Legal Commentary

Plagiarism + Odd Musical Choices

By Eugene Volokh

The BBC reports that ?German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg has stepped down after he was found to have copied large parts of his 2006 university doctorate thesis.? The New York Times adds:

Meanwhile, Mr. Guttenberg formally transferred power to a new defense minister on Thursday evening in a slightly weird torch-lit military ceremony in which the outgoing minister traditionally chooses the music.

Mr. Guttenberg picked AC/DC.

The head conductor of the military band said that request ?just totally breaks the mold of our music styles,? and substituted Deep Purple instead.

The song was ?Smoke on the Water.?

Thanks to bookofjoe for the pointer; see that post for a link to the video that apparently shows the band playing the song.

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on March 15, 2011 (boomark / email).