- 7 months ago
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but these artists might disagree! Join us as we count down the most notorious musical copycats in history. From Vanilla Ice's infamous bass line lift to Led Zeppelin's blues borrowings, we're examining the thin line between inspiration and infringement that has led to some of music's most contentious legal battles.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo and today we're counting down our picks for the most
00:09infamous examples of artists blatantly borrowing from their peers in music history.
00:19Number 50, Aha! Take On Me vs Pitbull featuring Christina Aguilera, Feel This Moment.
00:30On the long list of songs that defined the carefree attitudes of the early 2010s,
00:37the Pitbull and Christina Aguilera collaboration Feel This Moment deserves a mention.
00:42However, the initial formula they presented appeared to be missing something.
00:46As it turned out, a simple interpolation of Aha's 1980s synth-pop staple Take On Me
00:51seemed to be the missing ingredient.
00:53It's not quite a sample, nor is it a shameless rip-off per se,
01:02but reaching for a sure thing like Take On Me certainly seemed like going for low-hanging fruit to many.
01:07Number 49, Jethro Tull, We Used To Know vs The Eagles, Hotel California.
01:30Jethro Tull once shared the stage with the Eagles during the early days of both bands' careers.
01:34Though Tull frontman Ian Anderson admits that neither band seemed too interested in each other's music,
01:39they were civil whenever their paths crossed.
01:41However, that did not stop the Eagles from lifting the chord progression
01:45from the folk-rock epic we used to know for their massive hit Hotel California.
01:49Whenever I get to feel this way,
01:53hard to find new words to say.
01:57Anderson wasn't even angry about it, though.
01:59In fact, he was flattered,
02:00while acknowledging the many other differences that made both songs stand apart from each other.
02:04No lawsuit needed here, folks.
02:06Number 48, Keith Jarrett, Long As You Know You're Living Yours vs Steely Dan, Gaucho.
02:21There are many very clear instances of plagiarism that don't end up getting resolved in court for one reason or another.
02:36However, when Donald Fagan and Walter Becker openly stated how much they were influenced by Keith Jarrett's
02:41Long As You Know You're Living Yours, it landed them in hot water.
02:54The song was clearly being mirrored in Steely Dan's Gaucho,
02:57so Jarrett had his name added to the songwriting credits.
03:00This also landed him a nice cut of the royalties,
03:03which is fair compensation for his part in crafting the melodies.
03:13Number 47, Public Enemy, Security of the First World vs Madonna, Justify My Love.
03:25Sampling someone else's song is common practice,
03:28but refusing to acknowledge that you're borrowing is a big no-no.
03:31Justify My Love writer and producer Lenny Kravitz did not give credit to Public Enemy
03:35after lifting the beat from Security of the First World.
03:45He made minimal alterations to it too,
03:47handing it over to Madonna without too much in the way of transformation.
03:50When Public Enemy threatened legal action, Kravitz played dumb,
03:53claiming it was the type of beat you just find on the floor somewhere.
03:56In the end, no songwriting credits were given, but the plagiarism was clear as day.
04:08Number 46, Pat Benatar, Shadows of the Night vs Rascal Flatts, No Reigns.
04:13Influence is a funny thing, as no artist can ever be 100% sure that they haven't taken some riff,
04:27melody, or general idea from something they've previously heard.
04:30That said, it's hard to believe that nobody ever talked with country band Rascal Flatts
04:35about how No Reigns clearly ripped off rocker Pat Benatar's Shadows of the Night.
04:47Seriously, we can't imagine that nobody heard it.
04:49The resemblance goes beyond the occasional similarity,
04:53and the fact that no additional songwriting credits were given after its release
04:56means that the band got off lucky.
04:58Number 45, Killing Joke, 80s vs. Nirvana, Come As You Are.
05:11When Kurt Cobain geared up for the release of Nevermind and its singles,
05:23he unfortunately noticed that he made a serious error.
05:26He had unconsciously ripped off the riff from 80s by the post-punk band Killing Joke.
05:30As soon as he realized his mistake, he urged his record label not to release it.
05:44However, they saw its potential and convinced Cobain to give the go-ahead.
05:48Killing Joke themselves got involved with an immediate threat of legal action.
05:51They later criticized Nirvana for how they handled things.
05:54There's no denying that the riffs are basically the same melodic ideas in two different forms.
06:00Number 44, Steeler's Wheel, Stuck in the Middle with You vs. Sheryl Crow, All I Wanna Do.
06:23A good song can scan the test of time, no matter which era it's released in.
06:27For Sheryl Crow's All I Wanna Do, many critics noticed just how similar it was in tone, melody and structure
06:33to Steeler's Wheel's Stuck in the Middle with You.
06:43One critic famously called it a blatant rewrite.
06:45Crow herself admitted that the song resulted from a jam that quote,
06:48kinda sounded like Steeler's Wheel.
06:50Though she gave songwriting credit and royalties to Win Cooper,
06:53the author of the poem who inspired her song,
06:55Stuck in the Middle with You never got the same treatment.
06:58Till the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard.
07:07Number 43, Leonard Skinner's Sweet Home Alabama vs. Warren Zevon, Werewolves of London.
07:12Once you hear Leonard Skinner's heartland anthem, Sweet Home Alabama,
07:24it's hard to get it out of your head.
07:26Sweet Home Alabama
07:28It sounds as if it was on Warren Zevon's mind when he wrote the quirky jam Werewolves of London
07:41with an eerily similar chord progression.
07:43The closest he came to acknowledging this was the song Play It All Night Long,
07:47which dealt with Skinner's actual feud with Neil Young.
07:50Of course, fans have discussed the possible plagiarism so much
07:53that Kid Rock sampled both songs in his 2008 nostalgia anthem All Summer Long.
08:08Controversy aside, it's hard to not howl along with these classics.
08:12Number 42, Olivia Rodrigo's Good For You vs. Paramore Misery Business.
08:27Though they were separated by an entire generation,
08:30Olivia Rodrigo and Paramore have certainly been scratching similar itches for the general public.
08:35Unfortunately, Rodrigo's track Good For You noticeably drew on Paramore's classic hit Misery Business
08:47a little too much to be a coincidence.
08:49Three months after the song's release,
08:51Rodrigo gave Hayley Williams and Josh Farrow half of future songwriting credits for her oversight.
08:56The general public actually seemed to resent the decision,
08:59claiming that the songs were different enough not to warrant it.
09:02However, the deal stood, and the members of Paramore took home quite a pretty penny for it.
09:11Number 41, The Marvelettes, Please Mr. Postman vs. Portugal The Man, Feel It Still.
09:24Though they eventually managed to crack the upper echelons of the charts,
09:27Portugal The Man needed eight studio albums to achieve their biggest hit.
09:31Feel It Still was an instantly memorable and catchy pop hit that eventually peaked at number 4 on the Billboard chart.
09:36However, it wasn't entirely of their own creation.
09:40The song interpolates the main vocal line of the Motown classic Please Mr. Postman, updating it with a fresh new style.
09:52Thankfully, songwriter Brian Holland received his songwriting credit without any need for a legal battle.
09:57No. 40, Right Said Fred, I'm Too Sexy vs. Jimi Hendrix Experience, Third Stone From The Sun.
10:10Who knows how the legendary Jimi Hendrix would have felt about his iconic instrumental break from Third Stone From The Sun being used in a cheesy pop song like I'm Too Sexy.
10:25Despite this being a very obvious tribute,
10:34Right Said Fred member Fred Fairbrass didn't initially know that his guitarist was playing a well-known riff during recording.
10:40In the end, the licks served the song surprisingly well,
10:43and Hendrix's estate didn't put up any form of legal offense.
10:47They instead asked for a songwriting credit and a donation to a charity of their choice.
10:51Number 39, Pearl Jam Given To Fly vs. Led Zeppelin Going To California.
11:03There might not be another band in history as infamously embroiled in plagiarism disputes as Led Zeppelin.
11:18While they remain revered for the sheer strength of their repertoire,
11:21To say that Jimmy Page was fond of borrowing a tune or two would be an understatement.
11:33So, when Pearl Jam pretty clearly took influence from their track Going To California for their own Given To Fly,
11:39what could Zeppelin really say?
11:41Well, singer Robert Plant seemed to find the whole thing funny and even appeared on stage with Pearl Jam to perform a mashup.
11:47Let the rock band that is without sin cast the first stone.
11:50Number 38, T-Rex Get It On vs. Oasis Cigarettes and Alcohol.
12:14The great thing about a band like Oasis is that they will very bluntly tell you about their love of plagiarizing.
12:19Guitarist Noel Gallagher clearly doesn't mind borrowing a riff or two to produce his own perfect rock classic.
12:25But as much as we can mention about ten Oasis compositions here,
12:28there's something especially cheeky about Gallagher stealing T-Rex's get it on bang a gong.
12:33The classic track was very clearly the driving force behind cigarettes and alcohol and led the critics to dub the track Oasis Going T-Rex.
12:49Number 37, Audioslave Cochise vs. Audioslave Your Time Has Come
12:59It takes some serious nerve to rip off one of your own tracks.
13:10It's not like you can sue yourself, right?
13:12Well, for Audioslave, the opening riff of their track Your Time Has Come was noted as sounding oddly familiar to fans upon release.
13:19Turns out the band had been doing a little bit too much listening to their own records, taking heavy influence from their earlier hit Cochise.
13:26It's kind of bizarre that no member of the band seemed to find it similar to a song that they were no doubt performing regularly on tour.
13:39Number 36, The Black Keys, Little Black Submarines vs. Jethro Tull, Aqualung.
13:58Yet another band that's not above lifting a riff or song idea from time to time are The Black Keys.
14:03Little Black Submarines was deservedly pointed to as a highlight of the band's album El Camino, but it was quickly accused of ripping off two bonafide classics of prog rock.
14:12First of all, there's something very reminiscent of Stairway to Heaven about its outro section.
14:17More generally, the vocal melody is noticeably taking far too much influence from Jethro Tull's Aqualung.
14:23Still, if you're gonna rip anything off, why not go for the very best, right?
14:34Number 35, Iggy Pop, Lust for Life vs. Jett, Are You Gonna Be My Girl vs. The Supremes, You Can't Hurry Love.
14:47We have a three-pronged entry next.
14:56Many people were quick to point out just how similar the drum and bass intro to Jett's infectious classic Are You Gonna Be My Girl sounds to Iggy Pop's Lust for Life.
15:04However, the rabbit hole doesn't end there.
15:13It then became clear that both songs were more indebted to the classic track You Can't Hurry Love by The Supremes, also famously covered by Phil Collins.
15:20All three songs were huge hits and are widely beloved by music fans, so how about we just agree to love all three equally?
15:34Number 34, Foo Fighters, Times Like These vs. The Offspring, These Days Go By.
15:39A song like Days Go By from The Offspring certainly blurs the lines between full-on ripoff and conscious tribute.
15:53Were they trying to write a song that calls back to times like these by the Foo Fighters?
15:57Well, no matter what the answer is, they definitely succeeded.
16:00To the band's fans, the single was a strong entry in their repertoire.
16:10To everyone else, it was a very clear attempt to channel the energy of Dave Grohl and his band.
16:15That said, neither party has ever publicly made any comment on the similarities between the tracks.
16:20Those days go by, and we oughta start again.
16:27Number 33, Jorge Ben, Taj Mahal vs. Rod Stewart, Do You Think I'm Sexy?
16:32If you want my body and you think I'm sexy, come on sugar, let me know.
16:40Sometimes when you get caught subconsciously plagiarizing someone else's work,
16:44the graceful response is to just put your hands up and admit it.
16:47That is exactly what happened when Rod Stewart's hit Do You Think I'm Sexy?
16:51was discovered to be way too similar to Jorge Ben-Jour's Taj Mahal.
16:54The hook of both tunes is virtually identical.
17:03Stewart admitted he had heard the song during a 1978 trip to Brazil and did not contest the claim.
17:09The proceeds of Ben-Jour's victory in court were donated to UNICEF,
17:13so there's no denying it all worked out in the end.
17:16Just reach out and touch me, come on sugar, let me know.
17:23Number 32, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Danny California vs. Tom Petty, Mary Jane's Last Dance.
17:29Getting born in the state of Mississippi, Papa was a copper and Mama was a hippie.
17:34The key similarities to the intros to the Red Hot Chili Peppers classic Danny California and Tom Petty's Mary Jane's Last Dance,
17:40well, apart from the fact that they were both produced by Rick Rubin,
17:43the tonal and instrumental similarities go beyond any doubt.
17:46Sure, both songs follow a pretty standard three-chord groove,
17:49but it was widely accepted that the Chili Peppers messed up.
17:52However, according to Petty, he had absolutely no desire to pursue anything in court.
17:57In his own words, quote,
18:04a lot of rock and roll songs sound alike.
18:06Also, to say that the tracks differ by the time the choruses come around would be putting it lightly.
18:11She's my priestess, I'm your priestess, yeah, yeah.
18:19Number 31, Brian Pringle, Take a Dive vs. Black Eyed Peas' I Got a Feeling.
18:24I got a feeling that tonight's gonna be a good night.
18:32You've likely never heard of musician Brian Pringle,
18:34but the poppy synth hook in his instrumental song Take a Dive will surely sound familiar.
18:39The beat is almost identical to the chart-topping I Got a Feeling,
18:50and Pringle took the Black Eyed Peas to court over it.
18:53Just by listening to the two songs, you'd think this would be an open-and-shut case,
18:57but the reality was far more complex.
18:59While Pringle asserted that his song was produced in 1999,
19:03he also claimed that the hard drive containing the original had been stolen.
19:07His suit was thrown out, as Pringle neglected to provide proper evidence of his intellectual property.
19:12That tonight's gonna be a good night.
19:16That tonight's gonna be a good, good night.
19:20Number 30, Flame featuring Lecrae and John Reilly, Joyful Noise,
19:25vs. Katy Perry featuring Juicy J, Dark Horse.
19:28Pop artist Katy Perry drew inspiration from the occult for her hit Dark Horse.
19:40Her inspiration was too much for Christian rapper Flame,
19:43who not only took issue with supposed pagan themes in the song,
19:46but also claimed it ripped off his song Joyful Noise.
19:49He filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement, resulting in a judgment in his favor,
19:58and he was awarded $2.78 million.
20:01However, after an appeal, that decision was overturned in 2020.
20:05The case went to the Ninth Circuit,
20:07and the decision to overturn the case was upheld as it was determined that the elements Flame claimed copyright over were too common to warrant such a protection.
20:15What's your mind? What's your mind?
20:19It's not going bad.
20:21Number 29, Article Sound System, Live Your Life vs. Dua Lipa, Levitating.
20:27We're sure Dua Lipa was levitating after the success of her fifth single off her album, Future Nostalgia.
20:32Got you, moonlight, you're my starlight, I need you all night.
20:39However, in March of 2022,
20:41the band Article Sound System filed a copyright infringement,
20:44accusing the singer of using the hook from their 2017 song, Live Your Life.
20:48All day, all night, party, sunrise now.
20:53While the band claimed that the producers of Levitating had prior knowledge of their song,
20:57they eventually dropped their suit after a judge ruled that they had no evidence to back up their claim.
21:01Lipa was hit with another lawsuit in the same month from songwriters L. Russell Brown and Sandy Linzer,
21:07who claimed the melody for Levitating is taken from Wiggle and Giggle All Night by the band Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band.
21:14I was walking down the street when I saw the handsome soldier boy winking winking winking at me.
21:18He said...
21:19Lipa won that case too.
21:20Number 28, Bruno Mars, When I Was Your Man vs. Miley Cyrus Flowers.
21:25Flowers was a huge hit for Miley Cyrus in 2023.
21:28I can buy myself flowers, write my name in the sand.
21:35It was the best-selling single worldwide for that year.
21:38In September of 2024, however, a lawsuit was filed by Tempo Music Investments
21:43claiming that the song took unauthorized elements from Bruno Mars' When I Was Your Man.
21:47When Flowers was first released, many noted similarities around the songs, especially those present in the chorus.
22:00It remains to be seen what the result of this case will be,
22:03but Tempo Music is seeking to stop Cyrus from reproducing, distributing, and publicly performing the song.
22:09Number 27, Sammy Switch, O-Y vs. Ed Sheeran, Shape of You.
22:14Shape of You had already been recognized for its interpolation of the TLC classic No Scrubs.
22:26But discussions for usage had been ongoing before the song's release.
22:29Conversely, Ed Sheeran went to court to combat a claim made by Sammy Chakri and Ross O'Donohue
22:34that he had lifted parts of their song O-Y.
22:36In April of 2022, the case was ruled in Sheeran's favor,
22:48with the judge finding that while there were similarities between the tracks,
22:51the use of the phrase O-I was too general for there to be infringement.
22:55Number 26, The Turtles, You Showed Me vs. De La Soul, Transmitting Live From Mars.
23:08On their debut album, Three Feet High and Rising, hip-hop group De La Soul included the interlude track,
23:14Transmitting Live From Mars.
23:16It includes a 12-second sample of the song You Showed Me by The Turtles.
23:28At the time, sampling was a relatively new technique and De La Soul didn't seek permission.
23:41Mark Vollman and Howard Kalin of The Turtles took exception to the unauthorized use and filed litigation against De La Soul.
23:47The matter was settled out of court, with an apparent $1.7 million going to Vollman and Kalin as a result.
23:54Number 25, David Bowie, Boys Keep Swinging vs. Blur, Middle of the Road.
23:59It's no secret that David Bowie is a big influence on Blur, and in this case, perhaps too much of an influence.
24:06On their fifth album, the band recorded the song Middle of the Road,
24:09which uses the same chord progression as Bowie's Boys Keep Swinging.
24:19Appearing on Bowie's 1979 album Lodge, he took an experimental approach to recording,
24:24where the same chord progression would be reused among different songs.
24:27Blur decided to extend that process to middle of the road,
24:30and after legal intervention,
24:32Bowie and co-writer Brian Eno were added on as songwriters.
24:36Number 24, Roy Orbison, Oh Pretty Woman vs. 2 Live Crew, Pretty Woman.
24:48As nasty as they want to be, the third album from 2 Live Crew was very controversial upon release.
24:53It was ruled to be legally obscene,
24:55although that would be later overturned.
24:58The group had also released a clean version of their album,
25:01appropriately titled, As Clean As They Want To Be.
25:11One track found on this album not present on the explicit version is a parody of Roy Orbison's Oh Pretty Woman.
25:17The song's publisher, Acuff Rose Music, filed a lawsuit claiming that the group's song wasn't protected by fair use.
25:24The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, where it found 2 Live Crew's Pretty Woman did fall under fair use.
25:36Number 23, Gilbert O'Sullivan, Alone Again Naturally vs. Biz Marquis, Alone Again.
25:42In the golden age of hip hop, sampling was a commonly used technique for song composition.
25:47As it was a relatively new method, it was a bit of a grey area legally, as it was common to not pay or credit the artist of a sampled work.
26:02That all changed when rapper Biz Marquis released his third album, I Need A Haircut.
26:06It contained the song Alone Again, which sampled Gilbert O'Sullivan's Alone Again Naturally.
26:11O'Sullivan took Marquis to court over the matter.
26:17This court case changed how sampling worked, as its use without permission was copyright infringement, thereby needing approval from the copyright holder.
26:29Number 22, Spirit, Taurus vs. Led Zeppelin, Stairway to Heaven.
26:34Stairway is one of the defining songs of rock music.
26:38Some have noticed its distinctive slow-paced opening consisting of arpeggios on acoustic guitar sounds similar to the opening of the 1968 song Taurus by rock band Spirit.
26:55In 2014, the band's bassist filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Led Zeppelin as a way to get Spirit guitarist Randy California a writing credit on Stairway and be entitled to future earnings from the song.
27:14After a lot of back and forth in the courts, it wasn't until March of 2020 that the 9th Circuit Appeals Court found in favor of Led Zeppelin,
27:23meaning they didn't infringe on Taurus' copyright.
27:26She's buying a stairway to Heaven.
27:38Number 21, 3LW, Play Is Gon' Play vs. Taylor Swift, Shake It Off.
27:43The reality of having a massively successful song is that legal action may be incurred against you.
27:48That's what happened to Taylor Swift following the release of Shake It Off.
27:52In 2017, a lawsuit was filed against Swift by Sean Hall and Nate Butler, alleging that she took from their 2001 song Play Is Gon' Play written for the group 3LW.
28:08They claimed that Swift's use of Players Gonna Play and Haters Gonna Hate was too similar to lyrics they had written.
28:18It wasn't until 2022 that the lawsuit was dropped after an agreement was reached by both parties, although no details were given.
28:25Number 20, The Kinks, All Day and All of the Night vs. The Doors, Hello I Love You.
28:32Although The Doors guitarist Robbie Krieger denied that his band copied the chord-driven main riff of the 1964 Kinks track,
28:43The Kinks music publishers found that these two singles were just a bit too similar.
28:51Turns out UK courts agreed, so a deal was eventually struck entitling The Kinks to a large share of Hello I Love You's British royalties.
28:59The Doors song credits remain unchanged, but in 2014, Kinks lead singer and main songwriter Ray Davies suggested to Rolling Stone that an out-of-court settlement had been reached.
29:16Number 19, Tom Petty, I Won't Back Down vs. Sam Smith, Stay With Me
29:25Traditionally, when songs popped up that sounded a bit Tom Petty, the late Heartbreakers frontman let it slide, but this time things played out differently.
29:33Although the band leader expressed no hard feelings and deemed the similarities between the chorus to his I Won't Back Down and Smith's Stay With Me to be, quote, a musical accident, his publishing company entered the fray all the same.
29:52Won't you stay with me, cause you're all I need
30:02Perhaps it was because, unlike American Girl and Mary Jane's Last Dance, the TP track in question had a co-writer, fellow traveling Wilbury and ELO songwriter Jeff Lynne.
30:12In the end, Petty and Lynne ended up getting their due credit, along with 12.5% of the Stay With Me royalties.
30:19Number 18, Joe Satriani, If I Could Fly vs. Coldplay, Viva La Vida
30:24Take notes on this one, you're gonna need them.
30:34First up, Brooklyn-based indie alternative band Creaky Board suggested that Coldplay had ripped off their ironically titled The Songs I Didn't Write.
30:41However, the British rockers had recorded a demo of Viva prior to that song's first performance.
30:47Then, Joe Satriani stepped up, lawsuit in hand, claiming that Chris Martin and crew borrowed from his If I Could Fly.
31:00Things got even more complicated when Yusuf Islam, formerly Cat Stevens joined in on the fun, pointing out that all of these songs sounded like his foreigner suite.
31:17Satriani's case was later dismissed in 2009.
31:26Number 17, The New Seekers, I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing In Perfect Harmony vs. Oasis Shaker Maker.
31:33Oasis has never tried to hide their reverence for the past when it comes to their own musical style, but this is another case where Noel Gallagher may have borrowed a bit too much.
31:42The song, I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing In Perfect Harmony, began its life as a Coca-Cola jingle, before being fleshed out and recorded by the New Seekers.
31:53I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing In Perfect Harmony
31:59And ultimately having its melody and some lyrics woven into the fabric of Oasis' Shaker Maker.
32:10Most sources claim that Gallagher was forced to change the offending, I'd Like To Teach The World line, alter a few notes, and cough up $500,000.
32:18Upon losing the aforementioned lawsuit, Gallagher quipped, quote,
32:25By cranking the tempo and volume of the blues, Led Zepp helped pioneer hard rock and heavy metal.
32:39But sometimes they stuck just a bit too close to their roots.
32:42While it took them a long time to get caught, the rock icons were finally sued in 1985 for whole lot of loves, whole lot of similarities to the Willie Dixon penned Muddy Waters classic, You Need Love.
32:58Baby, way down inside, woman, you need love.
33:04Though things were eventually settled out of court, it obviously wasn't the only time the British rockers were accused of borrowing material.
33:11Number 15. The Reubenews' I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend vs. Avril Lavigne, Girlfriend
33:18When the Reubenews stepped up claiming Avril Lavigne had plagiarized them, Avril said,
33:22Reuben who? But aside from claiming she'd never heard of the band or their song, she and her team chose a risky defense.
33:35They said Girlfriend was actually closer to the Rolling Stones' Get Off Of My Cloud, or Mickey.
33:41But wait a minute, what about the Ramone song I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend?
33:44Had the Reubenews themselves plagiarized?
33:47Ultimately, a musicologist decided the Reubenews' track and Avril's song were completely different based on science,
33:54and the case was settled out of court when Avril's manager decided it was cheaper than paying lawyers.
33:58Number 14. The Kinks' Picture Book vs. The Other Garden Never Got The Chance vs. Green Day Warning
34:06And now, how not to file a lawsuit?
34:08In 2001, Colin Mary, songwriter for an obscure English band called The Other Garden
34:23sued Green Day, claiming that Warning was a copy of his song Never Got The Chance.
34:28The band's lawyer threatened to sue the punk rockers for as much as $100,000,
34:37despite the fact that Mary admitted both his and Green Day's songs had the same distinct riff as Picture Book by The Kinks.
34:49Needless to say, the lawsuit was eventually dropped.
34:53Number 13. Larrikin Music's Kookaburra vs. Men At Work Down Under
34:57Down Under, a backhanded anthem of all things Aussie and a monster hit in the early 1980s,
35:03became a source of legal trouble in the 2000s.
35:10Originally, the band's flautist, Greg Hamm, borrowed a two-bar motif from Kookaburra, an Australian children's song.
35:18Years went by without incident, until the connection between the two tunes was mentioned on the game show Spics & Specs in 2007.
35:24That's when the right holders to Kookaburra, Larrikin Music, came knocking.
35:31Demanding 60% of Down Under's royalties dating back to 1981.
35:35In July 2010, they instead were granted 5%, backdated to 2002.
35:41Sadly, Hamm passed away in 2012 at the age of 58.
35:44And bandmate Colin Hay cites stress from the court case as a contributing factor.
35:51You know, the fact of the matter is that it went unrecognized for 27 years because it was unconscious, it was innocuous, it was naive.
35:58Number 12. Huey Lewis in the news, I Want a New Drug vs. Ray Parker Jr. Ghostbusters.
36:03Who you gonna call? A lawyer if you're Huey Lewis.
36:06I want a new drug, love won't spill.
36:11Lewis was actually asked to write a theme for Ghostbusters, but passed on it to write music for Back to the Future.
36:16So, when Ray Parker Jr.'s theme for the supernatural comedy came out sounding suspiciously like Huey's I Want a New Drug, Lewis cited plagiarism.
36:31It was settled out of court almost a decade later, and when the news frontman spilled the beans on the confidential settlement on TV,
36:47Ray Parker Jr. turned the tables and sued Lewis Wright back in 2001.
36:56Number 11. Sleigh Bell's Infinity Guitars vs. Demi Lovato Stars.
37:01Typically, only lyrics and melody are considered copyrightable.
37:08For New York band Sleigh Bell's, Demi Lovato's stars sounded quote,
37:12virtually identical to their Infinity guitars, with a little bit of riot rhythm mixed in.
37:18But it was chiefly the hand claps and bass drum counter rhythm that were cited.
37:22It was on this basis that the duo laid a case against Lovato, UMG Recordings, and producers and co-writers Carl Falk and Rami Yacoub.
37:36The problem was, Falk and Yacoub claimed no samples were used in the song, and that Demi only wrote one line.
37:42The matter was settled in April 2017, and Lovato's team maintained there was no deliberate infringement.
37:49In a very odd move, John Fogarty was sued for sounding like himself.
38:05Fogarty was once the lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter of Creedence Clearwater Revival.
38:17But after the band broke up, he relinquished his rights to CCR songs to get out of contractual commitments.
38:23So, when Fogarty released the solo track, The Old Man Down the Road, Fantasy Records, owner of CCR's song catalogue and his label during his Creedence days, claimed it ripped off Run Through the Jungle.
38:40The swamp rocker beat the case by bringing a guitar to the stand and demonstrating that the two songs were, in fact, quite different.
38:47And that you can't actually plagiarize yourself.
38:50Well played, Fogarty.
38:51My songs tend to sound like my songs, right?
38:54Right.
38:55Number 9. Gordon Jenkins' Crescent City Blues vs. Johnny Cash' Folsom Prison Blues.
39:00In the annals of song plagiarism, there have been cases of subconscious plagiarism, outright plagiarism,
39:06uncleared samples, and downright sneakiness.
39:09This is a case of self-amusement gone awry.
39:12While stationed in West Germany in 1953, Johnny Cash wrote new lyrics to the melody of Crescent City Blues,
39:19inspired by the film Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison.
39:27Flash forward a few years, and Cash is now a recording artist short on material.
39:31So, he offered up his Folsom Prison Blues to producer Sam Phillips, who told Cash not to worry about the legalities.
39:3715 years later, the men in black would pay out $75,000 in retribution.
39:48Number 8. The Rolling Stones' The Last Time vs. The Verve, Bittersweet Symphony.
39:54This 90s Britpop anthem was at the center of a lengthy and contentious plagiarism case.
39:59But I'm sorry girl, but I can't stay.
40:03The Verve did obtain the rights to sample part of the Andrew Oldham orchestral version of the classic Stones song.
40:08The issue was how much the band used.
40:10And according to former Stones manager and rights holder of the song Alan Klein, it was way too much.
40:16So, 100% of the royalties went to Klein, and songwriting credit went to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
40:31That's when Oldham himself demanded recompense for the specific version of the song they had used.
40:42Though it took many years, the story does have a relatively happy ending, with the Stones backing off by 2019,
40:49and granting all future royalties to Verve lead singer, Richard Ashcroft.
40:54Just it's a big and sweet, still for me that's life.
41:02Number 7. Chuck Berry, You Can't Catch Me vs. The Beatles Come Together.
41:07Here come a flat top, he was moving up with me.
41:10The story starts simply enough.
41:12John Lennon used an old Chuck Berry song as a starting point for a new song.
41:16But this similarity triggered legal issues with Berry's publisher, the controversial Morris Levy.
41:22As repayment, Lennon agreed to record three songs owned by Levy, and attempted to do so during his rock and roll album sessions.
41:35Until producer Phil Spector stole the tapes and went into hiding.
41:39When the tapes were recovered, Lennon tried reassuring Levy that he was upholding his end of the deal by sharing a rough mix of his progress.
41:46Which Levy released himself and chased with a $42 million breach of contract lawsuit.
41:52Lennon, EMI, and Capitol Records countersued.
41:55With Levy being awarded a nominal $6,795, while having to pay out somewhere in the ballpark of $150,000.
42:04Number 6. The Chiffons, He's So Fine vs. George Harrison, My Sweet Lord.
42:09Soon after releasing his solo hit, the first number one single by a former Beatle.
42:14George Harrison found himself at the center of a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Bright Tunes.
42:19Harrison was accused of plagiarizing the Ronnie MacPenn song, He's So Fine.
42:29The courts ruled that he had subconsciously copied the chiffon smash, and would owe nearly $1.6 million in damages.
42:36But the story doesn't end there.
42:45After Harrison fired his manager, the previously mentioned Alan Klein, during the trial, Klein seized the opportunity to buy the copyright to He's So Fine.
42:55The courts ultimately decided that Harrison would only have to pay Klein's ABCO Industries $587,000.
43:03And he ended up with the song's rights.
43:05Number 5. The Hollies, The Air That I Breathe vs. Radiohead, Creep.
43:10This case is so open and shut, it's almost dull.
43:13But I'm a creep. I'm a reader.
43:21While writing Creep, Ed O'Brien pointed out to Tom York that the song's bridge had the same chords as The Air That I Breathe.
43:28So York decided to grab the song's melody too.
43:30That song's authors, Albert Hammond and Mike Hazelwood, then sued.
43:42But were impressed by the band's honesty, and settled for credits and a cut of the Creep royalties.
43:47It's a sharp contrast to 2018, when Lana Del Rey would allege that Radiohead's team noticed passing similarities to Creep in her song, Get Free.
43:56And demanded 100% of her royalties.
43:59Number 4. Marvin Gaye, Gotta Give It Up vs. Robin Thicke Featuring T.I. and Pharrell Williams' Blurred Lines.
44:14Let's welcome one of the great talents in the history of popular music. Let's get your hands together, gang, for Mr. Marvin Gaye.
44:23In one of many controversies that plagued this summer hit, Robin Thicke actually sued Marvin Gaye's family for alleging the singer had plagiarized the late soul artist.
44:31While Thicke admitted he was inspired by Gotta Give It Up, he and co-writer Pharrell Williams contended that despite their similar vibe, they were essentially not the same.
44:46Citing different chords, keys and more.
44:50Bridgeport Music also became involved due to claims that Blurred Lines sampled Funkadelic's sexy ways.
45:05Despite lots of support from music industry heavyweights who did not believe you could copyright a feeling, in 2018, a judge ordered Thicke and Williams to pay nearly $5 million to Marvin Gaye's estate.
45:17No more pretending, cause now you're winning.
45:20Number 3. Chuck Berry's Sweet Little 16 vs. The Beach Boys' Surfin' USA
45:30Here's an instance where the artist openly and knowingly used the tune to an existing song for his new composition.
45:35Brian Wilson wanted to write a song about surfing, and felt Chuck Berry's Sweet Little 16 was the perfect setting for his surf themed lyrics.
45:45surf themed lyrics however he neglected to credit barry upon its recording and release
45:56although surfing usa was meant to be viewed as a tribute barry's publishing company was
46:01unimpressed and forced wilson's manager to surrender copyright to the rock and roll
46:05pioneer's publisher arc music number two multiple artists versus mark ronson uptown funk
46:20we guess it takes a village to write a hit song too before the monster hit that is uptown funk was
46:25even released ronson and company offered some credit to trinidad james after it was released
46:32the gap band came knocking claiming similarities to their oops upside your head followed by the
46:37sequence collage and finally zap in september of 2017.
46:46additionally serbian artist victoria has alleged that the song lifts elements from one of her songs
46:51by 2018 17 of the track's royalties were transferred to the gap band while the credits have ballooned
46:58from ronson bruno mars jeff basker and philip lawrence to include six additional songwriters
47:03from their respective groups before we continue be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the
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47:23number one queen and david bowie under pressure versus vanilla ice ice ice baby it takes about
47:31seven notes to recognize ice ice baby for what it is while the signature bass line amounts to a sample
47:41vanilla ice never sought permission to use it and instead said his tinkering with the riff and adding
47:47one note made it original but in the face of legal action the rapper caved and granted david bowie as
47:58well as all four members of queen do credit and royalties
48:09in 2013 ice claimed to have bought under pressure outright however the song's publishing info shows that
48:15it's co-owned by companies representing queen bowie and emi music making ice's claim a bit dubious
48:27what obvious case of musical plagiarism springs to mind for you first let us know in the comments below
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