48 - The Songs Led Zeppelin Ripped Off

Prisoners of Rock and Roll

There’s no debate that Led Zeppelin is one of the most powerful heavy, blues, rock and roll bands of all time. But what IS up for debate is their originality. Several of their biggest hits borrow (or steal) from songs that came before them, mostly from African American blues singers who already sang the blues because they were getting shafted by society. They’ve been sued almost a half a dozen times for copyright infringement and have made a career of taking songwriting credits for stuff they just didn’t write.

In this episode of Prisoners of Rock and Roll, we’re taking a look at when the levee breaks from a flood of accusations of plagiarism by shining a light on the songs behind some of Led Zeppelin’s most famous tunes. We’ll play the originals and the Zeppelin cuts that quote unquote “inspired” them. We’ll look at all of the times Zeppelin has cut a check and updated the songwriting credits as well as some other songs that sound coincidentally like something else.

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