Led Zeppelin Sued Little-Known Band Over ‘Gilligan’s Island’/‘Stairway to Heaven’ Mashup

1970s pop group Little Roger and the Goosebumps created their most famous song out of a combination of exhaustion, desperation and an affection for situation comedies. In 1977, the band needed “material to pad the last set of the grueling 5 nights a week/4 sets a night routine.” Their solution: A goofy, Weird Al-esque mashup of hard rock standard “Stairway to Heaven” and the theme song to Gilligan’s Island.

The song went over well enough with live audiences that Little Roger and the Goosebumps recorded a single, which became a signature tune for the obscure band. The group’s members were good enough musicians that they could recreate Led Zeppelin’s signature sound themselves, while appropriating every inane lyric from “The Ballad of Gilligan’s Island,” the theme to the Bob Denver sitcom. It was a nice little success story — that is, until Led Zeppelin’s lawyers got wind of it, according to SlashFilm.

You can guess what happened next. No one was making a mint from the single, released on Little Roger and the Goosebumps’ own label, Splash Records. But less than a month after “Stairway to Gilligan’s Island” was made available, Led Zeppelin’s attorneys threatened legal hell unless the band destroyed all existing copies. Not wanting to lose their shirts over a joke, that’s just what they did.

That didn’t stop Gilligan’s Island fan sites from sharing the song, though. And ironically, one of the song’s biggest supporters was Robert Plant. “I think my favorite version (of “Stairway to Heaven”) is Little Roger and the Goosebumps,” he confessed to Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air back in 2004. “It was a record that was built around the theme for Gilligan's Isle, the TV program. And our lawyer at the time in New York was absolutely furious that anybody should touch this song, you know, this pinnacle of endeavor and artistic creativity.”

That was sarcasm, at least of a sort. Plant knew the iconic song was ripe for ridicule. “Because of the pinnacle and the beauty of the song, sooner or later, that has to turn around and swing the other way, like ‘My Way’ or ‘God Save The Queen,’” he said. “After a while, it’s a great target for pointing a skeptical finger in hoots of derision.”

I’d argue that “Stairway to Gilligan’s Island” isn’t even making fun of the Zeppelin classic — it’s simply funny to juxtapose TV theme song lyrics with an unexpected melody. Led Zeppelin’s lawyer needed to chill, a fact that Plant himself seemed to recognize. 

Maybe that’s why Little Roger and the Goosebumps were able to reissue the parody decades later, including “Stairway to Gilligan’s Island” on a CD called Laguna Tunes in 2000. The group recorded more parodies after reforming in 2006, including “Fudd on the Hill,” an Elmer Fudd-inspired rendition of the Beatles’ “Fool on the Hill,” and “Kennedy Girl,” a goof on Neil Diamond’s “Cinnamon Girl.” 

But none captured the magic of Plant’s favorite cover, a single finally rescued after years of being stranded on Cease and Desist Island.