When Led Zeppelin's debut album was released, it received generally positive reviews. However, John Mendelsohn of Rolling Stone magazine, criticized the band for stealing music, notably "Black Mountain Side" from Bert Jansch's "Black Water Side" and the riff from "Your Time Is Gonna Come" from Traffic's "Dear Mr. Fantasy". He also accused the band of mimicking black artists, and showing off. This marked the beginning of a long rift between the band and the magazine, with Led Zeppelin rejecting later requests for interviews and cover stories as their level of success escalated.
One song from the album, "Dazed and Confused", was a song originally written by Jake Holmes on his album "The Above Ground Sound" of Jake Holmes. The Yardbirds, Jimmy Page's old band, had made a version called "I'm Confused", and Page reworked the song again for Led Zeppelin's debut recording, with Holmes having never received any royalty payments for their recording.Holmes did not file suit over the song, although he did send the band a letter stating "I understand it's a collaborative effort, but I think you should give me some credit at least and some remunity." His letter was never replied to and he did not follow up on it.Holmes is however also reported to have said "what the hell, let him [Page] have it [Dazed and Confused]".
Led Zeppelin II's credits have also been the subject of debate since the album's release. The prelude to "Bring It on Home" is a cover of Sonny Boy Williamson's "Bring it on Home" and drew comparisons with Willie Dixon's "Bring It on Back". "Whole Lotta Love" (sample (info)) shared some lyrics and an overall pattern with Dixon's "You Need Love/Woman You Need Love". In the 1970s, Arc Music, the publishing arm of Chess Records, brought a lawsuit against Led Zeppelin for copyright infringement over "Bring It on Home" and won an out-of-court settlement.Dixon himself did not benefit until he sued Arc Music to recover his royalties and copyrights. Years later, Dixon filed suit against Led Zeppelin over "Whole Lotta Love" and an out-of-court settlement was reached. Later pressings of Led Zeppelin II credit Dixon. Similarly, the "Lemon Song", from the same album, was a cover of Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor". The band was successfully sued for copyright and forced to give credit to the original author of the song.
Two songs from the album "Physical Graffiti" have also come under scrutiny. "Boogie with Stu" is simply the Richie Valens song "Ooh! My head " retitled and "In My Time of Dying" is a traditional blues number (covered by Bob Dylan among others), yet it is credited to Page/Plant/Jones/Bonham..
The intro to "Stairway to Heaven" is argued to have been directly taken from the Spirit song "Taurus" written by Randy California in 1968.
usama 