D Dipasupil/FilmMagicWhile attorneys for Led Zeppelin‘s Robert Plant and Jimmy Page filed papers Monday asking a Los Angeles judge to halt the copyright-infringement proceedings involving “Stairway to Heaven,” according to The Hollywood Reporter, the trial continued on Tuesday. Both Plant and Page were called to the stand by their lawyers, with the defense resting at the end of the day’s testimony.
Plant admitted that he once owned an album that featured the Spirit song “Fresh Garbage,” but not “Taurus,” the tune Led Zeppelin is accused of copying for “Stairway to Heaven.” The singer also was asked if he recalled playing snooker with Spirit bassist Mark Andes at Mother’s Club in Birmingham, U.K., on a night that the U.S. band performed at the venue. Robert had been at the club that night, but he and his then-wife were in a serious car accident later that evening, and he claimed that he didn’t remember anything that happened that night.
He also noted that he meets so many people in the music industry that interacting with one guy one time 40 years ago wouldn’t stick out.
In addition, Plant was asked about whether he borrowed ideas from other music artists, and he maintained that there wouldn’t have been Little Richard or The Beatles if musicians didn’t lift sounds from each other. The plaintiff’s lawyer also questioned him about Led Zeppelin’s early concerts being made up mostly of covers, to which he replied, “I don’t find that a problem.”
During Page’s testimony, the guitarist discussed his concept behind “Stairway to Heaven.” He explained that he envisioned it as “a piece of music that would go through many moods and changes…starting with acoustic guitar” and getting more intense. He also disputed testimony from Spirit bassist Larry “Fuzzy” Knight about being at a Spirit show in London in 1973.
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