Trial Over ‘Stairway to Heaven’ to Proceed [Video]

Did Led Zeppelin steal the opening of their classic tune 'Stairway to Heaven?' Well, that’s what a trial is expected to determine, now that a U.S. District court has ruled there is enough evidence to support a case that the opening notes of the song are ripped off from the Spirit song 'Taurus.'

U.S District Judge R. Gary Klausner ruled that while the two songs do have differences, the trustees of late Spirit guitarist Randy Wolfe, who wrote “Taurus in either 1967 or 1968, could possibly prove that they're substantially similar.

Wolfe’s tune was written years before the Zeppelin classic, and while they did perform in the same circles, the judge ruled that the evidence Zeppelin heard “Taurus” before they wrote “Stairway” is circumstantial. A jury trial is scheduled to begin on May 10^th.

Compare the two songs and you be the judge. You can definitely hear the similarities, but was it deliberately ripped off?