DID LED ZEPPELIN RIP OFF SPIRIT IN “STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN?”

Note that Spirit’s chord progression in “Taurus” doesn’t have the simultaneous upwards voice leading that Jimmy Page plays in the opening of “Stairway.” If that last sentence makes no sense, this fellow plays both progressions and explains their differences well:

Also, as rock journalist Mick Wall noted in When Giants Walked the Earth: A Biography of Led Zeppelin, a somewhat similar progression can be found about 3:00 minutes into another obscure late ‘60s song, this one called “And She’s Lonely,” performed by the Chocolate Watch Band, whom Page once shared a concert date with during his days in Led Zeppelin’s predecessor band, the  Yardbirds: