songs that sound like other songs

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The bridge late in the Chili Peppers "Give it Away" sounds an awful lot like Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf".

I'm sure there are several other "Sweet Leaf" rip-offs that I can;t think of right now.

Dave Beckhouse, Monday, 9 September 2002 22:16 (twenty-two years ago) link

I noticed the Bon Jovi/Belinda Carlisle connection a couple years ago, while trying to playing Bon Jovi on the piano and accidentally coming out with Belinda Carlisle.

This is Smoke on the Water: Dun dun DUN, dun dun DUN-DUNN
This is Cat Scratch Fever: Dun dun DUN, dun-dun DUN

And hey, did anyone notice the resemblances between "Ice Ice Baby" and "Under Pressure"?

My name is Kenny, Monday, 9 September 2002 22:18 (twenty-two years ago) link

The Rolling Stone's "Anybody Seen My Baby" and KD Lang's "Constant Craving".

Slump Man (Slump Man), Monday, 9 September 2002 22:35 (twenty-two years ago) link

Coldplay's "Yellow" just *is* Ride's "OX4" - I've been utterly convinced of this from the moment I first heard the former but nobody listens to me...you can sing one to the other and everything!

Charlie, Monday, 9 September 2002 22:42 (twenty-two years ago) link

"So I figure we can scrape up an intro riff to this 'Ruby Soho' song by just tweaking an old Clash song."
"But that's what we always do!"
"Well people won't notice if it's one that nobody really knows. Like 'One Emotion' maybe."
"You're brilliant! Boy, I'm glad I left Operation Ivy for this!"

Nate Patrin, Monday, 9 September 2002 22:46 (twenty-two years ago) link

And hey, did anyone notice the resemblances between "Ice Ice Baby" and "Under Pressure"?

You're shitting me. :-)

Jody Beth Rosen, Monday, 9 September 2002 22:48 (twenty-two years ago) link

The riffs of Black Sabbath's "Hole in the Sky" and Blondie's "Call Me" and Blue Oyster Cult's "The Revenge of Vera Gemini."

Jody Beth Rosen, Monday, 9 September 2002 22:54 (twenty-two years ago) link

The flamenco-guitar on Black Sabbath's "Don't Start (Too Late)" and Guns 'n' Roses' "Double Talkin' Jive."

(Sorry. Listening to Sabotage at the moment.)

Jody Beth Rosen, Monday, 9 September 2002 22:57 (twenty-two years ago) link

Nirvana's "All Apologies" => Pixies "Levitate me"

Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Monday, 9 September 2002 23:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Shakira - Underneath Your Clothes
The Bangles - Eternal Flame
timing is slightly different but the verse is alomst exactly the same melody. I've tried to mix them together.


dsico

dsico (dsico), Monday, 9 September 2002 23:30 (twenty-two years ago) link

Speaking of Sabbath, "Dramamine" by Sebadoh (a Jake L song) cops a riff midway through from, damn, I think a breakdown in "Supernaut"?

(Not listening to Sab right now.)

wl, Monday, 9 September 2002 23:31 (twenty-two years ago) link

moonblood "midnight" = burzum "det som engang var"

more terribly, the offspring's "get a job" and "o bla di o bla da" by the beatles have very similar choruses (try singing one over the other sometime, it's horrifying).

brian (yournullfame), Monday, 9 September 2002 23:43 (twenty-two years ago) link

And hey, did anyone notice the resemblances between "Ice Ice Baby" and "Under Pressure"?

No, ice ice baby is "din din din di-di din doonn" and under pressure is "din din din di-di din din". fucks sake.

naked as sin, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 00:28 (twenty-two years ago) link

George Washington and the Cherry Pickers' "Crisco Party" is basically "Wipeout" + vocals - drum solo.

James Blount, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 03:59 (twenty-two years ago) link

Manics' "Roses In The Hospital" and Bowie's "Sound And Vision", although that sounds more like a semi-conscious "tribute" than either a cynical deliberate steal (cf. Oasis's early Beatles/T Rex theft) or an accidental appropriation (cf. Coldplay/Ride, probably and against my better judgement)...

Charlie, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 04:03 (twenty-two years ago) link

I was just listening to "Wuthering Heights" by Kate Bush. It took me quite a while to figure out of what it was reminding me strongly, and it turned out to be "Paint a Vulgar Picture" by The Smiths. The way they both can't seem to settle into anything...

Furthermore, for the record: an obvious choice, perhaps, but Pulp's "A Little Soul" and Smokey R. and the M.'s "The Tracks of My Tears".

Captain Sleep (Captain Sleep), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 06:16 (twenty-two years ago) link

When The Czar's "Song to the Siren" starts out, I always think it's Mogwai's "Yes! I am far away from home."

Leee, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 06:34 (twenty-two years ago) link

"Bring Me Edelweiss" was a "S.O.S." knock-off. Gert Wilden's "Dirty Beat" nicks Zep's "Heartbreaker".

James Blount, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 06:38 (twenty-two years ago) link

too many Stereolab songs to mention.

James Blount, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 06:40 (twenty-two years ago) link

naughty by nature feat. 3lw - feels good to you = fat joe feat. ja rule & ashanti - what's luv?

minna (minna), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 07:11 (twenty-two years ago) link

Doesn't Ice Ice Baby actually sample Under Pressure?

tigerclawskank, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 08:23 (twenty-two years ago) link

Cracker's "Low" = Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man"
Radiohead's "Creep" = the Hollies' "The Air that I Breathe"
Go-Betweens' "Karen" = Patti Smith's "Dancing Barefoot"
Pere Ubu's "Final Solution" + "Heart of Darkness" = Blue Cheer's version of "Summertime Blues"
Bowie's "Jean Genie" = Yardbirds' version of "I'm a Man"
Prince's "2 Nigs United from West Compton" = Glenn Miller's "Pennsylvania 6-5000"

dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 10:50 (twenty-two years ago) link

BTW, done already.

dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 10:52 (twenty-two years ago) link

the strokes' "last nite" crops up the jam's "town called malice".
and what's the other song in their album that has the same structure and bassline than iggy pop's "the passenger"?

joan vich (joan vich), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 11:06 (twenty-two years ago) link

X-Press 2 ft David Byrne "Lazy" is a total rip off of Frankie Knuckles & David Morales ft. Alison Limerick "Where Love Lives".

Other than that, the similarity of the intro to Cast's "Fine Time" and Guns'n'Roses "Paradise City" could be pretty confusing at indie discos in the mid-ninties, just when you're ready to blow the whistle and rock out with Axl, Izzy and Slash you get, "What's it all about? Do you really want to know..."

Shit.

Stephen Burrows (steveeeeeeeee), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 11:50 (twenty-two years ago) link

"The bridge late in the Chili Peppers "Give it Away" sounds an awful lot like Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf""

I'm sure that's no accident, given Rick Rubin's appreciation for old school metal.

The Manic Street Preachers' "If You Tolerate This Than Your Children Will Be Next" was alleged to have ripped off the Stranglers' "Duchess," but I find that a bit of a stretch.....and I'm a much bigger fan of the Stranglers than I'll ever be of the Manics.

Then, of course, Nirvana stole the riff from Killing Joke's "Eighties" for "Come as You Are." Little known fact is that my beloved Killing Joke stole that very same riff from the Damned's "Life Goes On" (on the STRAWBERRIES album).

Big Black's "L Dopa" off SONGS ABOUT FUCKING is virtually indistiguishable from Killing Joke's "the Wait".

The Germs' "No God" ripps the opening riff off of Yes' "Roundabout," but that's more willfull desecration rather than theft (despite the fact that guitarist Pat Smear is an unapologetic Yes fan).

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 11:57 (twenty-two years ago) link

The Cult swiped (via a sample) the ominous "buzz buzz buzz buzz" intro from Killing Joke's "Requiem" for the bridge in "The Witch" (originally on the soundtrack to the roundly derided cartoon, "Cool World"). Being the lovable bastards they are, despite being old touring mates, Killing Joke sued The Cult for it, and the sample was stricken from all other versions that have since been released (HIGH OCTANE CULT, etc.)

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 12:01 (twenty-two years ago) link

I was home sick yesterday, watched a Conan O'Brian rerun on Comedy Central and ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead was on, playing "Relative Ways," and I'll be damned if the main guitar riff (during the verses) doesn't rip the vocal melody from "On Broadway."

Nick A., Tuesday, 10 September 2002 12:12 (twenty-two years ago) link

the Action Time - comedown blues steals the "ooh ooh"s from Manics - Motown Junk

Jens (brighter), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 16:49 (twenty-two years ago) link

The White Stripes "Hotel Yorba" is a Country Joe and the Fish song, note for note, and even word for word at times. I don't know the name of the Country Joe song, but it goes "1,2,3, what are we fighting for, don't ask me I don't give a damn, next stop is Vietnam, and it's 5,6,7, open up the pearly gates" and could someone PLEASE tell me the name of this song? It fits so perfectly it's frightening.

Oh, and dancing at Mother to retro-ironic white trash trailer rock last night, I realised that there's a Sloan song which is Foghat's Slow Ride down to a T, but I can't remember which one it is.

kate, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 18:47 (twenty-two years ago) link

Country Joe: "Feel like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag" I'll die if I have to hear it again. It's kind of a traditional folk song, so I wouldn't credit Country Joe McDonald.

dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 18:50 (twenty-two years ago) link

"Vicious" by Lou Reed steals from "Maggie May" by Rod Stewart. I can't even listen to the Lou Reed song without "MM"'s lyrics taking Reed's place.

Butthole Surfers' "Human Cannibal" is "The Rose" by Bette Middler. Sing along. "Some say love..."; it's eerie.

I'm blanking right now....

Vic Funk, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 20:13 (twenty-two years ago) link

I just heard Sheryl Crow's "Steve McQueen" on the radio, which steals the "hoo-hoos" straight from Steve Miller Band's "Take the Money and Run".

Vinnie (vprabhu), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 20:38 (twenty-two years ago) link

i'm always going on about this but i can't think of many at the moment...
the high pitched voice bit of hash pipe by weezer is very like that "somewhere in my heart there is a star that shines for you" song though...

robin (robin), Wednesday, 11 September 2002 00:17 (twenty-two years ago) link

Rod Stewart - "Do you think I'm Sexy" steals Gilberto Gil/Jorge Ben's "Taj Mahal"

that Spirit song (?) -> "Stairway to Heaven" -> that Metallica song (?)

That Offspring song rips of Simon & Garfunk's Cecilia.

A Nairn (moretap), Wednesday, 11 September 2002 00:58 (twenty-two years ago) link

The Buzzcocks' "Something's Gone Wrong Again" reminds me of a decade-later postpunk (in)version of the Stooges' "I Wanna Be Your Dog", what with the "dinkdinkdinkdinkdinkdink" piano and the sludgy partway drawn-out guitar notes and the general Neanderthal rhythm. The vocals are a completely different story, though, which just makes the cop more interesting.

Nate Patrin, Wednesday, 11 September 2002 05:25 (twenty-two years ago) link

more white stripes... i say 'little room' borrows from jim croce's 'you don't mess around with jim'.

brian badword (badwords), Wednesday, 11 September 2002 05:33 (twenty-two years ago) link

the israelites by ? = the theme from shaft

minna (minna), Wednesday, 11 September 2002 06:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

It's interesting how subjective all this is. I would never hear Israelites (Desmond Dekker, btw) in Theme from Shaft, or Maggie May in Vicious...

Anyway, Call Me / Blondie = What She Said / Smiths

bham, Wednesday, 11 September 2002 08:23 (twenty-two years ago) link

one month passes...
shakiras underneath your clothes reminds me of michael jacksons man in the mirror

gareth (gareth), Tuesday, 22 October 2002 16:06 (twenty-two years ago) link

It appears that about a million years ago, I once started one of these threads too - Too close for comfort?

Kim (Kim), Tuesday, 22 October 2002 21:22 (twenty-two years ago) link

one year passes...
"Orphans" by Teenage Jesus and the Jerks seems to share a riff with "London Calling"...

Chris F. (servoret), Friday, 12 December 2003 06:19 (twenty years ago) link

Junior Senior's "boy meets girl" rips off the band's "wheel's on fire" for the verse. i thought that they sampled it at first it's so shameless

brains (cerybut), Friday, 12 December 2003 06:54 (twenty years ago) link

Red Blooded Woman by Kylie is so totally Cry Me A River

Alex in Doncaster (Alex in Doncaster), Friday, 12 December 2003 07:34 (twenty years ago) link

Digital Emotion's "Outside in the Dark" rips the groove from "Billy Jean".

Matt Boch (Matt Boch), Friday, 12 December 2003 09:00 (twenty years ago) link

Two songs that are alost exactly the same:

The Doll "Burning up like a fire"
The Cars "Just what I needed"

Odd as they came out at very similar times and it would be unlikely that one would have heared the other....

Maybe its cuz they are both dull and derivative...

mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 12 December 2003 10:52 (twenty years ago) link

Andre 3000 'Behold a Lady' = Siouxsie b-side 'I Could Be Again'

Baaderist (Fabfunk), Friday, 12 December 2003 11:15 (twenty years ago) link

The guitar riff on last song on the new Strokes album is similar to the chorus of Junior Senior's 'Rhythm Bandits'.

Jay Kid (Jay K), Friday, 12 December 2003 11:22 (twenty years ago) link

five months pass...
Huey Lewis and The News "I want a new drug"=Ray Parker Jr. "ghostbusters"

and nelly and justin timberlake have a song over "back in black" by AC/DC how disgusting. the sad fact is that most of the 10-16 year old girls that listen to justin timberlake have no idea o fthe musical travesty that has been committed. but I will admit that it is kinda neat.

Matt Graves, Monday, 24 May 2004 18:43 (twenty years ago) link

Huey Lewis and The News "I want a new drug"=Ray Parker Jr. "ghostbusters"

huey lewis and the news came first. they sued ray parker for that one.

fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 24 May 2004 18:49 (twenty years ago) link

I just re-remembered that the Bangles' "Manic Monday" is Prince re-using "1999" for the verses.

assert (matttkkkk), Tuesday, 28 May 2024 05:52 (five months ago) link

just like Sussudio.

Hell, I feel like "pop songs that sound like a intentional remix of a Prince song" could be its own thread.

Iacocca Cola (Neanderthal), Tuesday, 28 May 2024 14:43 (five months ago) link

two weeks pass...

like how many millions of songs copy chuck berry?

Uh....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd3qXfF7hqE

kornrulez6969, Monday, 17 June 2024 15:25 (four months ago) link

Sharon Van Etten - “Don’t Do It”
Cranberries - “Linger”

papal hotwife (milo z), Monday, 17 June 2024 22:04 (four months ago) link

two weeks pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaPF5O9RwWA

seems obvious 'man in a box' by alice in chains was a str8 rip of this melody right ? or is there some common antecedent 'hall of the mountain king' style

xheugy eddy (D-40), Friday, 5 July 2024 22:53 (four months ago) link

The verses of "Longing For Fire" on Scorpions' In Trance from 1975 have a number of similarities to "Fly By Night" from Rush's Fly By Night, released seven months earlier:

- guitar riff using the same syncopation
- very busy melodic bassline, completely atypical for Scorpions but very much like early Geddy Lee
- lyrics that conspicuously mention "flying" and "night"

I thought they were both on Mercury Records at the time, but Scorpions would not sign with them until 1978.

Halfway there but for you, Saturday, 6 July 2024 03:04 (four months ago) link

It's taken me so long to realise Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" is basically a tribute to Stevie Wonder's "Superstition"

your mom goes to limgrave (dog latin), Saturday, 6 July 2024 13:33 (four months ago) link

It was pointed out even at the time, but I didn't appreciate until recently how Rachel Stevens' "Some Girls" is essentially a crib of Goldfrapp's "Strict Machine", but with weaker production and a less charismatic delivery:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVIYgig9maY

Hearteningly the Goldfrapp song has millions of views on YouTube versus merely tens of thousands for "Some Girls". Rachel Stevens was only relevant in a brief temporal window and only in the UK whereas Goldfrapp transcends time and space. Whatever happened to Richard X? He was the Ilxor generation's Mark Ronson.

This all came about from a thread on RYM about the John Lee Hooker "Boogie Chillun" riff. The Goldfrapp song has a little bit of it, "Some Girls" almost none at all.

Ashley Pomeroy, Sunday, 7 July 2024 17:34 (four months ago) link

I'm sure there were Strict Machine/Rachel Stevens mashups floating about in the good old 2000s but it was possibly Sweet Dreams My LAX, rather than Some Girls, even though that would seem more similar!

kinder, Tuesday, 9 July 2024 20:25 (three months ago) link

Speaking of Goldfrapp, Kylie Minogue was definitely inspired by them when she recorded "Two Hearts". Even the video has the same esthetic as "Ooh La La".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQGU-vdXoVE

LeRooLeRoo, Wednesday, 10 July 2024 00:23 (three months ago) link

I remembered it was a Kish Mauve song first, so looked it up to check, and on the Wikipedia article there is a quote from Tom Ewing comparing it to Goldfrapp (among others), ha

kinder, Wednesday, 10 July 2024 13:43 (three months ago) link

two weeks pass...

the chorus of freez's "southern freez" quotes the opening notes of coltrane's "giant steps"

the defenestration of prog (voodoo chili), Monday, 29 July 2024 21:56 (three months ago) link

We finally went to see Hamilton a couple weeks ago and I feel it necessary to report that almost ALL the Hamilton songs sound like other songs - which, I mean, smart move?

trm (tombotomod), Monday, 29 July 2024 22:32 (three months ago) link

Pere Ubu's "Waiting for Mary" and the Velvet Underground's "Lady Godiva's Operation"

timellison, Friday, 2 August 2024 19:10 (three months ago) link

^^ And the Stones' "Gomper" has that riff also

timellison, Tuesday, 13 August 2024 20:37 (two months ago) link

three weeks pass...

“Lust for Life” drums are a slowed down version of those on “Touch Me”

The Zing from Another URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 4 September 2024 02:33 (two months ago) link

Music doesn’t otherwise sound similar but still

The Zing from Another URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 4 September 2024 02:34 (two months ago) link

Never occurred to me before, despite Iggy’s acknowledged debt to Jimbo.

The Zing from Another URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 4 September 2024 02:35 (two months ago) link

not to mention

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcsZa3diYZg

budo jeru, Wednesday, 4 September 2024 19:38 (two months ago) link

!

The Zing from Another URL (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 4 September 2024 21:00 (two months ago) link

There's a moment about 25 seconds into this (and then again a few times throughout) that sound just like For You Blue:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMlLlwVk9eI

nate woolls, Thursday, 12 September 2024 02:06 (one month ago) link

two weeks pass...

Some pretty intensive Talking Heads cosplay from Martha & The Muffins (in 1983)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrXQ31dGlB8

Maresn3st, Sunday, 29 September 2024 20:47 (one month ago) link

I know their previous three and their next two albums, but not this one, though the video for the title track is one of my favourites. Their shift into dance-oriented rock was somewhat at the expense of their strong melodic sensibilities, but basically hip Toronto bands had to sound like this in 1983 - the alt-country revival movement hadn't taken hold yet.

Halfway there but for you, Monday, 30 September 2024 19:41 (one month ago) link

Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party" and Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone"

j.o.h.n. in evanston (john. a resident of chicago.), Tuesday, 1 October 2024 16:40 (one month ago) link

I was gonna say the second half of Sabbath's Symptom of the Universe and PWEI's Familus Horribilus until I learnt the former is a sample on the latter

you can see me from westbury white horse, Tuesday, 1 October 2024 16:50 (one month ago) link

I can't listen to 'Doctrine' from Autechre's debut album without getting 'If we ever get out of here' bit of Wings - Band On The Run stuck in my head

pronounced with an ‘umpty’ (Willl), Tuesday, 1 October 2024 19:40 (one month ago) link

two weeks pass...

Dome Patrol - The Cutting Edge
Chumbawamba - Rappaport’s Testament: I Never Gave Up

pronounced with an ‘umpty’ (Willl), Friday, 18 October 2024 12:18 (three weeks ago) link

The Smithereens "I Don't Want To Lose You" guitar coda sounds like replicates the solo on the Byrds "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better".

punning display, Wednesday, 23 October 2024 13:45 (two weeks ago) link

kind of a niche case but prince's solo on the 1982 rehearsal version of "i would die 4 u" reminds me of the solo on "hurdy gurdy man", paul leary's moreso than the guitarist on donovan's version (who i guess may or may not be jimmmy page)

Kate (rushomancy), Friday, 25 October 2024 19:33 (two weeks ago) link

When you think about it, every guitar player may or may not be Jimmy Page.

waiting for godot action figure (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 25 October 2024 23:42 (two weeks ago) link

The Video mix of Air's Kelly Watch the Stars and Beyonce's Bodyguard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rui0hzN-EFE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO22bx_25ko

MarkoP, Tuesday, 5 November 2024 20:01 (three days ago) link

The first two chords of Isi by Neu! and the opening of Ironic by Alanis Morissette?

I would prefer not to. (Chinaski), Tuesday, 5 November 2024 22:06 (three days ago) link


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