Plagiarists Or Innovators? The Led Zeppelin Paradox Endures
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Fifty years ago - in September 1968 - the legendary rock band Led Zeppelin first performed together, kicking off a Scandinavian tour billed as the New Yardbirds.The new, better name would come later that fall, while drummer John Bonham's death in 1980 effectively ended their decade-defining reign. But to this day, the band retains the same iconic status it held back in the 1970s: It ranks as one of the best-selling music acts of all time and continues to shape the sounds of new and emerging groups young enough to be the band members' grandchildren.Yet, even after all this time - when every note, riff and growl of Zeppelin's nine-album catalog has been pored over by fans, cover artists and musicologists - a dark paradox still lurks at the heart of its mystique. How can a band so slavishly derivative - and sometimes downright plagiaristic - be simultaneously considered so innovative and influential?How, in other words, did it get to have its custard pie and eat it, too?As a scholar who researches the subtle complexities of musical style and originality as well as the legal mechanisms that police and enforce them, such as copyright law, I find this a particularly devilish conundrum. The fact that I'm also a bassist in a band that fuses multiple styles of music makes it personal.
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