their idea of pleading guilty to lesser charges to avoid conviction on more serious ones, they should probably hire a better lawyer.
But even if Spirit loses, they can always try again with Dolly Parton, whose 1975 hit "We Used To" also uses that intro. But Dolly's thievery might be even more brazen than Zeppelin's, because Zep stole from a small name. Parton, meanwhile, outright picked the pocket of the richest socialite in town and danced on top of City Hall with the money. For that alone, she should never be sued and always celebrated.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qL7Up56eZpOkunB9knJpcGejqr2mvoyppqmtnJa%2Fbr%2FOp56sZaKesaqv1KWmrqucrnq0tcyio5qqXw%3D%3D