Led Zeppelin vs Spirit
Recently a jury in Los Angeles rejected claims that Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page stole a riff of the song "Taurus" by Spirit for his rock classic "Stairway to Heaven." Reaction to this case varied widely, from "the rich guy with the better lawyer stuck it to the little guy once again," to "this was a frivolous lawsuit brought on by money hungry lawyers and talentless heirs hoping for a lottery ticket payday."
I have "Stairway to Heaven" on my top 100 songs of the 20th Century, so I was intrigued by the case enough to buy a copy of "Taurus" and research the story further. My own verdict is a split decision: I think Page was influenced and inspired in part by the riff in "Taurus." Yet, "Stairway to Heaven" is the superior song, with plenty that separates it from this one point of inspiration.
"Taurus" is a dreamy but forgettable little number. There are classical music touches, and parts that sound like a Hollywood film score. The section in question is a guitar line that sounds like a warm-up scale. In "Stairway to Heaven," Page takes a similar scale and creates variations that repeat and mutate as the song progresses. Whereas "Taurus" fades out after just two minutes, "Stairway to Heaven" keeps going, giving us a more intricate, layered and polished composition.
Lawyers want a concrete answer: this song/idea/story etc. belongs to this person and not to that person. But, art is rarely this cut and dry. Whether we're talking painting or music or writing, creative people are constantly inspired by one another. We read something, or hear it, and say, "Hey, I like that. But, I would do it this way . . . ."
I write for HarryPotterFanFiction.com, so I'm regularly treading in another's creative universe. I use my own characters as much as possible. I love the school, Hogwarts, and I wanted to go back and spend more time there.
I came to Rowling's universe with some strong opinions as to why I was there and what I wanted to do. I brought ideas, like the Dragon Wand, which sprung out of my reading of Deathly Hallows, but is an extrapolation and expansion on what Rowling wrote. My lead character, Liam Wren, is as different from Harry Potter as I could make him while still retaining a noble sense of heroism.
Part of creating a fantasy world is conjuring the illusion that the horizon goes on forever in all directions. In reality there are many blank areas of Rowling's canvas. I parked myself over some of those blank areas and began to embellish, matching her writing style and sense of humor as best I could while telling my own distinct brand of story.
Austin Kleon, in his book Steal Like an Artist, gives a checklist of does and don'ts when taking inspiration from other writers and artists. I feel Dragon Wand, Love and Arithmancy, and my other stories are all on the right side of that ledger.
Rowling was inspired by the fantasy of Tolkien and Lewis, and by boarding school stories and orphan stories that are so much a part of English literature. Lewis' Narnia was inspired in large part by Tolkien's stories of Middle Earth, much of which was unpublished when Lewis started work on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Shakespeare and Chaucer both had sources of inspiration that they drew from. Even stories in the Bible are drawn from other, even older stories. To claim that a piece of writing, music, or art is completely original and severed from all sources of inspiration and tradition, is foolish.
I have "Stairway to Heaven" on my top 100 songs of the 20th Century, so I was intrigued by the case enough to buy a copy of "Taurus" and research the story further. My own verdict is a split decision: I think Page was influenced and inspired in part by the riff in "Taurus." Yet, "Stairway to Heaven" is the superior song, with plenty that separates it from this one point of inspiration.
"Taurus" is a dreamy but forgettable little number. There are classical music touches, and parts that sound like a Hollywood film score. The section in question is a guitar line that sounds like a warm-up scale. In "Stairway to Heaven," Page takes a similar scale and creates variations that repeat and mutate as the song progresses. Whereas "Taurus" fades out after just two minutes, "Stairway to Heaven" keeps going, giving us a more intricate, layered and polished composition.
Lawyers want a concrete answer: this song/idea/story etc. belongs to this person and not to that person. But, art is rarely this cut and dry. Whether we're talking painting or music or writing, creative people are constantly inspired by one another. We read something, or hear it, and say, "Hey, I like that. But, I would do it this way . . . ."
I write for HarryPotterFanFiction.com, so I'm regularly treading in another's creative universe. I use my own characters as much as possible. I love the school, Hogwarts, and I wanted to go back and spend more time there.
I came to Rowling's universe with some strong opinions as to why I was there and what I wanted to do. I brought ideas, like the Dragon Wand, which sprung out of my reading of Deathly Hallows, but is an extrapolation and expansion on what Rowling wrote. My lead character, Liam Wren, is as different from Harry Potter as I could make him while still retaining a noble sense of heroism.
Part of creating a fantasy world is conjuring the illusion that the horizon goes on forever in all directions. In reality there are many blank areas of Rowling's canvas. I parked myself over some of those blank areas and began to embellish, matching her writing style and sense of humor as best I could while telling my own distinct brand of story.
Austin Kleon, in his book Steal Like an Artist, gives a checklist of does and don'ts when taking inspiration from other writers and artists. I feel Dragon Wand, Love and Arithmancy, and my other stories are all on the right side of that ledger.
Rowling was inspired by the fantasy of Tolkien and Lewis, and by boarding school stories and orphan stories that are so much a part of English literature. Lewis' Narnia was inspired in large part by Tolkien's stories of Middle Earth, much of which was unpublished when Lewis started work on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Shakespeare and Chaucer both had sources of inspiration that they drew from. Even stories in the Bible are drawn from other, even older stories. To claim that a piece of writing, music, or art is completely original and severed from all sources of inspiration and tradition, is foolish.
No comments have been added yet.
