Before I get started, I’d like to say that I’m a huge fan of Led Zeppelin. That being said, someone (anonymous) emailed me about a month ago suggesting the idea for this post. They said they heard Howard Stern discussing the Album Led Zeppelin I, and that all of the songs, with the exception of Good Times Bad Times, were stolen from other artists, and writing credit was not given. Actually, writing credit WAS given, but only after Led Zeppelin’s Greatest Hits album was released. The original artists were never paid royalties for their works, but from what I understand, royalties are now being paid, but dated from the Greatest Hits album.
After many hours of searching for these songs, I now have all of the original artists’ versions of the songs from the album Led Zeppelin I., along with Led Zeppelin’s version. You decide - Innovators or Plagiarists?
#1 Good Times Bad Times
This appears to be their only original track on this album.
#2 Babe I’m Gonna Leave You
Original Artist: Joan Baez
Original Song Title: Babe I’m Gonna Leave You
Led Zeppelin’s Version
#3 You Shook Me
Original Artist: Willie Dixon
Original Song Title: You Shook Me
Led Zeppelin’s Version
#4 Dazed and Confused
Original Artist: Jake Holmes
Original Song Title: I’m Confused
Led Zeppelin’s Version
#5 Your Time is Gonna Come
Original Artist: Traffic
Original Song Title: Dear Mr. Fantasy
Led Zeppelin’s Version
#6 Black Mountain Side
Original Artist: Bert Jansch
Original Song Title: Black Waterside
Led Zeppelin’s Version
#7 Communication Breakdown (I don’t hear this one)
Original Artist: Eddie Cochran
Original Song Title: Nervous Breakdown
Led Zeppelin’s Version
#8 I Can’t Quit You Baby
Original Artist: Willie Dixon
Original Song Title: I Can’t Quit You Baby
Led Zeppelin’s Version
#9 Stairway to Heaven (Not on the album, but worth mentioning!)
Original Artist: Spirit
Original Song Title: Taurus
Led Zeppelin’s Version
Disturbing, right? If you know of any other rips, tell us in the comments.
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Also the pentatonic and blues scale has a tendency to seem similar to other songs using it.Basically if you look hard enough you'll find similarities to another song with ANY song.
And finally Led Zep fuckin rocked.
But yeah i enjoyed your post.
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A cover of the Small Faces, "You Need Loving"
Which is a cover of Willie Dixon (I believe).
The only ones that give credit are Savoy Brown (You need Lovin).
If you listen to the ending of the Small Faces version it's eerie. When you get to the part with, "Woman, Choo need it . Loooooooooove" You could play them side by side.
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ok they do sound a little(and i mean very little) bit alike
and i mean damn where do u think people get the idea's for there songs?
o yea thats right OTHER SONGS, so stairway to heaven is irrelevant
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http://www.archive.org/details/Kansas_Joe_Memph...
I appreciate that not giving writing credit + royalties is shitty, but I can't stop loving the LZ versions. Also, the "Dazed and confused" original is waayyy different from the LZ version, they even have few words in common, though a similar guitar breakdown.
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Nervous Breakdown...not even close
Black Mountainside...not enough to accuse plagarism, but some similarities
Your Time is Gonna Come...a little...kinda like saying "Welcome to the Jungle" sounds like "You Really Got Me". But there is that riff in there.....
Dazed and Confused...WTF! Woah....seriously, WTF!
You Shook Me....I knew this was a cover when it came out...you mean to say they tried to play it off as one of their own. My god...I'm getting more pissed the more I check this out.
Babe I'm gonna Leave You...nah, don't hear it. But these fucking rock star millionaires owe some money to a couple of these cats...a LOT of money
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On the original releases, the original artist is credited.
When you look at greatest hits albums, you are looking at albums created by their record companies (usually to fulfill a contract). In such a situation, it's easy for the record company to be a bunch of ninnies and falsely attribute writing credit to the band.
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are you completely aurally challenged? VOCALS makes all of that "gonna sound the same" shit you're spouting fly straight out the window.
not convinced on I can't quit you? are you KIDDING? the lyrics are EXACTLY THE SAME. SO. when the LYRICS are the same, and they SOUND the same, it's not up to slow blues sounding like slow blues. its up to the same song sounding like the same song.
i agree, Dazed and Confused is a little hard to hear. but you can't shrug off the lyrics and go based on the track alone. if they DIDN't have the lyrics, i'd be more inclined to agree with you, that their style is easily emulated, and that there are others that sound very similar, but are not the same. HOWEVER. the fact that the lyrics ARE the same (or painfully close) make it IMPOSSIBLE to overlook.
Besides, they gave credit AFTER THE FACT on greatest hits. so they WERE plagiarized, and you are arguing a moot point.
kthxbai.
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So covers these are not- simply the resycling of old songs that they legally owned and wrote.
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Walking down the street,
Everybody that you meet
Has an original point of view.
And I say - Hey! (Hey!)
What a wonderful kind of day
If we could learn to work and play
And get along with each other.
You gotta listen to your heart,
Listen to the beat,
Listen to the rhythm,
The rhythm of the street.
Open up your eyes.
Open up your ears.
Get together
And make things better
By working together.
It's a simple message, And it comes from the heart.
Believe in yourself, For that's the place to start.
And I say - Hey! (Hey!)
What a wonderful kind of day
If we could learn to work and play
And get along with each other.
Hey! What a wonderful kind of day. Hey!
What a wonderful kind of day. Hey!
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While a student at UC-Berkeley in the 1950's, Anne Bredon appeared on a live folk-music radio show “The Midnight Special” on station KPFA, in which she sang "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You."
When Led Zeppelin covered the song after hearing Joan Baez's version, they credited the song as arranged by Jimmy Page. In the 1980s, Bredon was made aware of Led Zeppelin's version of the song and since the 1990's Led Zeppelin's version has been credited to Anne Bredon/Jimmy Page & Robert Plant, and Bredon received a substantial back-payment in royalties.
Led Zeppelin is still one of the greatest hard rock bands of all time.
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Some songs are covers and duly credited, others are adaptations and/or quotes/winks at the original songs.
Everybody knows this and yet you act as if you discovered something. Get real.
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Back on topic, I must say I find this quite sad. Just why didn't they admit this in the original release of the album?
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P.S. Bring back 90's hip-hop sampling. We're losing a lot of great music, because people feel the need to monetize everything. Sometimes great art should be its own payment.
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And I do agree with a lot of people who claim that some of these songs aren't really relevant. I can't really hear Communication Breakdown, and Stairway to Heaven could definitely be attributed to the "common chord progression" syndrome. Finally, the twelve-bar blues point is valid as well.
HOWEVER, Dazed and Confused? What the eff, Zep. That was pretty low. Not the stealing, but the lack of admission of "covering," which classifies it as plagerism. Black Mountain Side is definitely close enough to be considered as plagerism, even just by looking at the names and similarities in chord changes. And Babe I'm Gonna Leave You is also a crazy example, because the similarities are there.
All in all, it doesn't hurt to cover a song. But to take full credit for it, or let people assume that you are taking full credit for it, is low.
So people, don't be so ignorant as to just write this off.
And Zep is still great.
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Ooops, I'm on the wrong site.
I'm sure that if you delved into the history of many of the greatest bands around, you will find a level of similarity with previously published tracks from other artists. However, there is a reason why bands such as LZ become one of the greatest bands around - they come with a certain dynamic which works across all their published music.
In older times, I'm pretty sure that many small artists would have felt a great deal of honour in being 'ripped' by a major band such as LZ. Now-a-days, they'd all be throwing each other into court with hefty suits against each other.
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Thumbs up or down, I appreciate you visiting and commenting. :-)
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This is no revelation, just a very late realization by second generation Zeppelin fans.
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you wanna piss on great rock musicians....good fuckin luck.......get your fuckin story straight at least....
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http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=299
One of only about 100 mentions that the song was RIPPED from Baez, who admitted to borrowing the song from Anne Bredon. So, to quote you..."Get YOUR fuckin story straight" before you flame me for doing hours of research.
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Is it a crime to cover?
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I don't even really care for Zeppelin, but the claim that they're plagiarists is pretty ballsy. I suggest you do some simple research before posting this crap.
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i think plagiarism is a pretty harsh word to use in this case. I think it had alot more to with homage & tribute and also reaching a young audience.
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all music is influenced by all music heard by the musicians. even scales are based on what is heard alot.
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But hey , when people talk trash about the Beatles I probably look at them like they just puked on my shirt
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" Cover Band " is ,in my opinion , an insult. "Kashmir"," Ten Years gone"," The Ocean," In My
Time of Dying" "Moby Dick ". These songs alone say it all.
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Let the hate comments begin.
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bluemu.
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