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Originally Posted by djsFlames
What about the entire vocal parts? Lyrics? The chorus and bridge at the end? None of that could have said to have been borrowed.
There is a progression of 5 chords that Stairway follows in it's intro/verses, except the Stairway version has a couple augmented ones whereas spirit doesn't, and it diverges from there. That progression has been used many times elsewhere as it's quite simple. The way the chords are picked are what make them sound similar, but regardless, 90% of Stairway is otherwise original content.
While perhaps the intro was could have been inspired by it, the two works don't mirror each other enough for Wolfe to be claiming that he deserves credit. Some iteration of that intro I guarantee has been used in classical songs probably hundreds of years prior. So that's baloney.
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Taurus is an instrumental so there can be no claim to the lyric obviously and I agree that any legitimate claim Wolfe may have is for a very small part of the overall song. That said, the progression in question is so similar and there are other bits of information that could be presented to a jury, like that archivists have dug up concert playbills with both Zeppelin and Spirit listed for the same show, it might be pretty easy for a jury to conclude that there was a short enough and bold enough line of exposure to Page to make an award. It doesn't help that Page has claimed never to have heard of Spirit or heard Taurus when that appears not to be the case. Regardless, it's a shame all this tawdriness surrounds such a majestic piece of music that contains what many believe is one of the best guitar solos ever recorded.