10 Shameless Rock Ripoffs That Are Great
2. Stairway To Heaven - Led Zeppelin (1971)
You'd be hard pressed to find a more iconic introduction to a song. Jimmy Page's guitar work on Stairway To Heaven will always be considered the ultimate in rock-guitar balladry. But it is without a doubt the most shameless case of plagiarism in all of music.
Admittedly, Page's opening few licks only make up a small amount of the the overall track, but the most iconic moments are so similar to the song Taurus, by America group Spirit, they it can't have been a coincidence. The Spirit track came out two years before Stairway to Heaven, and indeed, Led Zeppelin toured with the American band during that time.
Page was well known for borrowing from other artists in his early days. All the UK guitarists were taking inspiration from American blues acts of the era, but whereas most were reworking licks and ideas, Page was just lifting whole riffs, and calling them his own. He was simply a brilliant guitar player, who had no issue stealing other peoples stuff because he believed he could do it better.
Stairway To Heaven is certainly more appealing then the Spirit number...