Marshall Paul Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Talking of songs that sound very similar (in another thread), how many can you think of. I just listened to Bruce Springsteen singing a song called "Night". Now, if that wasn't Meatloafs "Bat Out Of Hell" I'll eat my hat. How many can you hear? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Searcy Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 "Everything George Thorogood ever did" = Bo Diddly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshall Paul Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 There's also the piano start to an Elton John song that is pure Jackson Browne. Can't remember it at the moment, it'll come to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvercrow Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Pick any 4 or 12 CCM (Christian Contemporary Music) songs by almost any "popular" Christian band. Same 3 chord sets, played in the same strumming pattern, using the same vocal inflections ad naseum Having been in a Christian originals band for over 6 years its discouraging. It's almost as if they feel compelled NOT to do anything original. Recently, at least four of the radio-pop CCM bands are doing the EXACT same WOAH..WO-OOAH WOAH! thing. If I had the $$ I could bring a class action suit... Meanwhile the bands with originality / talent don't "make it" in the CCM world...JMHO! On another note...Do you remember George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" and the subsequent lawsuit, apparently won, by the female band (forget their name) that did "He's So fine"? I had never put the two together until after the crap hit the fan over it...apparently Geroge didn't either... Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimi Mac Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIP1i2yejX0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vd_zADE2fEI&feature=youtu.be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fromnabulax Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Brian Wilson's Surfin' USA by The Beach Boys was such a note for note rip of Chuck Berry's Seet Little Sixteen that Berry's publishers not only sued and won, but Chuck's name has appeared as composer on every subsequent release. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis G Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Well, there are only 8 notes in any given key (yeah throw in some #'s or b's now and then and you get a few more but...). Is it any wonder that at some point, consciously or not, you're going to write something that's already been done? I recently had a song idea, wrote some lyric's, realized it sounded familiar, only to discover that I had unconsiously written a song to "Papa Gene's Blues" by the Monkees. No wonder it was so easy LOL. Macca agonized for months that Yesterday was something he'd heard before. You can't copyright a three or four chord progression, but the melody within...?Hmmm... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 There's a newer song by Seether that I've been hearing on the radio and the main riff is exactly like an old song called "I Will Follow Him". I don't know how Offspring were never sued for their song "Get A Job" which is very similar to "Obla Dee Obla Da" Edit: OK this is really weird. I tried 3 times to embed the link for "I Will Follow Him" by Little Peggy March but it keeps linking to some Star Wars parody.... :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdgm Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Do you remember George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" and the subsequent lawsuit, apparently won, by the female band (forget their name) that did "He's So fine"? I had never put the two together until after the crap hit the fan over it...apparently George didn't either.. They were called The Chiffons and the 2 are so similar that IMO there is no way he did not know. Here is one you may not know about: Listen to the title track of Steely Dan's "Gaucho" album - the distinctive intro features a sax over a slow/mid-tempo piano, bass and drums groove. Take it off when the vocal starts. Then hear the start of "Long As You Know You're Living Yours" from Keith Jarrett's ECM album "Belonging" made in the 70s with European players. Identical. Jarrett sued for plagiarism and won an undisclosed 5-figure sum - but I don't think he gets a percentage or a composer credit. Anothr interesting one is Gil Evans' "Jambangle" which has a very close resemblance in the piano figure to "Light My Fire" by the Doors....Evans never sued (he would have got millions!) but Ray Davies did, over the similarity of "Hello I Love You" to his "All Of The Day And All Of The Night". There are many such examples.......I must point out that "Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da" is based on an African chant which I used to have on a record on the Saga label called "Uhuru - The Freedom Drums of Africa". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshall Paul Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 Mhhmmmm.....plagiarism abounds, the plot thickens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis G Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Jimmy Page, anyone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshall Paul Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 Many of Zeps earlier blues stuff was what Pagey called adaptations of old blues numbers, and they used to give credit where credit was due. Except one, which ol' Willie Dixon sued them and won. And Felder's "Hotel California" they reckon was a rip-off of a Jethro Tull number. I've listened to both and....err, yeah and no. Some it's sort of yes and no, hard to tell, very subjective. Others are just plain in your face blatant rip-offs. That one I heard last night was blatant.Why Springsteen would do that I have no idea. It's not like he needs to or anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StRanger7032 Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Many of Zeps earlier blues stuff was what Pagey called adaptations of old blues numbers, and they used to give credit where credit was due. Except one, which ol' Willie Dixon sued them and won. And Felder's "Hotel California" they reckon was a rip-off of a Jethro Tull number. I've listened to both and....err, yeah and no. Some it's sort of yes and no, hard to tell, very subjective. Others are just plain in your face blatant rip-offs. That one I heard last night was blatant.Why Springsteen would do that I have no idea. It's not like he needs to or anything. Ian Anderson seems a bit unsure about it too. He first mentions that The Eagles might have subconsciously picked up the chord progression to "We Used To Know" while they were touring together, but then goes on to say that every chord sequence will eventually repeat itself based on mathematics. Hard to say for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshall Paul Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 Yeah that's right. Some people say err, yes, and some say well...no. But as you stated, even Ian has his doubts about that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimi Mac Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Many of Zeps earlier blues stuff was what Pagey called adaptations of old blues numbers, and they used to give credit where credit was due. Except one, which ol' Willie Dixon sued them and won. And Felder's "Hotel California" they reckon was a rip-off of a Jethro Tull number. I've listened to both and....err, yeah and no. Some it's sort of yes and no, hard to tell, very subjective. Others are just plain in your face blatant rip-offs. That one I heard last night was blatant.Why Springsteen would do that I have no idea. It's not like he needs to or anything. Ian Anderson seems a bit unsure about it too. He first mentions that The Eagles might have subconsciously picked up the chord progression to "We Used To Know" while they were touring together, but then goes on to say that every chord sequence will eventually repeat itself based on mathematics. Hard to say for sure. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xny0Uj4--tk I was going to mention that one too... But Ian seems to be completely dismissive of it as a purposeful/willful stealing of their song and attributes it to more of the fact that they toured together for a season and thinks there was an influential dynamic from being at each others shows constantly. Potentially subconsciously as mentioned... I have a song I wrote that turns out to have been an exact representation of my daughters first written/arranged piece, yet I somehow got the entire chord progression backward and descending instead of ascending the way she wrote & performed it... She was like 10 when she did it... And I didn't catch onto the fact that it was particularly similar until I was perusing the old video of her performing it at her 6th grade talent show. I truly like to believe it is because we both rubbed-off on each other musically! She inspires me for sure! I also happen to think that in the case of most of these musical "plagiarism" that there's a bigger component of reverence and affinity for the original and the originators that simply inspires such similarities and even tributes. I also say that while some view the British Blues Boom as emulators or Blues lite, I honestly believe that it is for a genuine love of the originals and the originators out of respect and utter admiration and not a desire to rip-off or make claims upon the pioneers but instead to carry-on their work and show that reverence for what inspired them so deeply! Frankly if it wasn't for The British Blues Boomers, I'd not have discovered the pioneers and originators that were right under my nose all along. The Brits are directly responsible for generating the desire and initiative within myself to seek out and see live and in person the same folks that inspired them so. Thanks to Eric Clapton Et Al, I've sojourned to see Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Huber Sumlin, Jimmy Rogers, and a whole host of other greats and originals that I would not have if it were not for the reverent honoring that the Brits did to/for them... But I agree, apparently Led Zep made a career out of rearranging originals from all walks/genres and incorporating them into their own work. I think at times they pushed the envelope and may have even crossed the line of propriety when it came to credit and copyright, but I think they made work that is universally heralded as a great body of work En-Total, and I know Jimmy Page and probably the whole band had great reverence for the originators even if in changing that original work around they didn't give some of the proper credit until they started making gobs of money and it became an issue... If I steal a Rory Gallagher original passage in my work nobody cares because I've barely made beer money in paying gigs in my life, but if I were to become a millionaire, well then it would be a case for some lawyer to get rich off of and it would then become a big deal. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I tend to agree... If someone, especially my daughter, were ever to imitate me or one of my songs, I would be tickled to death! If they made millions off it, I might have issue with that though... Money and profit does appear to be the root of all evil in this case/issue... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryUK Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEmGQYCuc6M http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y64211sjSko I remember when these two came out. They had the same riff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Searcy Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Searcy Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fromnabulax Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 As something of a mea culpa, I wrote and recorded a tune some 30 years back that I realized shortly after its release had a progression that was strongly influenced by a Leonard Cohen song from 11 years earlier. A few years later I had the opportunity to briefly meet Leonard. I was so awed by the moment that while shaking his hand I could only utter the words " Leonard, I love your stuff so deeply that I stole it." He couldn't get away from me fast enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Searcy Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 I think it's pretty easy to call 99% of all music "Ripoffs". So long as the tune grooves I don't much care. I've posted this at least 4 time on here and I don;t think anyone has ever watched it but it's does a great job of breaking it all down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tman Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Doobie's What a fool believes and Robbie Dupree's Steal Away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saturn Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 I think it's pretty easy to call 99% of all music "Ripoffs". So long as the tune grooves I don't much care. I've posted this at least 4 time on here and I don;t think anyone has ever watched it but it's does a great job of breaking it all down. I watched it. Very interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 I've posted this at least 4 time on here and I don;t think anyone has ever watched it but it's does a great job of breaking it all down. Very interesting. Part 2 is a crack up. And so true. Well, it all is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StRanger7032 Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 As something of a mea culpa, I wrote and recorded a tune some 30 years back that I realized shortly after its release had a progression that was strongly influenced by a Leonard Cohen song from 11 years earlier. A few years later I had the opportunity to briefly meet Leonard. I was so awed by the moment that while shaking his hand I could only utter the words " Leonard, I love your stuff so deeply that I stole it." He couldn't get away from me fast enough. When I was 18 and had not yet realized that I'm better suited for writing lead guitar parts than lyrics, I made an attempt at writing a song. I thought it was pretty good until I realized that it was a complete stylistic ripoff of Jim Croce. Then I thought about it a bit and remembered that I'd listened to a whole Jim Croce album for the first time a few nights prior. I left the songwriting to my bandmate after that, who proved to be much better (and more original) at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marshall Paul Posted February 12, 2015 Author Share Posted February 12, 2015 Doobie's What a fool believes and Robbie Dupree's Steal Away Yup, I can hear that one too.He definitely stole that one away from them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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