On the 9 hour car ride back from NOLA Eliot and I undoubtedly listened to mass amounts of music (no complaining here). And when "Tthhee Ppaarrttyy" came on by Justice it became blatantly apparent as to how much it sounds like Ke$ha's current hit "Tik Tok." Justice's album, mind you, was released in 2007.
Listen to the two of them and tell me what you think.
This was very interesting to me so I began to think about it, and I was able to come up with a number of other current Number One hits that sound eerily similar to former releases.
The most obvious example (and one that every indie teen and young adult has already cast a tizzy about no doubt) is Owl City. Owl City's sound is SO similar to The Postal Service that the first time I ever saw the "Fireflies" music video I thought that Ben Gibbard must have gotten a face transplant...because that is the only logical explanation. Nobody could sound THAT much like The Postal Service without actually BEING The Postal Service. But alas, MTV found the man that could.
An article on PitchforkMedia puts the comparison best.
And of course, Coldplay is a contender. While Coldplay is highly successful, Chris Martin has become to be known as one who walks the fine line of plagiarism. The singer has been involved in copyright lawsuits before so it comes as no shock that "Viva La Vida" off of their last album has also been put on the chopping block. Listen to the similarities between "Viva La Vida" and "The Songs I Didn't Write" by Creaky Boards (an ironic title). The similarities between these two tracks are SO alike that it is almost certifiable.
There are also countless tunes that have been borrowed from former bands. Mind you, I am not talking about "sampling" other tracks- I am talking about "borrowing" guitar riffs and such from former tracks. Though they are less current, I thought I'd share a couple of the most prominent.
Honorable Mentions:
- Iggy Pop- "Lust for Life" Vs. Jet- "Are You Gonna Be My Girl"
- The Offspring- "Why don't you get a Job" Vs. The Beatles- "Obla di Obla da"
- The Pixies- "U Mass" Vs. Nirvana- "Smells like Teen Spirit"
- Red Hot Chili Peppers- "Dani California" Vs. Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers- "Mary Jane's Last Dance"
If you can think of any others I'd love to hear them.
i am on a mission to find more... how bout tom delonge stole the same somg from a blink 182 album to put on his angels and airwaves album. is their extra points for remaking your own song.... actually every angels and airwaves/blink song qualifies here so nevermind.
ReplyDeletejet is also the king of this. imagine by john lennon is criminally ripped off by jet's "look what you've done". i actually liked that song until i realized the blatant similarity.
Prior to "Viva la Vida" I've always thought that each Coldplay song was simply a slight variation of a prior Coldplay song.
ReplyDelete"Clocks" Vs. "Speed of Sound" for example.