In a new interview, Triumph singer and guitarist Rik Emmett shared his views on Led Zeppelin’s tendency to use parts of old blues songs and the controversy around not crediting some of these original artists on early Zeppelin albums.
“Zeppelin themselves got sued by lots of writers that were going…Willie Dixon is going, ‘Hey, you stole my song here. You’re claiming it as yours. It’s not yours,’” he explained during the chat with Eddie Trunk. “And then quietly, Zeppelin is going, ‘OK, we’ll give you a lot of money. We don’t want to have to put your name on the album. How much will you take to keep your name out of it?’ But there were other instances of, ‘No, no. You’ve got to put my name on there.’”
“We live in a world of mash-ups, and now, it’s something different. The integrity of this is something different because it’s kind of fresh and kind of new. And pop music has done that all of its life. So, to turn around and say, ‘Now I’m going to make fun of somebody that’s done that,’ and you go, ‘Well, you do it too,’” the rocker added.
Other than taking parts from blue artists, Led Zeppelin has been accused of stealing songs from different rockers too. Jimi Hendrix once said he didn’t ‘think much’ of Led Zeppelin, and Vanilla Fudge drummer Carmine Appice added that Hendrix believed Zeppelin ‘stole from everybody.’ Similarly, guitarist Bert Jansch, referring to Led Zeppelin’s ‘Black Mountain Side,’ felt that Jimmy Page ripped him off or at least heavily ‘learned’ from him.
While some artists have accused Led Zeppelin of borrowing without credit, the band has been open at times about their influences.
Robert Plant admitted that the lyrics for ‘Whole Lotta Love’ were inspired by Muddy Waters’ ‘You Need Love.’ Reflecting on this, Plant said during an interview that it was a matter of getting caught.
Led Zeppelin also faced a major lawsuit from the estate of Randy California, claiming their famous song ‘Stairway to Heaven’ was too similar to Spirit’s song ‘Taurus.’
After several years of court hearings and appeals, a court ruled on March 9, 2020, that Led Zeppelin did not copy ‘Taurus.’ On October 5, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court ended the case, confirming the decision.