Ozzy Osbourne Sounds Off About 'Stairway To Heaven' Trial

Ozzy Osbourne and Jeff Beck have spoken out about the recent Led Zeppelin copyright infringement trial where the rock legends were accused to stealing the opening to "Stairway To Heaven."

Led Zeppelin won the case last month after a jury found that they did not borrow the iconic song's opening from the 1968 instrumental "Taurus" by the band Spirit.

Ozzy was asked about the case by Rolling Stone and shared his strong reaction to the case. "It's f***ing crazy, actually," he said. "That should have never gone to court.

"I heard the original thing, and there's just a slight similarity. It's like saying any f***ing song with that kind of a guitar on it is a rip-off. It's not fair. There's only so many f***ing notes on a guitar, and it wasn't that much like 'Stairway to Heaven.' I'm amazed it lasted so f***ing long, you know?"

"You listen to 'All Right Now' by Free and you listen to Steve Miller's 'Rock'n Me,' and it's exactly the same riff and they haven't sued each other, It's exactly the same."

Osbourne went on to praise Led Zeppelin and concluded with "They don't deserve it. It's like, do you honestly think they'll sit there and go, 'Oh, we'll steal this and change it a bit like this so it sells.' F***. Give me a break. The song that was played was kind of a bit similar but it was only the chord sequence."

Legendary guitarist Jeff Beck also shared similar views in an interview with Billboard. "I had to smirk because I knew that Jimmy and Robert would come out on top," Beck said. "Apparently you can't copyright a chord sequence. It has to have a lyric or some kind of a meaningful melody to be copyrighted. And it is a chord sequence which has been used loads of times, but not in such an iconic way.

"It clearly is the same chord sequence (as Spirit's 'Taurus'), but then we're all guilty of stealing a chord sequence and sticking some words on top of it. So I think it's a bit of bravado to try to bring it to court, but Jimmy came out ahead. So, lucky Old Jim!"

Ozzy Osbourne Music, DVDs, Books and more Ozzy Osbourne T-shirts and Posters Ozzy Osbourne Tickets/Tour Dates More Ozzy Osbourne News Share this article Related Stories Ozzy Osbourne and Foreigner Lead Rock Hall Class Of 2024 The Osbournes Expanded With New Content For Rerelease Ozzy Osbourne Launching New Show The Madhouse Chronicles Ozzy Osbourne Teams With Billy Morrison And Steve Stevens For New Song Ozzy Osbourne, Steve Stevens, and John5 Joining Billy Morrison Event