banger

Noels Gallaghers ripped off the Beatles on lots of his stuff. he admits it too

Evenstar

Arctic Monkeys' Arabella main riff is very close to War Pigs (Black Sabbath) into another riff which is VERY close to Shout at the Devil - Motley crue.

Crudivore

Anything by Led Zeppelin

MusicAddict95

Janet Jackson's "Runaway" and Louise's "Arms Around The World". Both songs were recorded in Spring of 1995, ironically.

gsrox

Ray Parker Jr.'s "Ghostbusters" riff highly resembles "I Want A New A Drug" from Huey Lewis. There was a court case wrapped around it.

twolipsparody

led zipplin songs are a ripoff of a 1940's 50's blues musicain. theres a thing on youtube about it. cant remember the guys name tho

cledussnow

Here is a chronological comprehensive (if I've missed anything please feel free to point it out) list of songs Led Zeppelin supposedly ripped off. Some are 100% factual and I will call a pig a pig everytime, but other charges are baseless imo and I will also point those out, as well as seek input from other listeners. It is also important to remember that there was no internet back then. In some cases they simply might not have known who to give credit to as the information was much much harder to track down and verify.




Babe I'm Gonna Leave You - Written by Anne Bredon, but the version LZ lifted was Joan Baez's from her Live album in 1963. They did give proper credit to Anne Bredon, so no ripoff here, just a cover. Here is a clip of Baez doing the song:

You Shook Me - Purely a cover. Written by and properly credited to Willie Dixon.

Dazed & Confused - Pure Theft. Jake Holmes' original song is titled "I'm Confused", and Jake just happened to open for the Yardbirds during Jimmy's time with them. The lyrics have been changed, but the music is verbatum albeit much heavier. In fact, Jimmy had already stolen this song while still with the Yardbirds and did the song in concert several times before forming LZ. Interesting side note is Jake was in an entertainment "trio" which included Joan Rivers. He later went on to have much success writing many tv jingles, including "Gillette the best a man can get"; "Zack the Leggo maniac, The Army's "Be all that you can be" and perhaps the most famous "I'm" a Pepper" for Dr. Pepper.

Your Time is Gonna Come - The first questionable one imo. The charge is that Jimmy stole the 7 note riff (before the chorus) from Traffic's "Dear Mr. Fantasy", and that the melody and chord progressions are a rip off of Blind Faith's "Can't Find My Way Home". Now while I have to concede the 7 note riff part of the claim, I have a hard time believing the second part of it. It is definitely similar, but Led Zeppelin I was released in January of 1969, Blind Faith's record wasn't released until August of 1969. It is true that Winwood and Clapton were jamming together since the Summer of 1968, but it seems unlikely that Jimmy could have heard that song before the release of LZ I.

White Summer/Black Mountain Side - Pure theft. This is from a traditional British folk song titled "She Moved Through the Fair", and the version appearing on Zeppelin I is lifted from Bert Jansch's interpretation titled "Black Waterside".

Communication Breakdown - The charge is that this is a rip off of Eddie Cochrane's "Nervous Breakdown". I don't see it at all. The only similarity I can see is the word "Breakdown" in the title. Maybe you can see something I do not...

I Can't Quit You Baby - Pure cover. Willie Dixon song and properly credited.

How Many More Times - This one is a bit tricky. The claim is LZ ripped off a Howlin' Wolf song titled "How Many More Years". I can't see this one either. The songs do not have anything in common to my ears, and I think it is a baseless claim. However, at the 6:15 mark Zeppelin definitely goes into "The Hunter", which is a song written by Booker T and the MGs, and first recorded by Albert King. There is no denying they are playing The Hunter from 6:15-7:05. So basically :50 seconds of a 8 minute+ tune is definitely "ripped off". Does that make the whole song a rip off? I can't see how. Here's the Wolf song, maybe you can hear something similar between them? And then we have Albert King's the Hunter, no mistaking that song near the end of Zep's tune as mentioned above:

cledussnow

Whole Lotta Love - Well there is no denying that some of the lyrics are staright stolen from Willie Dixon's "You Need Loving", most famously recorded by Muddy Waters. Additionally the very last part of the song Robert sings "..shake for me girl, I wanna be your backdoor man", which are staright off another Willie song "Back Door Man". The Small Faces recorded the song in 1966, and that is the version that Plant really liked, but imo, the music is not very close at all. You be the judge. Here's Muddy's version as well as the Small Faces version:

The Lemon Song - Another that is slightly muddled. The first 1:30 is, lyrically, a definite rip-off of Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor". But the remainder of the song is unique, as well as the music throughout the whole song.

Moby Dick - The guitar riff to this song is definitely similar to Bobby Parker's "Watch Your Step". I can concede this point, especially considering Jimmy's penchant for stealing songs. However, this is primarily a showpiece for John Bonham on the drums, which has absolutely nothing to do with anyone other than Bonzo himself.

Bring it on Home - The first 1:40 of this song is pure theft of, yet another, Willie Dixon song. It was made famous by Sonny Boy Williamson II, and there can be no mistaking LZ stole the first 1:40, but from that point on there is nothing similar at all. So basically, 1/3 of this song you can put in the rip off column, 2/3 pure Led Zeppelin at their ass kicking finest.

cledussnow

Since I've Been Loving You - This one is a double rip-off. The lyrics are definitely a rip-off of Moby Grape's "Never", and the music seems to be a rip-off of Black Cat Bones' "Death Valley Blues" right down to the solo.


Gallow's Pole - Traditional blues song, made famous by Leadbelly.

cledussnow

Stairway to Heaven - The acoustic intro guitar work is definitely stolen from Spirit's "Taurus". While this is true, it is such a small part of either song, it's hard for me to call "Stairway" a rip-off.


When the Levee Breaks - Pure cover of Memphis Minnie's 1929 song.