Led Zeppelin‘s Stairway To Heaven is one of the most iconic songs in the world – but was it stolen from another band?
There’s been much media coverage of the Michael Skidmore v Led Zeppelin et al case so far, but now, courtroom proceedings have finally begun. Skidmore, a trustee for the late Randy Wolfe (aka Randy California), alleges that the opening chords of Stairway were stolen from Wolfe’s 1967 instrumental track Taurus, by his band Spirit.
Robert Plant and Jimmy Page appeared in court over the matter, but didn’t speak a word to each other.
Back in April, US District Judge Gary Klausner suggested that the jury might find that there’s a “substantial” likeness between Taurus and Stairway. Fancy yourself an expert on these matters? You can compare the two below.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFHLO_2_THg]
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9TGj2jrJk8]
Of course, there’s a lot more to these sorts of lawsuits than just whether or not the two songs sound similar.
Led Zeppelin’s lawyers have already made the case that the chord progression used at the beginning of Stairway is so cliche that it doesn’t warrant copyright protection. There’s obviously something to be said for that argument, but the fact that Zeppelin & Spirit toured together in the late 60s doesn’t exactly look great.
It’s shaping up to be a pretty entertaining case to follow, whatever the outcome. The plaintiff’s lawyer, Francis Malofiy, has rattled off a long list of notable witnesses who would help Skidmore argue his case. The list includes Linda Mensch (the wife of big-wig manager Peter Mensch, who previously managed Jimmy Page), former Spirit members Mark Andes and Jay Ferguson, music tycoon Lou Adler, and Brad Tolinski, the editor of Guitar World who wrote Light and Shade: Conversations with Jimmy Page. In stark contrast, the defense’s witness list is just one name long: Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones.
Who knows what the jury will decide, and exactly what impact a ruling in Skidmore’s favour might have. We imagine it’d look something like this:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXlYt5JCrZw]
Image: Reuters: Carlo Allegri/Hans Deryk
Tkay Maidza, she of relentless bubbly energy and endless #bangers, has been nominated for the Viewer’s Choice “Best New International Act” at the illustrious BET Awards.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BGW2_CWChzB/
Maidza’s name is absolutely a household one in Australia at this point, but she’s been making waves globally for a little while now. She’s worked with huge names like Mark Ronson, Charli XCX and Rita Ora, played headline shows in Europe & Les Printemps des Bourges Festival in Paris, and has been added to the #NewNames list by Radio 1’s Annie Mac. Her recent collaboration with Martin Solveig Do It Right has only awarded her more buzz. This nomination marks another tick on Tkay’s “To-Do” list on her way to world domination.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQRV5omnBBU]
Being nominated for a BET Award holds particular significance to Maidza. “Being nominated for an event that I’ve watched and heard about since I was 12 is pretty surreal,” she told Pedestrian.TV. “No idea how it happened but I’m super grateful.”
The BET Awards have been around since 2001, serving the specific and very important purpose of celebrating and rewarding black talent, achievement, culture & art. The Awards have had an immeasurably huge role in shaping the modern zeitgeist (Beyoncé performed solo for the first time ever on the BET stage), but they’re just as crucial on a socio-political scale. Who could forget #OscarsSoWhite? The unfortunate truth remains that racism and discrimination are far from over, and it’s not only unfair but unhealthy for anyone to not see representation from people who are succeeding & being praised and depicted in a positive light. There certainly isn’t any lack of talent – and the BET’s mission is to provide a platform for rewarding that.
If, like us, you couldn’t be prouder of Tkay Maidza, you can vote for her by tweeting the BET Awards (@BETAwards) with the hashtag #IPickTkay.
Image: Lady Drewniak/Howl &Echoes
More: Photo Gallery – Tkay Maidza Live at Howler, Melbourne
More: Watch Killer Mike give Tkay the greatest shout-out ever
Electro-weirdos (and we mean that in a very positive way) Glass Animals have today announced details of their second album How To Be A Human Being, to be released on 26th August via Wolf Tone/Caroline Australia.
Looks like the four-piece have shaken up their #aesthetic a bit, because would you take a look at this album cover?
Artwork for Glass Animals – How To Be A Human Being
It’s all very After-School Special/The Babysitter’s Club, but honestly we kinda dig it.
How To Be A Human Being is a concept album of sorts, drawing inspiration from the random recordings frontman Dave Bayley took while on the road and speaking with strangers. “I try to sneakily record people,” Bayley said of the writing process, “And I have hours and hours of these amazing rants from taxi drivers, strange people we met outside of shows, people at parties. People say the strangest shit when they don’t think they’re ever gonna see you again.”
Sure, it sounds odd and just the tiniest little bit creepy, but isn’t that human nature? It sounds (and looks) as though the album is going to be a semi-fictional multi-character study, and that sounds fascinating as HELL, creepy or not. First single Life Itself has already marked out a turning point for the Glass Animals sound – ditching watery synths for South East Asian-inspired percussion. The newly-released video for the track which follows the soap-opera-esque story of one of Bayley’s ill-fated characters, shot in gorgeous sepia and pastel tones.
Check out the album track list here, and Glass Animals’ tour dates below.
How To Be A Human Being tracklisting:
1. Life Itself
2. Youth
3. Season 2 Episode 3
4. Pork Soda
5. Mama’s Gun
6. Cane Shuga
7. Premade Sandwiches
8. The Other Side Of Paradise
9. Take A Slice
10. Poplar St
11. Agnes
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd9p4n5hLEg]
GLASS ANIMALS AUSTRALIAN TOUR
Tuesday 5th July – 170 Russell St, Melbourne – NEW SHOW ADDED
TICKETS
Wednesday 6th July – 170 Russell St, Melbourne
SOLD OUT
Thursday 7th July – The Triffid, Brisbane
TICKETS
Saturday 9th July – Metro Theatre, Sydney
SOLD OUT
Image: Caroline Australia
It makes sense that there are countless hip-hop murals around the globe that depict musicians who have left us. Hip-hop and street art have always been intertwined. They riff on each other, feed off each other. What better way to commemorate an artist’s legacy than through the intrinsically anti-establishment art form?
It’s just come to light that A Tribe Called Quest are set to be honoured with a mural of their own, in memory of the incomparable Phife Dawg (RIP). We take a look at this & a few other hip hop mural memorials from NYC & our own backyard…
BIGGIE SMALLS – NYC
Image: Aymann Ismail/ANIMAL New York
Let’s start with the obvious. There are so many Biggie murals in New York that it’s almost impossible to keep track – but it’s with good reason. Biggie is such an influential, ever-present figure not only in music as a whole, but to New York specifically, that he’s become somewhat of a “patron saint” of street art, as noted by the Observer’s Ryan Steadman. Murals exist in Bushwick, Bed-Stuy, Fort Greene & Brooklyn – and by the time you’ve finished reading this, a few more have probably cropped up too.
THE BEASTIE BOYS – BONDI BEACH
This mural, at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, honours the late great Adam “MCA” Yauch, who passed away of cancer in 2012. It’s a fittingly vivid tribute, in an appropriately (read: INSANELY) busy thoroughfare for passers-by to enjoy. The co-founder of The Beastie Boys was a towering talent who helped give us tracks like No Sleep Till Brooklyn and Shake Your Rump – but he was also an outspoken activist and a filmmaker. Yauch was heavily involved in the Free Tibet movement, his production company released the iconic Banksy film Exit Through The Gift Shop, and he directed many of The Beastie Boys’ music videos under the pseudonym “Nathaniel Hornblower”.
TUPAC SHAKUR – NYC & SUTHERLAND SHIRE, NSW
Image: Complex
How could we mention Biggie and not Tupac? This particularly iconic mural was said to have been situated on East Houston Street, on New York’s Lower East Side, but sadly it’s since been painted over. Renowned street artist, Andre ‘Baby Man’ Charles, completed this iconic piece of work in 1996, and has since said he hopes to show it on canvas someday. In the meantime, there’s no dearth of Tupac murals either – there’s even one of him & Biggie on the side of the Telstra Business Centre in Sutherland Shire NSW, of all places.
A TRIBE CALLED QUEST – NYC
Image: Vince Ballentine via TMZ
A Tribe Called Quest made the Nu-Clear Cleaner dry cleaner’s building in Queens, NYC famous in their video for Check The Rhime, and now their mark on the place is about to made even more tangible. The mural will commemorate the collective’s insanely significant body of work, as well as paying respects to Phife Dawg. The “Five Foot Assassin” died in March this year due to complications of diabetes, devastating the wider musical community. Designer/street artist Vince Ballentine has created a mock-up of the mural, which will riff visually on ATCQ’s Midnight Marauders album artwork – an album on which Phife Dawg referred to himself as being a “funky diabetic”. Fans are commissioning the mural; and are also petitioning for the street it will be painted on to be renamed A Tribe Called Quest Boulevard.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QWEPdgS3As]
Image: Karl Grant/Photoshot via Rolling Stone
Brooklyn thrash-pop duo Sleigh Bells have released Rule Number One, which is presumably the second taste from their upcoming fourth album, and hoo boy. If you’re having trouble getting in the zone today, this is your cure.
Sleigh Bells released their previous single, Champions Of Unrestricted Beauty, late last year. It was just as upbeat as they’d ever been, but was missing the tenacity that many had come to expect from the duo. Seems like they might have been saving all that bite up for Rule Number One, which dropped last night and was followed up by an interview with Zane Lowe on Beats 1.
It certainly seems the track holds a special significance for Sleigh Bells, who see it as a turning point in the way they approach music. “[Rule Number One] was kind of the first time where the gap between what I could hear in my head and what I could get out of my tools pretty much closed, which is really really hard to do,” Derek Miller confessed to Lowe. “But when that happens… I don’t know, I don’t wanna use the word ‘breakthrough’, it’s a little corny, but it was a moment for us where we realised that we kinda found this new thing. I feel like we pulled it off with this one, so it’s real special to me.”
Artwork for Sleigh Bells – Rule Number One
Unlike Miller, we’re not afraid to call a spade a spade – “breakthrough” might be a corny word, but it definitely applies here. Sure, Sleigh Bells have been known for their frenetic style for a long time, but this is something else. There’s a hyper-industriousness to the way Alison Krauss’ vocals morph, chameleon-like, to match the red-blooded brutality of Miller’s instrumentation that feels more spirited than ever before.
According to Miller, Sleigh Bells have enough material to release an LP but are still coming up with ideas that are “better than half the stuff we had recorded” – so we’ll have to wait until the duo have whetted their creative appetites before getting a concrete release date. For what it’s worth, though, he asserts that “a record will happen, hopefully this year – [we’re] just trying to make it worth the wait.”
Give your brain a good rattle with this one – listen to Rule Number One below.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YFTh0Rrc18]
Image: Facebook
I went to a Camp Cope show last weekend.
It was a great set – the Melbourne trio absolutely killed it. Lead singer Georgia Maq’s passion shone through each and every track, and the enthusiastic crowd loved every minute of it. Especially Done, which is currently in high rotation on triple j (following their self-titled LP scoring Feature Album)… and their song Jet Fuel Can’t Melt Steel Beams.
It’s a funny title, based off the meme-ification of 9/11 conspiracy theories. But Jet Fuel actually deals with pretty serious subject matter: hyper-masculinity, misogyny, and the way that women are silenced and blamed in instances of sexual assault. It’s a great tune, and I’m all for people calling out unacceptable behaviour and social institutions through their music.
Because I anticipate that there will be a certain knee-jerk reaction to this article, let me pause here to say something. I do not believe all men act in unacceptable or misogynistic ways, inside or outside the context of gigs. I am also aware that some women are, sadly, very capable of internalised misogyny. I also know that men can and have suffered from violence at gigs, and this is completely abhorrent too.
But I also know this: when Camp Cope played Jet Fuel, there was a large group of male individuals whose enthusiasm overstepped safe and acceptable behaviour. They jumped around aggressively. They elbowed their way past other female (and male) punters. More than a few fans (including myself) felt it necessary to move from the front of the audience to the back, where it was safe but as we all know, nowhere near as fun.
Image: Matt Warrell
The irony of the situation didn’t escape the band. Maq called out the behaviour onstage, instructing the men to “chill out” and telling them it “wasn’t safe,” to many cheers and whoops from the crowd. After the show, I chatted to the trio, and drummer Sarah “Thomo” Thompson gave me the following statement:
“…that sort of behaviour isn’t going to be tolerated at our shows and we encourage people to let Georgia know if anything is going on so she can call them out on it. [That] night the guys pushing past girls while singing all the words [to] Jet Fuel was the most ridiculous and ironic thing I’ve ever seen. We are about making girls feel safe to be in the front row of our shows and want people to always feel comfortable telling us if things aren’t safe in the crowd.”
Thankfully, Camp Cope are far from the only band who feel strongly enough about this issue to call it out. Brooklyn pop-punk band Chumped made a statement last year reminding their fans that “Inappropriately touching someone against their will or using physical/sexual force to intimidate someone of ANY gender identification is molestation and it will not EVER be tolerated at our shows,” a sentiment echoed by The Smith Street Band‘s Wil Wagner. Numerous other artists have made a point of decrying sexism within the greater music industry too, such as Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino, Killer Mike, Hinds, and many more.
While it’s fantastic that many musicians are standing up to this kind of behaviour, it’s clear that some people still aren’t getting the message. How else do you explain a dude elbowing a girl in the stomach in his rush to sing along to lyrics like “Hearing cat calls from a construction site, they’ll say take it as a compliment, they’re only being nice”?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKZwRe7-twA
Image: Matt Warrell
Jack White, aka the only man in the world who can pull off a fedora, has penned a theme song for Maya and Marty, a new variety show starring your faves Maya Rudolph and Martin Short. It would be an understatement to say we’re going to watch the hell out of this, but White isn’t the only contemporary artist to write a theme song for a TV show. We take a look at the five best TV themes written by musicians below.
5. Timbaland, Dog On Fire, The Daily Show
[vimeo 152806329 w=640 h=360]
Okay, so Timbaland didn’t actually write Dog On Fire (that was Bob Mould), but he did rework it for new host Trevor Noah’s debut. It’s a fresh take on a theme that has been given new life plenty of times, but never felt quite this modern before. Timbaland arranged the track with the help of King Logan (Beyoncé, Mario), and it’s performed by none other than They Might Be Giants, who you might recognise from…
4. They Might Be Giants, Boss Of Me, Malcolm In The Middle
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4CVKbVtTsc]
This theme is so iconic that it won a damn Grammy. The whingey sing-song tone of frontman John Flansburgh inspired any kid who watched this show to torment their parents with the same. Sorry mum and dad, but y’know… life is unfair.
3. Jack White, Maya and Marty Theme, Maya and Marty
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/266779400″ params=”color=ff5500″ width=”100%” height=’166′ iframe=”true” /]
Obviously we had to include this. It’s the first time White has written for a TV show, and it seems like the man might have a gift (surprise surprise). The cut has that trademark Jack White syncopated groove we all know and love, and honestly the theme itself is just downright damn delightful. It was laid down with the help of fellow Third Man Records musicians Lillie Mae Rische, Dean Fertita, Fats Kaplin and Dominic Davis, with White himself on the drums. The show also includes Keenan Thompson and premieres in the US tonight on NBC. If you can find *some* way to watch it over here then more bloody power to you. Not that we encourage piracy…
2. Primus, South Park Theme, South Park
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoTs-M4_RqI]
Primus are sort of masters of writing irreverant, quirky theme songs for cartoons aimed at adults: they’ve done it for Robot Chicken as well as South Park. It’s an extremely specific niche to fill, but god dammit, someone had to do it – and we’re glad they did.
1. Will Smith with DJ Jazzy Jeff & Quincy Jones, Yo Home To Bel Air, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nCqRmx3Dnw]
Press play and you’re guaranteed to suddenly start rapping along, because if you say you don’t know every single word to this then you are a LIAR. This is the big kahuna, the pinnacle of all musician-written TV themes, and the anthem for a generation. Which is a little odd, considering we doubt many people have actually experienced the turn of events the song describes, but whatever. It’s a fire theme so everyone loves it, co-written by three absolute masters: Will Smith himself, his long-time collaborator DJ Jazzy Jeff, and the one and only Quincy Jones.
Image: Lester Cohen/WireImage/Getty, Mary Ellen Matthews/NBC via Rolling Stone
Things might still be messy on the legal front for Lil Wayne, but TWO new releases are apparently on the way.
Onstage at his gig in Phoenix over the weekend, Weezy F. Baby, who also recently announced that he has a reality TV show on the way, promised his loyal but long-suffering fans that good things were around the corner – and addressed some less positive matters too, like his battle with Cash Money Records and its CEO Bryan “Birdman” Williams.
“Before I go any further, I want y’all to know I got two new albums coming y’all way,” he told his audience, before elaborating on the long-term beef. “Fuck the Birdman. Fuck Cash Money. I’m going through a lot of bullshit right now. These n*ggas got me in bars right now. They don’t want to see me make good music. I don’t know what the fuck’s going on, but fuck them n*ggas. And I just want you to know if anything, if you thought that for any second I gave a fuck about it, I can’t because I got people like y’all that’s still supporting me.”
Weezy has been locked in a contentious lawsuit with Birdman and Cash Money Records for some time now. Way back in 2014, he took to Twitter to denounce the label, blaming it & Birdman for delaying the release of his album Tha Carter V. In a bizarre twist, last December it was reported that Wayne was being sued by his own lawyers.
Lil Wayne became a part-owner of TIDAL in 2015, releasing The Free Weezy Album via the controversial platform last April. Along with having his fraught album Tha Carter V ready for release, he also hinted in 2014 that he was working on another release entitled Da Other Album.
You can watch Lil Wayne’s full speech in the video below.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ_bRSj98lU]
Image: Noisey
El-P, one half of Run The Jewels, has released another snippet of Run The Jewels 3, their impending third album over Instagram, and it’s definitely the most, ah, imaginative one yet.
The caption says it all, really.
It’s exactly the kind of brash, off-the-wall self-aggrandising we have come to expect (and love) from the duo. This isn’t the first time we’ve had RTJ3 drip-fed to us through Instagram – bits and pieces have been coming our way since last year. In March, we heard direct from El-P’s Twitter that a 2016 release for the album “is achievable” due to a more stable economy (however slightly). As the hints seem to be coming at us thick & fast, is this the duo’s way of telling us that RTJ3 is imminent?
This newest puzzle piece is arguably the crown jewel so far, but who knows what to expect next. Maybe next time we hear from Run The Jewels, they’ll be dropping the album.
The pair have been anything but quiet in the lead-up to the album. They recently also featured on DJ Shadow’s new track Nobody Speak, have also soundtracked the new Marvel Black Panther series, as well as recently releasing a new video for RTJ2 singles Crown and Love Again ft. Gangsta Boo.
More: Read our interview with Run The Jewels
Image: prettymuchamazing