Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Led it Be - Frivolous Zap Lawsuit Going Forward

I'm no fan of Led Zep.

Aside from the guitar intro to "Stairway to Heaven," which even I can pick out on a guitar, their shit is...shit. I'm just not a metal-head. My head is not for banging. I'm not impressed with guitar heroes or screechy vocalists. Not even when I was a kid. I listened to Alice Cooper and Black Sabbath...at least they had some amusing, Halloween-ish songs and some real angst. And no, I didn't give a damn about Led Zep's cousin in dopey names, Iron Butterfly.

BUT...

I think they're getting a raw deal here.

I was all set to laugh and say "Good," when I went back and listened to Spirit (another band I never bought) and their forgettable "Taurus" song. No, this ain't even really close.

As somebody commented on the website I just showed you: "It's simply a descending arpeggiated fourth. If that is something that can be owned, then Brahms needs to come back to life and sue them both."

The surprise is that a judge allowed the case to be heard in Pennsylvania. I'm not a legal expert, but I thought that you have to file where the defendant lives. It's not fair to make a defendant journey to YOUR home. How many frivolous lawsuits would be settled out of court just on the basis of, "I don't want to travel halfway around the world every week while you postpone and postpone the case..."

No harm in testing this in a court of law, but I doubt the estate of the stupidly named "Randy California" will win this. It's only a few notes and not a match. It's not like a randy Californian from The Beach Boys stealing Chuck Berry note for note.

And yes, Zep has been known to steal...most especially riffs from old blues records which they electrified. But I wouldn't send 'em to the electric chair over some shit on a Spirit album.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.