songs that sound like other songs

*obligatory post about Elastica/Wire connection*

"Last" by Nine Inch Nails (on the BROKEN e.p.) recalls Queen's "Fight from the Inside" (down to a stolen riff). Trent's a big Queen fan, allegedly.

The first note of Cheap Trick's "Stop This Game" (on ALL SHOOK UP) is a slow fade-in that is purportedly the last note of SGT.PEPPER's.

The Sex Pistols' "Holidays in the Sun" ripped off The Jam's "In the City"

("Girl Like You" was Edwyn Collins, who's not shitty)

I hear a slight resemblance between the choruses of "Heaven is a Place on Earth" and Starz's "So Young, So Bad." Maybe it's just the chord changes.

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

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"?

You're shitting me. :-)

(Sorry. Listening to Sabotage at the moment.)

dsico

(Not listening to Sab right now.)

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).

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".

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.

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).

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.

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

I'm blanking right now....

I've been getting into Rush lately, and the opening guitar riff from their Caress of Steel album brought to mind another famous album opener.

Rush - Bastille Day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80hamog2uks

X - Your Phone's Off the Hook (But You're Not)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWwcl9JbsBo

is it memorex or stereolab?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVShQi7UtxM

Why can't I get just one kiss?
Wht can't I get just one kiss?
Tried to run
Tried to hide
Break on through to the other side

Add It Up + Break On Through

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

just like Sussudio.

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

like how many millions of songs copy chuck berry?

Uh....

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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!

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

Music doesn’t otherwise sound similar but still

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

not to mention

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

!

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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".

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)

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

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

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

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

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

Which Chappel Roan song ?

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.

Someone on a Bowie fan group on Facebook has pointed out that "Sue (or in a season of crime)" soudns a lot like Cais by Milton Nascimento, off Clube da Esquina. A Brazilian contributor adds that when Sue... came out the Brazilian media were quick to point out the resemblance.

Tom Petty totally swiped the Jayhawks' riff from "Waiting for the Sun" and used it in "Last Dance for Mary Jane." (The Jayhawks had just opened for him on tour prior, too.)

― Your Favorite Album in the Cutout Bin, Tuesday, January 13, 2015 6:48 PM (nine years ago)

Tom Petty stole this riff from the Jayhawks, we're stealing it back - Cracker "One Fine Day".

"One of Those Things" by Dexys Midnight Runners lifts the riff from Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London."

Liz Phair, "Nashville" and Will Epstein, "Moonlight Mind" -- both of them starting right around 1:35 sound almost exactly the same. I listen to a podcase that uses Moonlight as the outro and EVERY TIME it haunts me. I just spent half an hour tracking down the Liz Phair passage in question.

Tom Petty totally swiped the Jayhawks' riff from "Waiting for the Sun" and used it in "Last Dance for Mary Jane." (The Jayhawks had just opened for him on tour prior, too.)

― Your Favorite Album in the Cutout Bin, Tuesday, January 13, 2015 6:48 PM (nine years ago)

Always suspected he also stole the "rebel without a clue" line from Westerberg. Incidentally, the Replacements also (briefly) opened for Petty on tour

From a Greg Kot interview:

The art is a reflection of the man, whose low-key disposition is punctuated by frequent laughter. Even a few jabs at his songwriting in a review of his recent album don't get him riled.

"Aren't you the guy who wrote I stole a line from the Replacements?" he asks, referring to a review of "Into the Great Wide Open" in which he was accused of swiping the line "A rebel without a clue" from a 1989 Replacements song, "I'll Be You."

"I have to be honest: I never even heard the Replacements record," Petty says with a chuckle. "It's just a real common line that everyone says all the time-I think Meatloaf used it on one of his records, too. It's a cliche, yeah, but it just sounded so good in that place and it summed up the character so well that I had to use it. It's a phrase that's been around, like 'twist and shout.' "

Which Chappel Roan song ?

I thought that Gwen Stefanie "Cool" song and "Good Luck Babe" shared a lot of similarities.

I don't know anything about this artist, but I heard the song today and not only did I know it probably wouldn't change much for its duration, I immediately thought of Moby's "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad" (which is more thought than most have given to Moby for a while):

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

"Cool" itself shares a lot of similarities to Yazoo's 'only you'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4g5MeonGYM

A little, yeah, but it never occurred to me. I was thinking specifically of this little vocal hiccup thing Gwen and Chappell both do, and Moyet (thankfully) does not.

wym 'a little' haha thats very clearly the inspiration

I also like this bc it brings back my argument that chappell is doing 00s versions of the 80s in the 2020s

Someone in the comments of the Beat-Club version of Eric Burdon and War's "Spill the Wine" pointed out that it sounds almost the same as The Appletree Theatre's "Brother Speed", from 1967, which was three years earlier:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ystqmvSGFag

That's an unfortunate Youtube URL. And it does sound almost identical, although the basic pattern feels like something that might have been around forever. It's close enough that "Spill the Wine" feels like an... interpolation? How you say, cucumber? That's what the kids say nowadays. It's an interpolation.