songs that sound like other songs

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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

that fucking stupid uncle kracka song sounds just like "a thing called love" by bonnie raitt. and I hate it.

kyle (akmonday), Monday, 24 May 2004 18:51 (twenty years ago) link

radiohead's "subterranean homesick alien" reminds me of nick drake's "parasite"
i always get "freeze frame" and "footloose" mixed up.
that puddle of mudd song "she hates me" = "tell me more" from grease

Felonious Drunk (Felcher), Monday, 24 May 2004 18:53 (twenty years ago) link

Not sure which came first, but the Clash's "Manicifent Seven" and Man Parrish's "Hip Hop Be Bop" are almost identical.

sexyDancer, Monday, 24 May 2004 19:13 (twenty years ago) link

I think we covered it on another thread but I still don't get how "L Dopa" rips off Killing Joke.

hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 24 May 2004 19:19 (twenty years ago) link

Sloan's "She Means What She Says" = The Nazz "Open My Eyes"

=The Who "I Can't Explain"

phil dennison, Monday, 24 May 2004 19:21 (twenty years ago) link

Felt's "The Stagnant Pool" calls to mind The Cure's "Disintegration"; particularly the long guitar play toward the end.

Evanston Wade (EWW), Monday, 24 May 2004 19:24 (twenty years ago) link

of course there's always NIN "Down In It"= Skinny Puppy's "Dig It"

Felonious Drunk (Felcher), Monday, 24 May 2004 19:27 (twenty years ago) link

There's a Decemberists song (I think it's "I Was Meant for the Stage") that has the same melody as Sting's "Fields of Gold"

Also, I was just noticing the other day how Sly Stone's "Hot Fun in the Summertime" has the same little chord progression as a Led Zep song (maybe "Fool in the Rain" or something from that album) - though obviously Sly came first.

Josh Love (screamapillar), Monday, 24 May 2004 19:35 (twenty years ago) link

I always mix up "Times Like These" by the Foo Fighters with the beginning of the verse of Manics' "Australia".... It's because of the first "I...", I guess.

JP Almeida (JP Almeida), Monday, 24 May 2004 20:10 (twenty years ago) link

"Flatness" by Uncle Tupelo sounds kinda like "Letter Never Sent" by REM.

christhamrin (christhamrin), Monday, 24 May 2004 20:15 (twenty years ago) link

we could also add ALL REGGAE EVER to this thread

sexyDancer, Monday, 24 May 2004 20:28 (twenty years ago) link

TLC - "Unpretty"

=

Hanson - "Mmmbop"

Kornél Kovács (Kornél Kovács), Monday, 24 May 2004 22:58 (twenty years ago) link

"White Light/White Heat" sounds kind of like an early Jerry Lee Lewis song.

miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Monday, 24 May 2004 23:33 (twenty years ago) link

Phil Collins' "Sussudio" = Prince's "1999"

The intro to "Breakout" by Swing Out Sisters = PSB "West End Girls"

Seb (Seb), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 00:31 (twenty years 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 (two months 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 (four 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 (three 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 (three 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 (three 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 (one week 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 (one week ago) link

This cruddy Bon Jovi song is like a cross between "Born on the Bayou" and U2's "When Loves Come to Town:"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqqOlFxOl84

And then this Gwen Stefani song sounds a lot like that Chappell Roan song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apGh9uDfSTY

Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 12 November 2024 18:47 (four days ago) link

I am not joking when I say that the thread topic plays a key part on several levels in the new film Heretic.

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 12 November 2024 19:16 (four days ago) link

Which Chappel Roan song ?

LeRooLeRoo, Wednesday, 13 November 2024 01:08 (three days ago) link

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

― MarkoP, martes 5 de noviembre de 2024 20:01 (one week ago)

omg yes! been thinking for months it reminded me of something else but couldn't quite place what it was.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Wednesday, 13 November 2024 03:48 (three days ago) link


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