More Rock & Roll but is it a Swindle?

[Keith]

Diehard rock fans will be eagerly awaiting the outcome of an upcoming court case over whether Jimmy Page "stole" the famous opening riff of Stairway to Heaven... The unfortunate so-called originator of the phrase (Randy Wolfe AKA Randy California) drowned in 1997 and the current case is being brought by his estate. Seems odd they waited this long, but there you go.

A US judge has deemed that there IS a case to answer but I thought I'd throw it to the Paddock Jury who are well known for their impartiality and scrupulous fairness rolleyes, for their views on this fascinating matter..

Here is a quick demo of both riffs:

http://youtu.be/PCEg9gMJakU

 

[Robert May Eng.]

Its going to be a sad day for creativity if that case is won, there cant be a song written that does not have some similarities to something else. Artists may as well throw away their instruments if they pull that one off in court.:veryangry:

Bob

 

[Keith]

Indeed Bob and if you listen carefully to that chord progression you'll also hear the Beatles "Michelle" and George Harrison's "While my guitar gently weeps". As ever, the only winners are the lawyers..

Someone did an analysis of the chords A minor, F major, B flat minor, C major, G major and E minor (I think) and worked out that if you could play those chords, you would cover many thousands of popular songs.. The entire Punk movement was founded on just three of those chords.

Ok. They might have a point especially as they toured with Led Zep but he's been dead almost 20 years! Why now? Personally, "Stairway" is a thousand times better than the 'original' dirge and I'm not even a Zep fan.

 

[Robert May Eng.]

Ok. They might have a point especially as they toured with Led Zep but he's been dead almost 20 years! Why now? Personally, "Stairway" is a thousand times better than the 'original' dirge and I'm not even a Zep fan.

Professor was this alleged breach of copyright acknowledged prior to the original artist`s death ?

Bob

 

[Paul W]

It'll pretty much depend on the Judge they get on the day. Obviously there are alot of similarities between the two songs that anyone can hear.
I don't think there is a case to answer, however Robin Thicke / Pharrel Williams lost out spectacularly to the the Marvin Gaye estate last year with "blurred Lines".
The lines on this are very blurred, so maybe its after this landmark case, that they are now taking a punt.

 

[Robert May Eng.]

It'll pretty much depend on the Judge they get on the day. Obviously there are alot of similarities between the two songs that anyone can hear.
I don't think there is a case to answer, however Robin Thicke / Pharrel Williams lost out spectacularly to the the Marvin Gaye estate last year with "blurred Lines".
The lines on this are very blurred, so maybe its after this landmark case, that they are now taking a punt.

Thats an interesting comparison Paul, I just had a read of this Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke to pay $7.4m to Marvin Gaye's family over Blurred Lines | Music | The Guardian and of note is the copyrights are handed down to Marvins children.

Bob

 

[Keith]

Blurred Lines was blatant however....

Bob, unsure of that, I'll check it out but I don't believe so. In fact, Wolfe may have even signed a waiver in his lifetime! We'll soon find out...

 

[Rick Muck- Mark IV]

Diehard rock fans will be eagerly awaiting the outcome of an upcoming court case over whether Jimmy Page "stole" the famous opening riff of Stairway to Heaven... The unfortunate so-called originator of the phrase (Randy Wolfe AKA Randy California) drowned in 1997 and the current case is being brought by his estate. Seems odd they waited this long, but there you go.

A US judge has deemed that there IS a case to answer but I thought I'd throw it to the Paddock Jury who are well known for their impartiality and scrupulous fairness rolleyes, for their views on this fascinating matter..

Here is a quick demo of both riffs:

http://youtu.be/PCEg9gMJakU

Sprit toured with Led Zepplin and played "Taurus" the song that seemed to be the seed for Stairway, so it looks like a case with a chance it not merit.

And MIT used hundreds of hours on a Cray supercomputer and has determined that there are only three song melodies yet to be written........and the REALLY bad news is that two of them are Country!!!!

 

[Charlie Farley]

LOL Rick,
Just our luck..
Anyway Prof, I watched that video. What happened after 1.00 or so mins... ?
I fell asleep, just as I proffer the Judge will.

 

[Keith]

However, this is America so I find with the Plaintiff and award the dead guy 100 billion US Dollars... To be paid in installments by the end of May 2016..