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Lawsuit I never heard about...


Wolfman

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I just watched the movie "Bad Lieutenant" on dvd tonight. I distinctly remember a scene where a rap song using the "Kashmir" riff is playing in a nightclub (way before Puffy's "Come With Me"). The song was different in the dvd version tonight. Thought I was going nuts until I found this...

Jimmy Page, guitarist of the English rock band Led Zeppelin, discovered the guitar line from the Led Zeppelin song "Kashmir" was used in the Schoolly D song "Signifying Rapper", which is played several times throughout the film. This usage had not been cleared by Schoolly D's record company. A lawsuit forced the removal of the song from the soundtrack on some VHS and all DVD versions of the film.[2]The song was replaced by a recording of an original Ferrara composition called "Bad Lieutenant" recorded on a cassette Walkman and performed live at a late night jam session by Ferrara and Paul Hipp (who also appears as Jesus Christ in the film).

There's more here:

Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page and singer Robert Plant sued via their publisher Flames of Albion Music, because the quote from "Kashmir" had not been cleared by Schoolly D's record company.[citation needed]

The song was ordered removed from the soundtrack and from broadcasts. In 1994, Live Home Video and distributor Aries Film Releasing were ordered to destroy any unsold copies of Bad Lieutenant as part of a copyright infringement ruling.[4][Request quotation on talk to verify] Director Abel Ferrara was angered by the incident, which he felt "ruined the movie":

"Signifying Rapper" was out for five years, and there wasn't a problem. Then the film had already been out for two years and they start bitching about it. [...] It cost Schoolly like $50,000. It was a nightmare. And meanwhile, "Signifying Rapper" is 50 million times better than "Kashmir" ever thought of being. [...] Why sue? You should be happy that somebody is paying homage to your work.

Wrong Abel! Here's the song (Warning: Dirty rap lyrics)...

Edited by Wolfman
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Jimmy Page, guitarist of the English rock band Led Zeppelin, discovered the guitar line from the Led Zeppelin song "Kashmir" was used in the Schoolly D song "Signifying Rapper", which is played several times throughout the film. This usage had not been cleared by Schoolly D's record company.

A confusing citation as Schooly D's record company had no authority to clear the licensing of 'Kashmir' for this fim.

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