Why Led Zeppelin Pays Royalties to a Southern Bluesman

So this is Lisa Beavan. This is our American stories sure America is the store and the American people and send your stories to our American stories.com. Some of our favorite. A story that comes to us from an Air Force fighter pilot and Top Gun graduate.

Let's take a listen. My name is Brig. Gen. Jim boots Demarest I was a classmate at the United States Air Force Academy of God by the name of Capt. Steve Phyllis to tell the story about Steve and his life and the heroic circumstances around his shootdown and untimely death on 15 February 1991 during operation Desert Storm. Steve was a Midwestern kid born and raised in Rock Island, Illinois. He was the oldest of five children and described by both his mom and his dad as Dobson's strong-willed child early on in his life. His dad was in the how they had moved to Wyoming and Steve thought his parents so oppressive that he decided to run away, so he packed all his earthly belongings at age 4 and went out the front door and his parents watched him walk all the way. The parade field he got underneath the bleachers and attacked the peanut butter jelly sandwich and lasted about six hours under the bleachers before coming back and realizing that perhaps his mother and father's rules were not as onerous as he originally thought, but is the oldest of five. He was a leader within the family and we hear that a lot about the oldest children, but in Steve's case. One of the examples that I think that kind of brings this out is that in Rock Island, Illinois. The family lived in a neighborhood full of children and so they were constantly sports game going on outside. They will play street hockey and flag football and soccer. And as is often the case, the kids that were better athletes tried to put themselves all on the same team to compete against the kids that were not as athletic and Steve was the kind of kid that would be almost always selected as a captain, and unlike most of his peers.

Steve would pick all the kids that nobody else picked to be on his team, but he would take a few minutes before the start of the soccer game and coach them all up and dad nine times out of 10 the less athletic kids through Steve's leadership and coaching would come up on top of the neighborhood sports games and it was kind of a testament to the kind of guy he was. He was very much an informal and formal leader. Later in his life but he was an aspiring kind of guy, very quiet as a child, but, led by example and through action.

He was a high school football player. He played in the marching band, but early on in his adult life.

He determined that there was something more for him out there and he couldn't quite put his finger on it but as he approaches senior year in high school, it became evident to him that a future in the military would align with his organized fastidious personality and also with the fact that Steve felt a calling to serve.

He was an altar boy was a captain of whatever sport he was on and so in the late 1977 he wrote a letter and applied to go to the nine states Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

In the letter that he wrote to his congressman is is a classic because unlike a lot of others who wrote their congressmen to talk about the free education and that Steve's letter to his congressman was very focus on the fact that he felt that it was his duty as an American citizen to serve in the military and that the Air Force Academy would provide him with the greatest opportunity to serve.

He also thought it might be need to be a pilot, which he mentioned in his application, but it was much more about service and his obligation to his country than for his own personal gain. So the summer of 1978 Steve shows up in Colorado Springs with 1500 of his new friends to attend United States Air Force Academy and his parents made the trip that many parents do they loaded up the family station wagon with all of Steve's worldly possessions. The other four children and they made the long drive from Rock Island, Illinois to Colorado Springs on a sunny bright morning in June 1978 Steve was dropped off and that in short order. Talk to March and marched off with the group of a dozen or so of his new classmates. Sony graduated from the Air Force Academy on June 2, 1982.

He was one of 450 classmates off to undergraduate pilot training and Steve went off to pilot training with one goal in mind and that was to be fire qualified and fly the A-10 warthog as an Air Force fighter and his single-minded focus and determination drove him through the 52-week pilot training program. He excelled academically. He was always extremely well prepared. He was a cool character under pressure and those things in the military aviation world translated to success and so on assignment night in late 1983. Steve was fortunate enough to get his first choice that assigned the A-10 warthog and is on was on his way to Alex Louisiana to sue Juan airbase in the Republic of Korea after being in sue Juan for a while, becoming upgraded to instructor pilot.

It became clear to Steve that he wanted to to excel in the A-10 and that means that he wanted to compete to attend the prestigious air forces fighter weapons school. Now, many may know that what the school is Top Gun from the Navy movie. But the Air Force fighter weapons school was more than just a place to do great flying. Steve got over 200 hours of instruction and platform instruction to make them not only a great fighter pilot, but a great instructor and he loved to teach any love to learn about the A-10 and so while at Suwanee he was selected for and attended the prestigious Air Force fighter weapons school where he graduated as a distinguished graduate returning to sue Juan airbase to complete his two-year assignment in Korea and you're listening to Brig. Gen. Jim boots Demers tell the story of Capt. Steve Phillips and you're learning about a profile in character in a profile of some of the men and women who serve this nation. In particular the ones that go to our academies and that's at West Point and Annapolis and in Colorado Springs at the Air Force Academy West Point course the Army and the Navy and Annapolis, Maryland. When we come back more of the story of Capt. Steve Phyllis here on our American story during our American stories we bring you inspiring stories of history, sports, business, faith and love stories from a great and beautiful country need to be told we can't do it without you are stories are free to listen to with her not free to make if you love are stories in America like we do, please go to our American stories.com and click the donate button give a little give a lot, but let's keep the great American stories coming to our American stories.com and we continue with our American stories and Brig. Gen. Jim boots Demers telling the story of Capt. Steve, Phyllis, let's pick up where we last left. Then it was time for another assignment and Steve. I was lucky enough to get 1/3 assignment to fly the A-10, this time in a much different environment as he was shipped from Korea to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and Steve is cruising along like the rest of us until summer of 1990, when Saddam Hussein's Republican guards roll south from Iraq into little country that at that time. None of us have heard of called Kuwait and Myrtle Beach was part of a quick reaction force at the time such that as soon as Armour came south into Kuwait. Myrtle Beach was put on recall and told to get ready to deploy and Steve as a weapons officer and tactical leader of the Panthers were designated to be the first squadron out the door. Within a few weeks of the invasion loaded onto C5 and sent to Saudi Arabia to a little airbase in the middle of nowhere, so they land in the door comes down on the transport airplane and Steve and the others on the airplane are greeted by hundred 20� blast of heat from the desert, the likes of which they had never felt before, and they quickly prepared for the arrival of a squadron of 24 a tends which when they landed at half a load of fuel. The only act weapons they had on board were gone and they were the only thing standing between the Republican guards in Saudi Arabia and I think that people have to remember is at the time that Iraq invaded Kuwait, they had the fifth largest standing army on the face of the earth. They had just come out of 10 years of combat operations with a ran so they were very experienced. They were equipped with some of the most modern and sophisticated Soviet built aircraft and surface-to-air missiles that the world had seen and so while we know in the end that Desert Storm was a stunning victory that was anything but assured in the summer of 1990, and so the buildup during Desert Shield is all about getting people ready in the prelude to the war. Steve had been promoted out of being the weapons officer and now was the commander of C flight and a flight commander is essentially the officer in charge of about 12 other pilots in the squadron and one of Steve's important prewar tasking's was to make what we call combat pairings and the idea here is that you would take your most experienced pilot and pairing him with the least experience pilot to average out the experience of the flight so that as we went out there. It increases survivability of the squadron. Overall, and so as Steve is the high time A-10 pilot in his flight decided to do a select as his combat wingman, a Lieut. Rob suite but we have seen is a redoubling of Saddam Hussein's efforts to destroy completely Kuwait and its people. I have therefore directed Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf in conjunction with coalition forces to use all forces available, including ground forces to eject the Iraqi army from Kuwait. So Desert Storm kicks off and Rob and Steve identify 29 of their first 30 combat missions together and it is everything from the nine attacks of unmanned targets to being shot out by surface-to-air missiles and antiaircraft artillery and they had an incredible experience back and forth. But the story really they want to focus on surrounds their 30th combat mission on February 15 of 1991. Steve and Rob were tasked on what was by far their most dangerous mission of the war. They were tasked to fly hundred miles north of the Kuwait Saudi border and attacks that's elite Republican guards the same unit is that it spearheaded the initial invasion and who were equipped with racks. Most modern equipment so their test against the Republican guards but not just any Republican guards. They have to get test against the Medina division which later became famous for the battle of Medina Ridge. They prove themselves throughout the war to be the most ferocious and dedicated fighters of any unit in the Iraqi Republican guards and the mission was very straightforward to prepare the battle space for an upcoming invasion they were to target artillery, armor and military equipment that would make this mission even more difficult was that the Republican guards had concentrated their forces so this is unit of about 10,000 elite Republican guard troops were amassed in a circle about 3 miles wide and 6 miles across and the idea behind that was to spread the equipment out enough to make it hard to target but to provide overlapping fields of fire for the over 150 pieces of mobile antiaircraft artillery in the 24 essay 13 batteries how the essay 13 was the most modern and sophisticated surface-to-air missile that the Iraqis owned it was Soviet built and designed and unlike other systems, it did not rely on radar. It would track in the infrared and the electro-optical spectrum, meaning that the aircraft would would get no electronic warning that was being shot at and it was arrayed with overlapping fields of fire throughout this Republican Guardian so Steve and Rob launch for their afternoon mission at about 2 PM local.

They go up they conduct a pre-strike refueling to top off on fuel and they take their fully loaded a tends 100 miles north at the try and find military targets against the Republican guards and targets they find.

Steve is getting ready to roll in and do a strafing pass and Rob is in an orbit at 10,000 feet in the way that they they ran the tactics here is that one guy would roll in and attack in the other fighter in a supporting role with orbit overhead to look out for antiaircraft artillery and surface-to-air missile launchers.

So Steve was a comes off target and as he looks up, he notices that a surface-to-air missile has been lost at Rob suite and Steve keys the mic and calls and field break Sam launch and about the same time. Rob looks out and sees a surface-to-air missile has been launched thin trail of white smoke and the missile is stationary on this canopy assigned that it is tracking toward hymns not moving left or right. It's is tracking toward him, so Steve calls out the break Rob dispenses Chaffin players as a hygiene maneuver and successfully defeats the first surface-to-air missile that Robin had experienced in his Desert Storm missions. At this point. Perhaps it was time to leave, but the eight hands had decided early in the war that if anybody on the ground shot at them. They were then immediately return lethal fire. They were trying to discourage these Sam operators some shooting at coalition aircraft and is no better way to dissuade someone from shooting. Then the sheet back at them so consistent with their tactics. Steve Rosen comes off a strafing pass starts to make a turn and now it's Rob's turn to roll in and deliver lethal fire against the surface-to-air missile launch site at that moment Steve sees that a second surface-to-air missile launching a different location is guiding on Rob's airplane cost of the break too late suite doesn't see it and is in his left hand turn when he feels little bit of a thump in this airplane is now gold wings level. That's not a violent explosion. There's no big bank and he looks down and there's a bunch of lights on in the cockpit now and he looks out to his right wing and sees a big hole with the right wing used to be.

Most of it is gone there some residual fire from the fuel of hydraulic lines and now all sorts of light, start to come on in that cockpit indicating that there's a major malfunction going on in the airplane and you're listening to Brig. Gen. Jim Demers tell the story of Capt. Steve Phillips and his raid from a base in Saudi Arabia 100 miles north coming in contact with the Medina division. The most ferocious division of Saddam Hussein's. What happens next. Well will continue with his story will continue with Jim Demers story of Steve Phyllis here on our American stories and we continue with our American stories and with Brig. Gen. Jim boots Demers telling the story of Capt. Steve, Phyllis, and arrayed that cost him his life in 1991.

Let's return to Brig. Gen. Demers with the rest of the story. The controls are not responding and so he reaches down and pulls the ejection handles and now is under parachute descending on top of the troops that he and Steve just got done. Bob suite takes off his helmet check and got a good parachute he can hear bullets whizzing by his head as he is making this five-minute parachute dissent low on fuel alone, orbiting at 10,000 feet in the slow-moving airplane over 10,000 emboldened Iraqi troops. After about a minute following suites ejection. Steve has earned the right to leave yet. The thought of leaving never crosses his mind to get back on the radio. After getting the search and rescue started and starts to call other eight hands in the local area and connects with a flight call pack Meyer three and four and begin to talk to the flight lead and what I think is important understand that the A-10 is not equipped with a radar and so in order for A-10 pilot. The fines and then have to visually acquire there's no radar or other geewhiz equipment that helps them find each other so Steve is on the radio orbiting in a left-hand turn at 10,000 feet. Everybody on the ground with a rifle that antiaircraft artillery or with the same system is now shooting at Steve and Steve is trying to talk this flight of a tends to come over his position to help provide additional firepower in support because he's not willing to concede the fact that suites can get captured three minutes after suite ejects Steve is still orbiting over the target and enforcing the inbound eight hands are unable to find Steve and locate suite position and so in an act that can only be considered selfless and heroic Steve reaches down and purposely dispenses high visibility pyrotechnic flares is intent there is to use those as a visual signal to get the A-10's eyes on what in fact it also does is it anybody on the ground that had not yet seen Steve now sees three minutes 45 seconds after suite ejects an eternity in a combat zone orbiting over an entire division of Iraqi troops.

Steve's A-10 is struck by an essay 13 and he quickly identifies the fact that it's more legal. What is he do the first thing he does is gets on the radio and tells the guys that are inbound hey guys it's too hot here. You should not come then, and only after making sure that his inbound friends are safe. He turns airplane south to try and put additional distance between himself and Rob's ejection location.

Knowing that search and rescue forces are on their way to Rob. Steve makes it about 15 miles south his airplane falling apart. He keys the mic on his way out of the area and in a voice as cool and calm him tell the story today using the code word for the day for aircraft down keys the mic and says Enfield 37 his bag as well just a few minutes later, unbeknownst to his friends his fellow fighter pilots his wingman's family is a tennis struck by another surface-to-air missile shot from a different Republican guard unit that knocks the tail off of the A-10 and the mortally wounded airplane cartwheels into the desert killing Steve Phyllis on impact Rob suite lands 50 m from a Russian built P 72 tank and is swarmed by dozens of Iraqi soldiers beating him with fists and rifle butts had it not been for a couple of Iraqi officers came out and drug him out of there.

He may not have survived his first minute on the ground. He is taken to an underground facility is transferred to Baghdad he is beaten and tortured and interrogated, but 19 days after he was shot down coalition air forces got word that Iraq was going to liberate all the prisoners of war and at the time, Steve was awarded and earned the Silver Star and the Purple Heart for his heroism that day, Air Force magazine wrote a great article summarizing Steve's heroics and making the case and asking the question, what is it take for a fighter pilot to earn the medal of honor because although we been in aerial combat for the last 30 years.

No fighter pilot has earned the medal of honor since Vietnam and look Steve is a hero because the silver star recognizes gallantry in action in the medal of honor standard is very high as it should be. But to be awarded the medal of honor. A member has to display conspicuous gallantry at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty so conspicuous as to clearly distinguish the individual from his comrades must've involved risk of life and has to be against a military enemy in a named operation and so when you look at those standards and the heroism of the story that I just told, I think that Steve Phyllis and his heroics check all those boxes and I'm not the only one I've been able to garner the support of not only our entire class. But Steve's Wing Commander now retired Maj. Gen. Sandy Sharp, who was a colonel at the time and directly involved in Steve's combat valor award agrees that upon further review of the evidence that Steve's heroics are worthy of the medal of honor at the medal of honor upgrade process is difficult and long and is a political component to it, meaning that after we assemble all this evidence as to what Steve did and all these sworn statements, a member of Congress has to come forward and endorsed the fact that they support the upgrade of the combat valor award and I am very pleased to announce that while I cannot mention the name of the United States Sen. quite yet a prominent senator has stepped up and said that they intend to endorse the package and put Steve Phyllis's award forward upgrade is Silverstar the medal of honor, and whether it gets upgraded or not is beyond my control. But what is in my control is to share Steve's story of heroics in any way that I can and I think that sentiment is best expressed by the dedication of the book. Five. Nichols does anything dedication to my children to Gabby and Chad so that you will know a true hero when you see one, and that is the story of Air Force Capt. Steve and a great job on the production by Greg Hendler and a special thanks to Brig. Gen. Jim boots Demers retailing and sharing the story of heroism of Capt. Steve Phyllis and his work during the Gulf War in 1991 in history repeats itself again and again and again and again. Men and women in this great country. Step up and do things like Capt. Steve did on that day for his body for his brother in arms. By the way, if you love the store and want to know more. Brig. Gen. Demarest has written a book called five Nichols true story of the Desert Storm heroics and sacrifice of Air Force Capt. Steve Phyllis go to your local bookstore in order to go to Amazon and the usual suspects. The story of Capt. Steve Phyllis dear on our American stores and we returned to our American stories, and now it's time for another rule of law story, which is a part of our rule of law series we showcase what happens in the absence in the presence of the rule of law in our lives. We love music on the show to big part of our lives all of our lives is our own Monty Montgomery with the story of how one of the biggest bands in the world had to pay an influential musician in the deep South a bit of money using? How do a southern bluesman and a lot of English rock bands from the 60s and 70s connect. It turns out, in the case of Led Zeppelin in place a lot of ways, including in the courtroom. Dear Stephen Davis, author of hammer of the gods with more on that southern man in question. Robert Johnson was considered by Jimmy page and Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton old English guitarist of that. To be the founder of rock 'n' roll.

Basically an is indeed the founder of recorded loose and he wasn't by any means. The first blues guide to be recorded by the Columbia records sent down the producer called dialogue to Arkansas but 1938 or something and he made this 20 or 30 recordings with Robert Johnson that is the bedrock of blues, R&B rock rock 'n' roll. And so it's interesting you know that from a southern perspective, at least, Mississippi, Arkansas. The Delta that they know this is where Led Zeppelin comes from in the first place. So it's not surprising that later in their career they would be charged with plagiarizing blues artists like Robert Johnson and Boca White and Willie Dixon Hughes Kirby Ferguson operator of the documentary series. Everything is a remix with more so zeppelin is a great band but they do have this unusual history of copying from other artists not transforming the things that they copy and then attributing them so this was something that plenty of artists did something kinda like that.

Usually it just in the form of cover songs like all the bands of their air like the Beatles and the stones in such so Led Zeppelin were unusual in that they they were a jam band. They will play these long songs. Sometimes they would improvise them on stage and that there be like sections to the song redoing this thing and then you do some analysis on notes rather than just being a new nice compact three minutes on so they would take recognizable pieces from other musicians and sometimes more than that Snipes would be yeah basically an entire song, but they would take pieces from other people. They were incorporate them into their songs and they wouldn't switch him around enough and Muddy Waters and his band and Willie Dixon came to London to give shows one of the songs that Muddy Waters did was written by Willie Dixon called. You need love and I guess to be page was listening very carefully because there four years later turned it into a song called whole Lotta love which was one of the biggest radio grenades in America in 19 6919 seven and it sounds nothing like you need love the Willie Dixon song but it's got much of the same lyrics like this is Robert plan Nick in Eric's plan when he should be providing new lyrics and instead he's copying them from somebody else and dumping them in and the credit on the Led Zeppelin album reads plant and page, meaning that they didn't give Willie Dixon the credit and this would cause problems for them immediately because the rock critics of the day and realize that Led Zeppelin was pilfering Willie Dixon's material but nothing happened for a long time Willie Dixon died, and eventually his I think his children filed suit and today by Led Zeppelin album the credits planned page bottom Jones Dixon. The family is being compensated.

So the system work.

Years and years later, so they made amends is something that young young artist. Do you know they take from other people and they don't attribute like I don't think we should be too hard on these people. They copied it wasn't his blues artist was all sorts of different artists was folk musicians and in rock musicians and resolve different types of music that kept going on is kind of the odd thing, and the one that zeppelin took a stand on that.

They refused to just give a portion of the songwriting to another artist was the case of stairway to heaven is a group called spirit that wrote a song called Taurus and spirit with nothing on so they are anymore, but back in that era. Everybody any young ambitious man would have known spirit work and zeppelin open for a few years before stairway to heaven cannot sedate perhaps were exposed to this is the openings acoustic guitar bit at the start of stairway to heaven that resembles this similar guitar line from Taurus written by man in spirit named Randy California years and years later, his estate soon Led Zeppelin on the same grounds as the Willie Dixon estate implanted page with concert of about this to respond to any court in California that testified so Jimmy page in his testimony, claimed that he had never heard the song Taurus, but when I was researching him of the gods and I interviewed Robert plan he talked about how much he loved the California bands when he arrived on the West Coast in 1969 and he mentioned spirit. No, I'm not here to accuse anyone of lying on on the stand, but I was a little shocked that they would say that they had never heard of spirit. I tend to think it be hard for person remember it. They did hear a song 50 years later, but they are there different as well and the song overall is nothing like stairway to heaven. It is some sort of derivative work. Zeppelin beat the case in 2016, but it was appealed in 2018. Provide and then the US Supreme Court converted but they decided not to effectively killing the lawsuit. There are countless other examples of court cases like this Katy Perry star courts case Robin fix blurred lines case. Hope please Viva the Vita case so that brings up a question. Why are there so many copycats like copy. There is always tons of copying going on right people to want to hear an entirely new kind of song every time they fire up spot of fire.

Whatever I they want something that that's kinda like the stuff that they already know. That's why we have genres write that like people want to hear kind of versions of the stuff that they already like music is mercurial. I go back to bebop music with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker will play a lick and is a glass boom play the same lake and argue about who would get credit over the songs and it's sort of the cost of success right like if you become big copied people for going to rip you off so at first it was at blend that was copping people and then in time they went from the copier to the copy because they became big, successful band, and in particular the beats to their song. When the levee breaks those get used all sorts of times in early hip-hop. It's this famous reverb be drumbeat that they did.

I believe in like a stairwell or something that is at a really distinct sonic quality to it and hip-hop artist loved it and sampled it a lot. Early on, to be exact. The drums are sampled in over 220 songs from Dr. Dre to the beastie boys to be your they've all copied it seems everyone is copying. So what's the point of copyright law that copyright law artist can make about and the big guys can still from the small guys as much as they like it does help smaller artists because sometimes smaller artist. They're very influential right like they are necessarily heard by everybody but people in the know musicians know they are right and they can get copied from by dozens, hundreds, whatever you know lots and lots of different musicians and and potentially make sense from that so copyright is definitely a boom away little little Richard, one of his early hits was tutti-frutti and I don't believe quite connected with white audiences. It was to was too much too soon so Pat Boone did cover that there was ahead, but same time though, Richard made a bunch of money. So it was a win in in a lot of ways for him and comfortably.

Dixon made a lot of money off of Led Zeppelin. Interesting thing about Willie Dixon's families. Copyright is Led Zeppelin is that it shows that in a civilized society of the rule of law can actually work in these were children of a deceased Chicago bluesman basically suing the biggest band in the world and they want so you know it's a distant terms of the rule of law, of the good things about our system is is that David can go up against Goliath, and sometimes they begin with it a great job as always by Monty Montgomery.

Terrific storytelling about the rule of law and how it affects well. Even the things we love, dearest, check out Stephen Davis's book hammer of the gods on Amazon for terrific exegesis on rock 'n' roll and modern American music. Check out Kirby Ferguson on YouTube or his podcast. Everything is a remix on spot. If I get what terrific storytelling in the end of that story said it all, that these intellectual property rights protect the little guy from off in the big guy also can protect the big guy from somebody smaller file for the ideas. These are your ideas and they're protected by law. The rule of law is the reason our hearts are so great because artists are so free and protected by courts and by property rights.

The story of Led Zeppelin versus Willie Dixon, and so much more here on our American story