The Flaming Lips/Cat Stevens settlement, and other song sound-alikes

- New Order's "Run" vs. John Denver's "Leavin' on a Jet Plane"
- Manic Street Preachers' "If You Tolerate this..." vs. the Stranglers' "Duchess" (which I don't really hear, myself).
- Elastica's "Waking Up" vs. The Stranglers' "No More Heroes"
- Nirvana's "Come as You Are" vs. Killing Joke's "Eighties" vs. the Damned's "Life Goes On"
- The Cult's "Wild Flower" vs. AC/DC's "Rock'n'Roll Singer"

and, well....
Moments of Musical Mimicry

and

Great moments of musical mimicry - part two

and

riffs you never realised were borrowed from something else until years later

I'm surprised Elastica's "Waking Up" sounds similar to a Stranglers song, btw. I really, really liked Elastica as a teenager (and "Waking Up" was my favorite song of theirs!) but was reluctant to try anything out by The Stranglers. Maybe I should just check out the one song....

Uh, he didn't sue himself, believe it or not. He was sued by his former record label head.

Ok, major confusion time here. You're going to have to educmacate me here. I recognize that in the world of music I can and will be very wrong quite a lot. Oh, and did he in fact institute legal proceedings against DD, or was that someone else's doing as well?

As for the Duran Duran anecdote - I've never heard that, but since Fogerty doesn't own his songs, it's unlikely that he sued anybody. He couldn't even sue to stop "Fortunate Son" being used in various commercials against his will... don't get me started on that rant...

You're joking Alex! The chorus of IYTT is EXACTLY the bridge part of Duchess ('It sounds like an empty house/standing still' etc)

Also :

P.Weller's Changingman is obv ELO's 10538 Overture.

The Prisoners' 'Be On Your Way' from 'In from the Cold' is a (very) thinly disguised re-write of The Pretty Things 'Midnight To Six Man'.

Oasis's 'Cast No Shadow' is Moby Grapes's 'He' I'm really surprised they haven't been challenged about this.

Why the Dandy Warhols don't owe royalties to every band in creation (or on Creation, as the case may be) I'll never understand. oh yeah, cause they hire musicologists to get them out of it.

G.

Yeah, but the Stranglers sued for Waking Up.

Radiohead ripped off "The Air that I Breathe" in the Creep guitar solo.

This might sound a bit obscure as well, but Luther Vandross' "Give Me the Reason" (originally from the soundtrack to "Ruthless People") sounds like a slightlier up-tempo version of Frank Zappa's "Lucile (has Messed My Mind Up)" from Joe's Garage Act.I

The Stone Roses' "Elizabeth My Dear" vs "Scarborough Fair"
X-Ray Spex' "I Can't Do Anything" vs "Teenager in Love"

Wait, so THIS is the reason that legendary "Run 2" single had to be deleted? I thought it was because of sampling issues. Wouldn't that have rendered "Technique" as fodder for deletion/amendments, too?

the cure ripping off new order's "dreams never end" on "in between day"

radiohead blatantly stealing neil young's "organ solo" on the dead man soundtrack for the intro to their ironically titled "motion picture soundtrack"

Also, just occurred to me today, and excitedly told wifey about it, but she half-heartedly agreed and went back to whatever she was doing: Debbie Gibson's "Foolish Beat" and Wham!'s "Careless Whisper" are the SAME FUCKING SONG - the production, tempo, EVEN THE GODDAM LYRICS - "I'm never gonna (blank) again, the way that I (blanked) You...." Didn't these songs come out, like, a year apart??

Those of you who've told me the entire back story re: Creedence Clearwater and the whole John Fogerty mess, thank you. I certainly wasn't getting the straight story at all by wherever I was getting the information from (I think it might've been MTV or some online article or combination of the two). It sucks that the management types would do that sort of thing to a person, especially considering they either helped write or actually wrote all the songs. He should have the rights to his own songs, damn it.

I thought it was Wire wot sued Elastica for _Connection_, not the Stranglers.

Ah yes, now THIS I'd heard. Which Wire song was it that was its supposed soundalike again? And I know Justine Frischmann had said in plenty of interviews at the time (& afterward, in fact) that she loved Wire and had in fact once dreamt of being a member of Wire. But apparently bygones are bygones in this situation and now Mark E Smith is saying in interviews that he actually likes Elastica.

And now I must return to listening to "Waking Up" -- 40 times in a row. Damn, I still love this song to bits.

THEY either helped write? HE either helped write! Argh.

*really wishing for a damned edit feature*

I just don't like The Stranglers' song. Even though it's similar to what is perhaps one of my Top 20 Favorite Songs of All Time, it's not shimmery or glam enough for me to truly get into it.

The Stranglers decidedly never claimed nor aspired to be "shimmery" nor "glam" in the slightest.....and the black hearted majesty of their vintage work remains light years above anything Elastica managed to left-handedly coax out of their instruments.

Mark E. Smith wasn't in Wire. He's in the Fall, and has always been a fan/supporter of Elasitca.

Different strokes for different folks, 'tis all. :) Do you like Howard Jones? Probably not. But I do. I recognize as well that he's not for everyone and that a lot of people actually really don't care for him, but that's ok by me.

To be fair, though, I will try my hardest over the course of the next month to get into The Stranglers. It usually takes me three songs to determine whether I should invest my time on a single album, so I should give the band at least that much effort.

p.s.: It's confirmed. I'm weak in the knees for Elastica still. Damn. Now I have to get that album they released about two years back. Yet another thing to add to my "need to buy" list....

Mark E. Smith wasn't in Wire. He's in the Fall, and has always been a fan/supporter of Elasitca.

CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP.

*runs and hides*

*never shows face around this forum again*

There was a fascinating piece in last month's Record Collector about the Smiths' -ahem- influences. Panic=Metal Guru is one of the more obvious ones, but it failed to mention Shoplifters Of The World also=Children Of The Revolution.

Awhile back my girlfriend noticed the Flaming Lips song sounded exactly like Father & Son. I replied, "What on earth are you talking about??"

On a Cat Stevens..er..'tip', did he ever sue Pet Shop Boys for stealing the melody & chord progression of "Wild World" for their "It's A Sin"? And If not, why not? Also, is my memory playing tricks on me, or did some music biz prankster (Jonathan King?) record a version of "Wild World" not long after the PSBs hit number one, but using the arrangement & instrumentation of It's A Sin? Just to, y'know, RAM THE POINT HOME...

It would seem so.

I believe he said something like, "Oh, it's something like my song but not too much like it. Oh, well."

I thought it was Wire wot sued Elastica for _Connection_, not the Stranglers.

On an interesting note, someone in Wire once claimed that all of the songs on Pink Flag are transmorgified versions of classic rock songs.