Legendary English rock band Led Zeppelin is going to go to court for a copyright case involving the song “Stairway To Heaven.” This case has been going on since 2014, when Michael Skidmore, a trustee for former Spirit guitarist Randy Wolfe’s estate, decided to sue Zeppelin. Skidmore claimed that the intro the song “Stairway To Heaven” was actually stolen from Spirit’s song “Taurus”, released in 1968. “Stairway To Heaven” was released a few years later in 1971. Spirit and Led Zeppelin actually played a few shows together during this time, with Zeppelin even playing a medley of Spirit’s songs at one point.
This past February, the court case moved to federal court in California. Zeppelin’s lawyer asked the U.S. District Court Judge Gary Klausner to rule in their favor, not allowing the case to go to trial. However, Klausner ruled that “Taurus” and “Stairway To Heaven” were too similar and ordered the case be taken to a hearing in front of the jury (no pun intended). The trial will be on May 10th in Los Angeles.
Led Zeppelin played music together from 1968 to 1980, managing to crank out nine studio albums in their career before breaking up. Coda was their final album, released in 1982. The album is a collection of unused tracks that the band recorded in various sessions over the span of their career. Led Zeppelin is one of the best-selling music artists in history and are highly regarded as one of the most influential and innovative rock bands in history. They are the second-best-selling band in the U.S.
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