10 Rock Songs That Ripped Off Other Songs
7. Zeppelin Singing the Blues - Whole Lotta Love
From their earliest jam sessions, all of the members of Led Zeppelin were known as disciples of the blues. Even though they had their distinct identity, much of the band's early career involved them taking the old blues of America and turning it into powerful hard rock. Once they did get around to playing their own tunes though, they had a bit of a hard time shaking those "influences."
"Whole Lotta Love" is a must-listen for any fan of hard rock music, but the initial skeleton of the song didn't really have to do with Zeppelin at all. The riff definitely belongs to Jimmy Page, but the passionate vocals from Robert Plant were ripped straight from the old blues tunes they were singing in clubs. This especially didn't sit well with the publishers of Willie Dixon, who claimed that the band ripped them off for the line "Way Down Inside, Honey You Need It."
After it went through the legal system, it was decided that Zeppelin's song did have enough similarities to warrant a co-writing credit with Dixon. To cover their tracks, many Zeppelin songs nowadays often have credits to the old blues artists who influenced them, but that didn't stop these songs from making an impact on thousands of young rock musicians the world over.