There’s a great scene in the theatrical release of Wayne’s World in which Wayne, trying out a new guitar at a music shop, plays the intro to Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.” No sooner does he get through the first couple of notes when a store employee puts the kibosh on it, pointing to a sign on the wall that reads “No Stairway to Heaven.” Anyone who’s ever picked up a guitar will understand.
The problem is, on international, home video, and television versions of the film, Wayne doesn’t actually play “Stairway to Heaven.” Because of “disputes in obtaining rights to the first five notes of the song”—according to IMDB—something else entirely is dubbed in, and the joke predictably falls flat. See for yourself:
The point to all this? Willard’s Wormholes makes the compelling case that Led Zeppelin has a whole lotta chutzpah:
“Led Zeppelin’s many incidents of copyright infringement are legendary. There are those who have called it outright theft, and have sworn in a court of law that Led Zeppelin (primarily Jimmy Page and Robert Plant) have repeatedly taken credit for writing music that wasn’t their’s to take credit for. And, many of those cases have been vindicated.”
Do take the time to check it out, if only to see the 25 fantastic—and cringe-inducing—”Zeppelin Took My Blues Away” trading cards.
