海角大神

For more than four decades, Led Zeppelin鈥檚 鈥淪tairway to Heaven鈥� has ushered聽young guitarists into the realm of rock 'n' roll and聽served as the soundtrack to countless聽road trips, proms,聽and first kisses.聽More than 40 years after its release, the band is facing renewed allegations it stole the iconic intro to the song from the band Spirit.

Spirit鈥檚 founding bassist Mark Andes and the estate of late Spirit guitarist Randy California are planning to file a copyright infringement lawsuit and seek an injunction that would prevent Zeppelin from rereleasing the album containing the song, which the band has plans to do this summer, .

Led Zeppelin opened for Spirit during their first American tour in 1968. The song 鈥淭aurus,鈥� a 2-1/2-minute instrumental featuring a plucked guitar chord progression that sounds very similar to the opening of 鈥淪tairway to Heaven,鈥� was a fixture of Spirit鈥檚 set during that tour, Mr. Andes told Bloomberg.

鈥淚t was such a pretty moment, and it would typically come after a big forceful number and always got a good response,鈥� Andes told Bloomberg. 鈥淭hey would have seen it in that context.鈥�

There is little doubt that there are similarities between the two songs. However all of music is something of a collaborative progression, with musicians borrowing chords, riffs, and styles from one another. Every musician has a long list of other artists that they consider influential to their musical career.

However, at some point, influence and homage can cross the line into plagiarism.

That line typically comes down to whether the artist simply echoes a standard chord progression or actually lifts a melody from the original song, says songwriter Bonnie Hayes.

In the case of Stairway to Heaven, the chord progression is very similar to the one in "Taurus," but it is also a standard arpeggio form that can be heard in the 1937 song "My Funny Valentine," Ms. Hayes says.

As professor and chair of the Songwriting Department at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Hayes encourages her students to borrow chord progressions that appeal to them 鈥撀爌rovided that they layer their own melody on top.

鈥淭he Led Zeppelin melody is much more distinct 鈥� it has a tight counter melody which isn鈥檛 present in the Spirit one and that counter melody is what I think is defining in the Led Zeppelin piece,鈥� she says. 鈥淢y feeling is that they are not similar enough to make a claim like that.鈥�

That said, Led Zeppelin has been sued for copyright infringement before. The band has added additional names to the writing credits for 鈥淲hole Lotta Love,鈥� 鈥淏abe I鈥檓 Going to Leave You,鈥� 鈥淭he Lemon Song,鈥� and 鈥淒azed and Confused鈥� after settling infringement suits.

鈥淲e know that they were happy thieves, but they also had one of the most unique sounds,鈥� Hayes says. 鈥淟ed Zeppelin really was one of the most original bands ever in the history of rock and roll.鈥�