Coldplay has the most popular song in the world right now. Until today, nobody has ever heard of Creaky Boards. But their song, ironically called Songs That I Didn't Write, sounds eerily similar to the most popular song in the world. If their song is indeed over a year old, my sense is that Creaky Boards will become quite rich real soon. Pay up Coldplay. Put Creaky Boards on that ubiquitous I-Tunes advert. Let the lead singer of Creaky Boards marry Gwyneth Paltrow in recompense. Have Creaky Boards take your spot at the next poseur charity concert.

This got me to thinking. Ray Parker Jr.'s Ghostbusters plagiarized Huey Lewis's I Want a New Drug, George Harrison's My Sweet Lord ripped off The Chiffons's He's So Fine, and The Rolling Stones took Anybody Seen My Baby from K.D. Lang's Constant Craving. But these are instances where courts or the artists themselves have agreed upon the, well, let's just call it "homage." In other words, money, perhaps begrudgingly, changed hands.

Rock 'n' roll is filled with stolen riffs. Could Led Zeppelin, for instance, complain about Pearl Jam borrowing the general chord progression of Given to Fly from Going to California when they made a career of musical expropriations from earlier bluesmen? Here are a few examples where I think the "homage" is particularly flattering:

Pearl Jam Given to Fly sounds like Led Zeppelin Going to California
The Strokes Last Night sounds like Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers American Girl
Wilco Pot Kettle Black sounds like The Cure In Between Days
The Faces Three Button Hand-Me-Down really, really sounds like Soul Brothers Six Some Kind of Wonderful
Finger Eleven Paralyzer sounds like Franz Ferdinand Take Me Out

Click on the links. Listen to the songs. Tell me if you hear the similarities. Tell me who else is a copycat.

In the immortal words of Vanilla ice, they're totally different: it's not "dum dum dum da da da dum" it's "dum dum dum dada DA dum."

I wish someone would rip off one of my songs.

Like most bands, Led Zeppelin played a lot of covers in their early days. Their mystique is that they not only covered, but payed homage and incorporated traditional blues riffs into their repertoire. But Led Zeppelin didn't just incorporate riffs and pay homage, they stole.
They did it so much so that they had to go back and re-credit their box set material to reflect the actual composition of many previously credited songs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjPAEPFaxoM

This clip is a pretty good primer.

(yes, Willie Dixon was been credited)

SRV stole all of Albert King's riffs note for note. Big whup.

Sports is a great album, btw.

Even if Coldplay did steal it, they make it sound a lot better.

I got to tell you, I don't get a lot of this. By my ear, a lot of the music theft that is supposedly going on seems to be much to do about nothing. I don't notice the similarities in most cases.

And yes, Sports was a great album.

Base, primitive music is bound to sound the same. After all, serial music and 9 notes doesn't leave room for much creativity. Music stopped after Wagner---I know that makes me fairly liberal.

If their song is indeed over a year old, my sense is that Creaky Boards will become quite rich real soon.

Or not.

Shortly after Creaky Boards posted that video on Youtube the actual facts started playing havoc with their cute "Coldplay stole from us!! OMG!!" marketing gimmick.

It turns out that Chris Martin wasn't at their NYC performance in October 2007, he was in London. Coldplay demoed Viva La Vida in March 2007. And now Creaky Boards frontman Andrew Hoepfner is backing away from his accusations, saying:

"As this thing unfolds, I'm not sure if there was any copying going on...I think it's possible that Coldplay and I are just heavily influenced by 'The Legend of Zelda'."

Oops.

I guess falsely accusing one of the world's most popular bands of plagiarism isn't so smart without, you know, any evidence.

The evidence is the two songs, which are far more similar, for instance, than "My Sweet Lord" and "He's So Fine." The writers of the latter, until George Harrison bought up their publishing, garnered more than half of the former's royalties. Methinks that Coldplay's lawyers, rather than threatening legal action, brought Mr. Creaky Boards some gifts. He did change his tune rather quickly, no?

"The evidence is the two songs..."

Which would work, except for the fact that listening to each song seems to kill the notion that Coldplay copied Creaky boards. Hence, the creepy mashup which compares only about ten seconds of each song. I would suggest going and listening to the entire song on Creaky Boards' MySpace page.

In any case, the other evidence (Martin was in London in October 2007, Coldplay demoed Viva La Vida in March 2007) appears to deep six Hoepfner's accusation of plagiarism.

It's too bad the old bluesmen couldn't afford lawyers...

Blind Melon Chitlins would have had a field day.

I should add, my nomination for "outstanding flattery" would be:

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Dani California

sounds like

Tom Petty - Mary Jane's Last Dance

To the extent that it isn't a blatant U2 rewrite, the Coldplay song is an underwritten cop of this British Sea Power track, "Carrion" (from The Decline of British Sea Power, BSP's 2003 debut).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu5AkyifUow&feature=related

Coldplay is well-known for this sort of thing. A song off their previous album ("Talk"?) "borrowed" a riff from Kraftwerk's "Computer Love," and in fact EMI (which may still hold rights to Kraftwerk's '70's-era albums, but not Computer World) made sure that the "sample" was cleared with Kraftwerk. If Radiohead is the bastard spawn of U2 and Pink Floyd, then Coldplay is the product of an unholy union between U2 and REO Speedwagon.

The Wilco track from YHF takes a bit of the rhythm track from the "In Between Days" riff, but since the Cure effectively stole the entire song from New Order's 1980's output, Robert Smith & Co. have no standing to complain.

As for the Strokes, all their early reviews compared them to the Velvets and Television, proving that the reviewers in question had never actually listened to either band. Triumph the Insult Comic Dog summed up the Strokes best: "...the Monkees with a drinking problem."

Grumble, grumble, grumble...

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