Singles that sound exactly the same as the one previous...

The first one which springs to mind: Gary's Gang followed their 1979 hit "Keep On Dancin'" with the near-identical "Let's Lovedance Tonight".

...and Rednex followed "Cotton Eye Joe" with the arrestingly similar "Old Pop In An Oak".

No Mercy's "Where Do You Go" was followed by "Please Don't Go", both singles sounded exactly the same.

indeed.

First time I heard "How does that grab you darling?" I thought it *was* "These boots are made for walking" (Nancy Sinatra, obv)

Oh, Status Quo!

Pictures of Matchstick Men -> Black hills of melancholy.

The latter single is the better by far, but god is it so similar? yes.

Bobby "Boris" Pickett followed "Monster Mash" with "Monster's Holiday". Later on, he also recorded a similar sounding tune called "Monster Swim".

The Seeds : Pushin' Too Hard and Try To Understand

That woman who did 'It's My Party and I'll Cry if I Want To,' didn't she do another two songs about crying?

ATB '9pm Til I Come' and 'Don't Stop'

Reel 2 Real feat. Mad Stuntman "I Like to Move It" followed by "Can You Feel It".

Whigfield 'Saturday Night' and 'Another Day'

Ice MC: "Think About the Way" & "It's a Rainy Day". When these were hits, I often mistakenly conflated them in my head, singing "think about the way, it's a rainy day...".

Modern Romance do the double:
"Everybody Salsa" followed by "Ay Ay Ay Ay Moosey"
"Best Years Of Our Lives" followed by "Highlife"

Vengaboys' 'Up And Down' and 'We Like To Party', though the latter was an improvement and lots more fun, they are THE SAME THING NEARLY.

Republica "Ready to Go" and "Drop Dead Gorgeous".

TECHNOTRONIC

Britney following up "Baby One More Time" with "Oops I Did It Again"

You Really Got Me / All the Day and All of the Night

Nickelback for the win!

That woman who did 'It's My Party and I'll Cry if I Want To,' didn't she do another two songs about crying?

I don't recall two, but Gore certainly did one -- "Judy's Turn to Cry." But her other big hit was the quite different / quite awesome "You Don't Own Me," so it's not like there was any running out of steam here!

Rick Dees - "Disco Duck" and "Discorilla"

Britney following up "Baby One More Time" with "Oops I Did It Again"

-- Mr. Snrub, Monday, January 7, 2008 4:00 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

lead singles from two consecutive albums, but there were 3 or 4 other singles between them.

Dis-Gorilla, but yeah.

xpost - "Judy's Turn To Cry" was actually a sequel of sorts, so it comes by its sonic similarity honestly.

Honourable mention (since the former was the Jacksons & the latter was Michael solo): "Shake Your Body (Down To the Ground)" and "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough".

"You Really Got Me" and "All Day and All of the Night" are not exactly identical, but follow a very similar formula.

Surely early Beatles qualifies too then.

Modern Talking did this for all of their 80s career, although most notably with "You Can Win If You Want" following "You're My Heart, Your're My Soul".

Lots of 90s Eurodance:
DJ Bobo: "Somebody Dance With Me"/"Keep On Dancing"
Haddaway: "What Is Love"/"Life"
Whigfield: "Saturday Night"/"Another Day"
Technotronic: "Pump Up The Jam"/"Get Up (Before The Night is Over)"

"Johnny Don't Do It" was 10cc's second single, wasn't it? It isn't exactly very different from "Donna".

Oh, didn't notice Whigfield had been mentioned before.

Four Tops did the same thing once more later, when "Reach Out I'll Be There" was followed by "Standing In The Shadows Of Love"

Roy Orbison's best singles usually were always about the same subject. Musically though, Bo Diddley's songs all had a similar sound, as listening to "His Best" in one sitting will attest to.

Gary Glitter/Sweet/Slade pwn this thread

Milli Vanilli - "Girl You Know It's True" and "Baby, Don't Forget My Number"

Robin S - "Show Me Love" and "Love For Love"

Ace Of Base - "All That She Wants" and "The Sign"

Every single by K7

Surely early Beatles qualifies too then.

Which early Beatles songs sound the same?

everything before rubber soul imo

but srsly Please Please Me, From me To You, She Loves You, I Want to Hold Your Hand, Can't Buy Me Love, A Hard Day's Night, I Feel Fine, Ticket to Ride are all nose-bleedingly similar.

NONE OF THESE ARE EXACTLY THE SAME

TS opinion vs fact

There's no opinion about it. None of these songs are exactly the same.

They have different song titles and different notes. Not exact.

Or do you mean TS hyperbole vs. fact?

Yeah.

You could be so pedantic as to render the entire thread useless, really.

Sounds good to me!

Coldplay - "Clocks" and "Speed of Sound" are horridly alike

123 456 78
123 456 78
123 456 78
123 456 78

Early '80s ELO: Hold On Tight and Rock 'N' Roll is King

The Honey Cone - Want Ads/Stick Up (not sure which one came first)
The Staple Singers - I'll Take You There/Come Go With Me

Chubby Checker - "The Twist" and "Let's Twist Again" (not sure if there was anything in between)

ahaha I always thought they were the same song.

Ides of March "Vehicle" and "Superman".

And though there's nearly a decade separating them, Spinal Tap's "Hell Hole" and "Bitch School" (either a parody of bands repeating themselves, or they were actually repeating themselves).

The Troggs' "Anyway That You Want Me" is nearly identical to "Wild Thing."

"You Really Got Me" and "All Day And All Of The Night"

Surprised it wasn't said yet.

You'll also be surprised to see it was said twice.

Yeah, I'm sure Mel & Kim followed Respectable with a carbon copy.

No, but "Respectable" itself was rather similar to "Showing Out". The actual melody was different enough for it not to be defined as a carbon copy, but they used roughly the same arrangement on both.

Sometimes, the "similiar" is the one people remember more...

Double Trouble & The Rebel MC "Just Keep Rockin" was followed by Rebel MC & Double Trouble "Street Tuff"

Both top ten (or thereabouts), but it's "Street Tuff" that gets the plays nowadays.

george jones "white lightning" and "who shot sam"

Ciara, "Goodies" and "1,2 Step"

Inner City's "Good Life" and "Big Fun"

The Ohio Express's "Yummy Yummy Yummy" and "Chewy Chewy"

Didn't a label actually release the same single consecutively but with a different name and packaging, as a prank/art statement? I seem to recall that they actually got reviews stating the second single was better/worse (ie. different) than the first.

Actually, it was an album. From sabotage.at:

The second album of Pomassl "Skeleton 2" (craft 19) was a test for the consumer behaviour and the reception in the music media. The first album "Skeleton 1" (craft.07) was repressed and completed with a new cover, a new catalogue number and new titles of songs. Also the press item talked of a new record of the artist. Most of the critics proudly reported on the new record and the musical differences to the first one.

Every Coheed and Cambria single?

Just took a quick look but I didn't see Chuck Berry listed. A lot of his stuff sounded the same. All of it great though.

- "Rescue Me"/"Safe & Sound", Fontella Bass (I've never heard "Recovery," but I'll bet that was a "Rescue Me" clone too)

- "1-2-3"/"Like A Baby", Len Barry

- "Uptight"/"Nothing's Too Good For My Baby", Stevie Wonder

Marvin Gaye - Can I Get A Witness/You're A Wonderful One

"Two Kinds of Teardrops" by Del Shannon. In places, the *exact same melody* as "Little Town Flirt". Mike Love would have creamed himself.

Anyone who calls you a pussy for liking any period of Killing Joke's illustrious career should be pushed off a perilously high cliff onto a merciless field of jagged, pointy rocks.

-- Alex in NYC, Friday, February 8, 2008 2:57 PM

Killing Joke Remasters Part DEUX!

Kevin Rudolf: Let It Rock/Welcome to the World

McCoys, "Hang On Sloopy"/"Fever"

yeah, heard that one...

Another Rickroll here because "Never Gonna Give You Up" was actually followed by "Whenever You Need Somebody". But you could easily make that three successive very similar singles had it not been for the fact that the not particularly similar sounding "When I Fall In Love" had been released for Christmas in the UK.

I was sure this thread had been revived for "Just Dance" and "Poker Face".

What about...

Lou Bega - I Got a Girl (Mambo No. 5)
PPK - Reload (ResuRection)
Lieutenant Pigeon - Desperate Dan (Mouldy Old Dough)
DJ Aligator Project - Lollipop (Blow My Whistle Bitch)
Procol Harum - Homburg (Whiter Shade of Pale)
The Applejacks - Like Dreamers Do (Tell Me When)
Petula Clark - I Know a Place (Downtown)
Keith West - Sam (A Teenage Opera)
Tony Di Bart - Do It (The Real Thing)
Sister Bliss - Oh! What a World (Can't Get a Job Can't Get a Man)
DJ Sakin & Friend - Nomansland (Protect Your Mind)

Some of those more than others, admittedly

first thing that came to mind was that Lou Bega song. man, the audacity.

Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs following "Wooly Bully" with "Ju Ju Hand", I mean it's basically the same song. in fact pretty much all their early singles were identical.

Although I can barely remember 'Do It' I do remember having a weird insistence (to no-one but myself) at the time that it was better than 'The Real Thing'. Not sure the thread really gets into such situations but it's funny when 'we' do this.

As mid-90s Eurodance really owns the thread, Atlantic Ocean's 'Body In Motion' was basically 'Waterfall' one key up and with added vocals iirc

And the Candy Girls ft. Sweet Pussy Pauline 'Fe Fi Fo Fum' and 'Wham Bam' are pretty similar - again tho I think I slightly preferred the latter.

Oh wow, I actually had Wham Bam on my list but I took it off for thinking the whole WHAT AM I SAYING thing set it quite apart (from memory anyway). But it probably doesn't, that much.

also this is the second mention of Body in Motion in under a month (I mntioned it in the songs that rhyme with the artist thread), which I wouldn't be surprised were the *only* mentions on ilx

Went to that thread after the post to see if it had already been mentioned. And I'm not even watching the TOTP repeats.

But somehow nobody mentioned Nightcrawlers 'Surrender Your Love' (after 'Push The Feeling On') yet.

Robert Miles 'Fable' maaaybe or may be just different enough from 'Children' to not qualify.

Ann Lee's Voices might count, with regards to being 2 Times

I think there's a group of several 90s dance hits which were ripped off for *a* follow-up except it was someone else doing it. E.g. Red 5's I Love You...Stop! is a lot like DJ Quicksilver's Bellissima, more than DJQ's own follow-up Free (although there were a lot of trance tracks in 96/97 used pizzicato strings and Faithless were the overall model). Or like how Doop is the obvious inspiration for Dorothy's What's That Tune?, or the Grid's Swamp Thing being the inspiration for 2InATent's When I'm Cleaning Windows (except both that and WTT were borrowing familiar source material, unlike Doop and Swamp Thing).

using*

There's not really much similarity between Sandstorm and Feel the Beat but the latter still makes sure to include a bit of the dududududu as a hook.

Not exactly the same, but I've always felt these were very similar in both sound and meaning:

Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone / Positively 4th Street

Side question... At first glance it seems the vast majority of these soundalike singles are products of the same songwriter or songwriting team. Are there notable cases where that wasn't true, i.e. a different songwriter or songwriting team deliberately aped the style of a hit single they had not been involved with?

- William DeVaughn - "Be Thankful For What You Got"/"Blood Is Thicker Than Water"

came to post these two, but Rev. Hoodoo beat me to it by 15 years. both john davis productions. blood came first, so be thankful is like the refined version i guess.

shirley and company, "shame shame shame" and "cry cry cry"

I wasn't even aware until several years ago that 'Only the Lonely' and 'Suddenly Last Summer' were two distinct songs. I've just always conflated them in my head for some reason. I don't know that they necessarily sound exactly the same but the tempo is consistent and they fit seamlessly together.

And then suddenly
Last summer
It's like I told you
Only the lonely can play

Kinks, "All Day And All Of The Night" is pretty much "You Really Got Me" all over again (though it does add a couple of extra bars going into the guitar solo)

It's the best example in that it's an obvious improvement (imo)

Jackson 5, "I Want You Back"/"ABC" — IIRC the latter was written around an unused portion of the former

'Run to Me', Candi Staton's follow-up to 'Young Hearts Run Free' - different chorus but that's about it.

Brainbug - Benedictus (Nightmare)

good Halloween banger, pizzicato string trance is great for this time of year

Bamboo - The Strutt (Bamboogie)

Maxx - No More (I Can't Stand It) (Get-a-Way)

Dire Straits' "Lady Writer" is virtually a carbon copy of "Sultans of Swing".

Meat Loaf - Bat Out Of Hell/Paradise By The Dashboard Light

You can seamlessly mash them up: “Like a bat out of hell, I’ll give you an answer in the morning”

The Pioneers followed up 'Long Shot Kick De Bucket' with a song called 'Poor Rameses' about another Jamaican racehorse who had died the same week as Long Shot. The track also begins with a (slightly different) bugle call.

The group clearly had no qualms about flogging a dead horse.

i lol'd

Dire Straits' "Lady Writer" is virtually a carbon copy of "Sultans of Swing".

i lol'd

The Pioneers had another song about "Long Shot" while he was still a going concern. It is quite similar...