Ozzy Osbourne blasts Led Zeppelin trial as a 'waste of f***ing time'

Sued by the estate of late Spirit guitarist Randy Wolfe, on 23rd June after a week-long trial in Los Angeles Led Zeppelin were cleared of stealing the opening guitar lines in their seminal 1971 opus from the Spirit track ‘Taurus’.

Now, in a fresh interview with Rolling Stone, fellow British rock icon Ozzy Osbourne has blasted the entire legal process dubbing it a “waste of f***ing time.”

"It's f***ing crazy, actually," Ozzy blasted. "That should have never gone to court. I heard the original thing, and there's just a slight similarity.

“It's like saying any fing song with that kind of a guitar on it is a rip-off. It's not fair. There's only so many fing notes on a guitar, and it wasn't that much like 'Stairway to Heaven.' I'm amazed it lasted so f***ing long, you know?"

Continuing his tirade, Ozzy added: "You listen to 'All Right Now' by Free and you listen to Steve Miller's 'Rock'n Me,' and it's exactly the same riff and they haven't sued each other. It's exactly the same.

"I've met John Bonham; I've met all of them. That group is fing phenomenal. What do they need a fing songwriter for? Why would they rip anybody off? It's just a waste of fing time. I'm really surprised it went to court. It's fing crazy.”

In a final flourish, Ozzy added: "They don't deserve it. It's like, do you honestly think they'll sit there and go, 'Oh, we'll steal this and change it a bit like this so it sells.' F***. Give me a break. The song that was played was kind of a bit similar but it was only the chord sequence."

Elsewhere, Jeff Beck has also jumped to the defence of Led Zeppelin telling Billboard: “I had to smirk because I knew that Jimmy (Page) and Robert (Plant) would come out on top.

“Apparently you can’t copyright a chord sequence. It has to have a lyric or some kind of a meaningful melody to be copyrighted. And it is a chord sequence which has been used loads of times, but not in such an iconic way.

“It clearly is the same chord sequence, but then we’re all guilty of stealing a chord sequence and sticking some words on top of it. So I think it’s a bit of bravado to try to bring it to court, but Jimmy came out ahead. So, lucky old Jim!”

Black Sabbath play their final ever shows in the UK in early 2017. The last remaining tickets are on sale from Planet Rock Tickets now.