Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page testified Wednesday that until a few years ago, he'd never heard a song that the megastar band is accused of ripping off for Stairway to Heaven, USA Today reports.
"Something like that would stick in my mind. It was totally alien to me," Page said of the instrumental song Taurus, by the band Spirit.
A lawyer for the estate of Spirit's late guitarist,Randy California, contends that the famous descending-chord guitar riff that begins 1971'sStairway was lifted from the Spirit tune, which was released a few years earlier.
An eight-member jury is hearing the copyright infringement case in federal court. Jurors must decide whether the two sequences are substantially similar.
Earlier in the day, former Spirit member Mark Andes testified that riffs from both songs, played by an acoustic guitarist on a video aired in court, were the same.
Musical experts not involved in the case have said the sequence is common and has appeared in other pieces from decades and even centuries ago.
Spectators gathered outside Court 850 in Los Angeles' Edward R. Roybal Federal Building and United States Courthouse were already twittering (and Tweeting) in suspense after seeing Robert Plant and Page enter the court's chambers with Page holding a guitar case.
The assembled weren't treated to an impromptu version of "Stairway to Heaven" by the song's original writers and performers; instead, they were subjected to the trial's most pointed, tension-filled moments yet.
The similarity between Spirit's song "Taurus" and "Stairway to Heaven" wasn't brought up until nearly two hours into today's proceedings; the friendship between Jimi Hendrix and late Spirit guitarist and "Taurus" composer Randy California was brought up ad infinitum by the plaintiff's witness, while a seemingly pointless and sentimental questioning of Spirit superfan Bruce Pates by Malofiy dragged on forever. (Judge Gregory Klausner didn't allow most of Pates' testimony as he was not designated an official expert witness, with Led Zeppelin's lead counsel Peter Anderson declining to even cross-examine Pates.)