By David Stillwell

At the heart of the lawsuit is a song called “Taurus,” by the group Spirit.

Taurus by Spirit

The band Spirit claims that they wrote the original melody and published it three years before Led Zeppelin recorded and released “Stairway to Heaven.” “Taurus” was released in 1968 and “Stairway to Heaven” was released in 1971. The lawsuit was just filed and cleared by a judge to be heard in October of 2014. That is nearly 40 years after the song “Taurus” was written and released. So why now? That is my biggest question. It seems that Randy California died a bitter man, and his heirs are trying to find some easy money. Frankly, if you ask me, this is an issue that should have been taken care of in the 1970’s and not nearly 40 years later. If Randy California had a problem with the similarities of the two songs, he should have gone to his label and taken action.

When I listened to the two songs, I can hear the similarities. But there are huge differences between what each band produced. The question is what is a song? I don’t consider “Taurus” a song. It is an instrumental piece that I found to be quite boring…that’s me being kind. I had to force myself to listen to it. “Stairway to Heaven” is different. The lyrics and rockier riffs make it into something that I did not have force myself to enjoy. That is the big difference for me. When I look at “Taurus”, I don’t see much. When I look at “Stairway to Heaven” I see a whole lot of things. There is a much greater substance with “Stairway to Heaven” than there is with “Taurus.”

The point I am driving home here is that the money that “Taurus” made probably was the top grossing such an instrumental compilation could earn. The money that “Stairway to Heaven” made was earned not just because of the music, but because of the lyrics and the musicianship that crafted the song into the rock anthem it is today. Given the time that these two songs have been out, and the fact that one is so much more than the other should mean that this is a case that should be thrown out of court. There was an opportunity to settle this issued… it died with Randy California. You decide if Stairway to Heaven is more than Taurus ever could have been.

Stairway to Heaven: