Manky Monkey Motors

stairway to heaven

Have a listen to this....

Its from a band called 'Spirit', its said they played this when Zep were their support (and way before Stairway came out).......  interesting huh?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Sdbg2is2zQ

The main guy in spirit was a guy by the name of Randy California. He got his name as a a very young musician, he was in Hendrix's band (before Hendrix made it big) along with another guy called Randy, so Jimi identified them by the State they were from.

When Hendrix was 'discovered' and brought to England, Young Randy C's mum wouldn't allow him to come (think how annoying that would be). He ended up in Spirit, but as time passed, so he ended up playing in smaller venues, so much so, that I saw him playing in a pub in Guildford about 25 years ago (in fact he came out of a side door into the car park, which was dark, and I had to hit the brakes!!)

Seeing as I didn't run him over, the gig went ahead. (which means I'm lucky enough to have seen Randy C and Zep  :D)



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_California


For those that know "Hotel California" by the Eagles, have a listen to this. Its by Jethro Tull who performed this when their were supported by the Eagles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgO7MamJnqM&feature=related

sounds like a case of blatant nicking of a tune to me .I bet he's glad he was born in califoria and not somewhere like cricklewood or weston super mare

t.o.b.......just checked out yer jethro link & i must say its very similar to hotel c. i've heard the jethro tune many times before but have never noticed the similarity ......well spotted that man!

Just  heard a track on Planet Rock by Motley Crue called "Kickstart my Heart" from 1989, and the intro reminded my of two tracks, both from around 1973.

So have a listen to the Crue
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zHNcSwx71w

Now, trying to remember the intro, start off by listening to Montrose's intro of "Bad Motor Scooter"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8T_PQoTC30

Then the intro of The Sweet's "Hellraiser"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oz2J6qm_XAI


what da ya reckon? Similar?

Well, it's now 2016, and there's a court case regarding the Stairway to Heaven dispute.

The BBC website says "According to Bloomberg Businessweek, Stairway To Heaven had earned $562m (£334m) as of 2008."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36534469

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36546726

Can't remember who it was but there was a musician on tv the other day playing bits from various pieces, pop and rock and classical, and showing the similarities.  He said that basically music is made up of very few notes, so it's inevitable that sometimes people get them in the same order.

I agree, and I don't think that music should be about fighting over who wrote what.  When Mike and I got married we had a singer/guitarist playing at the reception, who had been in some big bands but packed it all in because he didn't want to be part of what it had become - all big business instead of all about the music.

This is nothing new Led Zep are well known for Plagiarising other peoples work.for instance the song When the Levee Breaks which is an old song, Page changed the music a little. and Plant was supposed to change the lyrics. But he was to lazy to do it so it was released exactly as the original. Not really a problem if its cover version, but on the record where you have the the song writers credit it reads Plant/Page which is terrible. the song was written by Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie (Great names these people had) in 1929 so was probably still in copyright. So if they were still alive it deprived them of the royalties they deserved.

I watch the Good Wife which is a programme about a woman lawyer in America and one of the recent episodes was about this subject and it went backwards and forwards on how a song sounded like others with all manner of experts called to testify. It was quite good. Mind you I love the show as I think it is very well written and acted. I really like anything to do with the USA legal system whether it be books, films or tv series. I bet quite a few Mankies are fellow John Grisham fans. I know it isn't only oily Haynes manuals that you read.  ;D

Led zep should settle out of court and save more money ? But I'm sure it will run on for ages and lawyers will do ok ?  Why wait 40 years ? (Accruing interest ?)

Just had a look in one of our book cases and counted thirteen Grisham books. so you may be right :D

I remember seeing a video of someone playing the same chords at differing tempos and strumming patterns and it was amazing how many songs fit.
A good one to play around with is the chord sequence to Hotel California.

Don't mention California ?

Or malaga cos it is still sweaty hot here. ;D ;D ;D

....its now towards the end of 2018 and it appears the saga continues as its reported on the BBC website that Led Zeppelin face a new trial.......

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-45685401

Stairway to heaven, Number 1 soon  ;D

do they still have the charts??       Is Fluff still saying "pop Pickers"? I cannot hear the radio, so I have no idea.

I did keep hearing a collection of a few chords that was in Hotel California. That is one of my most favourite songs (ok I have a lot of those  :D) but on the whole I wouldn't have said it was the same but if they gigged with The Eagles you could see how the influence could happen. I don't remember the Jethro Tull song and would have been pushed to say it was even them, until Ian Anderson came in on the flute.  :)