In late December 1968 and the summer of 1969, up-and-coming British blues-rockers Led Zeppelin appeared at a handful of multi-band music festivals with the American psychedelic band Spirit. Spirit was riding high on the success of their self-titled debut album and its breakout track, the Jay Ferguson-penned “Fresh Garbage.” (Yes, the same Jay Ferguson who had a pop hit with “Thunder Island” in 1978 and wrote the theme to the American version of the TV sitcom The Office.) During those shows, Spirit performed a number of songs from the album, including a two-and-a-half minute instrumental entitled “Taurus,” written by guitarist Randy Wolfe, using the unforgettable stage name “Randy California.” The song is an atmospheric mixture of ethereal strings and keyboards with a series of notes picked out on an acoustic guitar as its centerpiece. As the riff winds its way thorough the tune, the sound of wind and cellos play eerily in the background. It’s a pretty epic composition, considering its short run time. Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and Robert Plant likely paid very, very close attention to the song during the four times they shared the stage with Spirit.
In late 1971, Led Zeppelin released their fourth album. The album was technically untitled but is commonly referred to as “Led Zeppelin IV” or “Zoso” based on four symbols that appear on the record’s label. The tracklist featured eight songs — four per side — each of which would go on to Classic Rock immortality. The jewel-in-the-crown of the album was “Stairway to Heaven,” the eight-minute, three section, progressive rock tour-de force that has topped numerous “greatest of all time” lists compiled by a faction of society that have been collecting Social Security for a couple of years now. The song begins with a finger-picked acoustic guitar riff that Randy California thought hit a little too close to home.
In the following years, Randy California and rock music lovers worldwide informally discussed the similarities between Spirit’s song “Taurus” and Led Zeppelin’s song “Stairway to Heaven.” Randy California even wrote in the liner notes of a 1996 reissue of Spirit’s debut album:
People always ask me why “Stairway to Heaven” sounds exactly like “Taurus,” which was released two years earlier. I know Led Zeppelin also played “Fresh Garbage” in their live set. They opened up for us on their first American tour.
Well, Led Zeppelin didn’t really open for Spirit and “Stairway to Heaven” doesn’t sound exactly like “Taurus.,” but I get his point… and his frustration.
Randy California passed away in 1997, but the story doesn’t end there. As a matter of fact, it sort of picks up speed. In 2014, Randy ‘s family filed a copyright infringement lawsuit on the late guitarist’s behalf. The lawsuit sought a posthumous co-writing credit on “Stairway to Heaven” for Randy California. The trial began on June 14, 2016 and lasted ten days, during which the jury heard hours of testimony from “Stairway to Heaven” co-writer, Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. His testimony included his declaration that he had never heard the song “Taurus” until 2014. On June 23, after just one hour of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict of “no guilty.” An appeal was filed in 2018 and, after a long and drawn-out series of complaints and claims of errors in the original case, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals found in favor of the original verdict.
It was also brought up that the guitar riff in question bears a similarity to the opening of Johnny Rivers’s 1967 song “Summer Rain” …but that’s a story for another time.