Led Zeppelin- Rip Off Artists?

[Phil B.]

I still dig Zeppelin...the thing about the Blues is, it's difficult to call it "stealing". Some of the music was taken from traditional folk/cultural songs that have never had a "copyright". Public domain, as it were.

Gallows Pole is a good example.

Leadbelly's Gallows Pole

 

[Groovy Man]

Leadbelly's Gallows Pole

Not to be cruel, but I can barely listen to that song the whole way through after hearing Zeppelin's version....

Not only that, and more importantly, Zeppelin changed the song a lot and made it into a much better and different song. (imo)

I think they should of gave credit to where credit was due (and royalties)....but, that's between Zeppelin and the original artists....I'm not losing any sleep over it....and I doubt not too many other Zeppelin fans are either.

 

[Phil B.]

Not to be cruel, but I can barely listen to that song the whole way through after hearing Zeppelin's version....

Not only that, and more importantly, Zeppelin changed the song a lot and made it into a much better and different song. (imo)

Not cruel at all. I'm just aknowledging that a lot of this music goes waaaaaaaay back. I'm kind of a historical nut, so tracing the roots back is a hobby for me. For the record, I love the Gallows Pole by Zeppelin.

I need to go to the blues forum to see what they have to say about Leadbelly..

 

[Groovy Man]

Not cruel at all. I'm just aknowledging that a lot of this music goes waaaaaaaay back. I'm kind of a historical nut, so tracing the roots back is a hobby for me. For the record, I love the Gallows Pole by Zeppelin.

I meant, I wasn't trying to be too cruel to Leadbelly and his version...

because, I do respect the old bluesmen and the history of the blues.

 

[Phil B.]

Oh, Gotchya..

 

[CREAM'd]

Led Zeppelin were an excellent band,i'd put them in my top 5 bands anyday. The fact of the matter is they borrowed very heavily from other artists,without giving any credit until pretty recently,that is pretty unacceptable. Thing is,i've yet to hear a Led Zeppelin version of a song that didn't sound a mile better than the original version, that doesn't make it right, but it has made a lot of older songs more pleasing to the ear,and kept them alive by having possibly the biggest rock band in the world covering them.

 

[METALPRIEST]

How about the Beatles ripping off Zeppelin???

 

[Mr. Shadow]

Well, for example they stole the intro to stairway to heaven from some obscure unknown band

Spirit was not exactly an obscure unknown band.

 

[Khor1255]

I heard that Spirit song and other than the riff it is a completely different tune. If borrowing a riff is considered stealing then practically every blues song out there is a criminal enterprise. I don't believe that.

As for whole songs? This was the usual way a new artist presented himself (ie 'borrowing' an already well known tune). I honestly don't see what all the hub hub is about especially since
a) Zeppelin usually heavily embellished or outright changed it around so much as to sometimes be almost unrecognizable from the original
b) Zep has lots of original material in their catalog and always have.

Does every success story have to be fraught with guilting these days?

 

[Johnny-Too-Good]

All I can say on this subject is ALL rock music is derivative. Every artist out there has stolen from other artists. The general terminology used is 'being influenced by'. Led Zep are no worse than anyone else, and you have to say they certainly stamped their own identity all over everything they ever did.