songs that sound like other songs

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"So I figure we can scrape up an intro riff to this 'Ruby Soho' song by just tweaking an old Clash song."
"But that's what we always do!"
"Well people won't notice if it's one that nobody really knows. Like 'One Emotion' maybe."
"You're brilliant! Boy, I'm glad I left Operation Ivy for this!"

― Nate Patrin, Monday, 9 September 2002 22:46 (twenty-three years ago)

And hey, did anyone notice the resemblances between "Ice Ice Baby" and "Under Pressure"?

You're shitting me. :-)

― Jody Beth Rosen, Monday, 9 September 2002 22:48 (twenty-three years ago)

The riffs of Black Sabbath's "Hole in the Sky" and Blondie's "Call Me" and Blue Oyster Cult's "The Revenge of Vera Gemini."

― Jody Beth Rosen, Monday, 9 September 2002 22:54 (twenty-three years ago)

The flamenco-guitar on Black Sabbath's "Don't Start (Too Late)" and Guns 'n' Roses' "Double Talkin' Jive."

(Sorry. Listening to Sabotage at the moment.)

― Jody Beth Rosen, Monday, 9 September 2002 22:57 (twenty-three years ago)

Nirvana's "All Apologies" => Pixies "Levitate me"

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Monday, 9 September 2002 23:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Shakira - Underneath Your Clothes
The Bangles - Eternal Flame
timing is slightly different but the verse is alomst exactly the same melody. I've tried to mix them together.

dsico

― dsico (dsico), Monday, 9 September 2002 23:30 (twenty-three years ago)

Speaking of Sabbath, "Dramamine" by Sebadoh (a Jake L song) cops a riff midway through from, damn, I think a breakdown in "Supernaut"?

(Not listening to Sab right now.)

― wl, Monday, 9 September 2002 23:31 (twenty-three years ago)

moonblood "midnight" = burzum "det som engang var"

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).

― brian (yournullfame), Monday, 9 September 2002 23:43 (twenty-three years ago)

And hey, did anyone notice the resemblances between "Ice Ice Baby" and "Under Pressure"?

No, ice ice baby is "din din din di-di din doonn" and under pressure is "din din din di-di din din". fucks sake.

― naked as sin, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 00:28 (twenty-three years ago)

George Washington and the Cherry Pickers' "Crisco Party" is basically "Wipeout" + vocals - drum solo.

― James Blount, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 03:59 (twenty-three years ago)

Manics' "Roses In The Hospital" and Bowie's "Sound And Vision", although that sounds more like a semi-conscious "tribute" than either a cynical deliberate steal (cf. Oasis's early Beatles/T Rex theft) or an accidental appropriation (cf. Coldplay/Ride, probably and against my better judgement)...

― Charlie, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 04:03 (twenty-three years ago)

I was just listening to "Wuthering Heights" by Kate Bush. It took me quite a while to figure out of what it was reminding me strongly, and it turned out to be "Paint a Vulgar Picture" by The Smiths. The way they both can't seem to settle into anything...

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".

― Captain Sleep (Captain Sleep), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 06:16 (twenty-three years ago)

When The Czar's "Song to the Siren" starts out, I always think it's Mogwai's "Yes! I am far away from home."

― Leee, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 06:34 (twenty-three years ago)

"Bring Me Edelweiss" was a "S.O.S." knock-off. Gert Wilden's "Dirty Beat" nicks Zep's "Heartbreaker".

― James Blount, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 06:38 (twenty-three years ago)

too many Stereolab songs to mention.

― James Blount, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 06:40 (twenty-three years ago)

naughty by nature feat. 3lw - feels good to you = fat joe feat. ja rule & ashanti - what's luv?

― minna (minna), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 07:11 (twenty-three years ago)

Doesn't Ice Ice Baby actually sample Under Pressure?

― tigerclawskank, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 08:23 (twenty-three years ago)

Cracker's "Low" = Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man"
Radiohead's "Creep" = the Hollies' "The Air that I Breathe"
Go-Betweens' "Karen" = Patti Smith's "Dancing Barefoot"
Pere Ubu's "Final Solution" + "Heart of Darkness" = Blue Cheer's version of "Summertime Blues"
Bowie's "Jean Genie" = Yardbirds' version of "I'm a Man"
Prince's "2 Nigs United from West Compton" = Glenn Miller's "Pennsylvania 6-5000"

― dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 10:50 (twenty-three years ago)

BTW, done already.

― dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 10:52 (twenty-three years ago)

the strokes' "last nite" crops up the jam's "town called malice".
and what's the other song in their album that has the same structure and bassline than iggy pop's "the passenger"?

― joan vich (joan vich), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 11:06 (twenty-three years ago)

X-Press 2 ft David Byrne "Lazy" is a total rip off of Frankie Knuckles & David Morales ft. Alison Limerick "Where Love Lives".

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.

― Stephen Burrows (steveeeeeeeee), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 11:50 (twenty-three years ago)

"The bridge late in the Chili Peppers "Give it Away" sounds an awful lot like Sabbath's "Sweet Leaf""

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).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 11:57 (twenty-three years ago)

The Cult swiped (via a sample) the ominous "buzz buzz buzz buzz" intro from Killing Joke's "Requiem" for the bridge in "The Witch" (originally on the soundtrack to the roundly derided cartoon, "Cool World"). Being the lovable bastards they are, despite being old touring mates, Killing Joke sued The Cult for it, and the sample was stricken from all other versions that have since been released (HIGH OCTANE CULT, etc.)

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 12:01 (twenty-three years ago)

I was home sick yesterday, watched a Conan O'Brian rerun on Comedy Central and ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead was on, playing "Relative Ways," and I'll be damned if the main guitar riff (during the verses) doesn't rip the vocal melody from "On Broadway."

― Nick A., Tuesday, 10 September 2002 12:12 (twenty-three years ago)

the Action Time - comedown blues steals the "ooh ooh"s from Manics - Motown Junk

― Jens (brighter), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 16:49 (twenty-three years ago)

The White Stripes "Hotel Yorba" is a Country Joe and the Fish song, note for note, and even word for word at times. I don't know the name of the Country Joe song, but it goes "1,2,3, what are we fighting for, don't ask me I don't give a damn, next stop is Vietnam, and it's 5,6,7, open up the pearly gates" and could someone PLEASE tell me the name of this song? It fits so perfectly it's frightening.

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.

― kate, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 18:47 (twenty-three years ago)

Country Joe: "Feel like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag" I'll die if I have to hear it again. It's kind of a traditional folk song, so I wouldn't credit Country Joe McDonald.

― dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 18:50 (twenty-three years ago)

"Vicious" by Lou Reed steals from "Maggie May" by Rod Stewart. I can't even listen to the Lou Reed song without "MM"'s lyrics taking Reed's place.

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

I'm blanking right now....

― Vic Funk, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 20:13 (twenty-three years ago)

I just heard Sheryl Crow's "Steve McQueen" on the radio, which steals the "hoo-hoos" straight from Steve Miller Band's "Take the Money and Run".

― Vinnie (vprabhu), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 20:38 (twenty-three years ago)

i'm always going on about this but i can't think of many at the moment...
the high pitched voice bit of hash pipe by weezer is very like that "somewhere in my heart there is a star that shines for you" song though...

― robin (robin), Wednesday, 11 September 2002 00:17 (twenty-three years ago)

Rod Stewart - "Do you think I'm Sexy" steals Gilberto Gil/Jorge Ben's "Taj Mahal"

that Spirit song (?) -> "Stairway to Heaven" -> that Metallica song (?)

That Offspring song rips of Simon & Garfunk's Cecilia.

― A Nairn (moretap), Wednesday, 11 September 2002 00:58 (twenty-three years ago)

The Buzzcocks' "Something's Gone Wrong Again" reminds me of a decade-later postpunk (in)version of the Stooges' "I Wanna Be Your Dog", what with the "dinkdinkdinkdinkdinkdink" piano and the sludgy partway drawn-out guitar notes and the general Neanderthal rhythm. The vocals are a completely different story, though, which just makes the cop more interesting.

― Nate Patrin, Wednesday, 11 September 2002 05:25 (twenty-three years ago)

more white stripes... i say 'little room' borrows from jim croce's 'you don't mess around with jim'.

― brian badword (badwords), Wednesday, 11 September 2002 05:33 (twenty-three years ago)

the israelites by ? = the theme from shaft

― minna (minna), Wednesday, 11 September 2002 06:00 (twenty-three years ago)

It's interesting how subjective all this is. I would never hear Israelites (Desmond Dekker, btw) in Theme from Shaft, or Maggie May in Vicious...

Anyway, Call Me / Blondie = What She Said / Smiths

― bham, Wednesday, 11 September 2002 08:23 (twenty-three years ago)

one month passes...

shakiras underneath your clothes reminds me of michael jacksons man in the mirror

― gareth (gareth), Tuesday, 22 October 2002 16:06 (twenty-three years ago)

It appears that about a million years ago, I once started one of these threads too - Too close for comfort?

― Kim (Kim), Tuesday, 22 October 2002 21:22 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

"Orphans" by Teenage Jesus and the Jerks seems to share a riff with "London Calling"...

― Chris F. (servoret), Friday, 12 December 2003 06:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Junior Senior's "boy meets girl" rips off the band's "wheel's on fire" for the verse. i thought that they sampled it at first it's so shameless

― brains (cerybut), Friday, 12 December 2003 06:54 (twenty-two years ago)

Red Blooded Woman by Kylie is so totally Cry Me A River

― Alex in Doncaster (Alex in Doncaster), Friday, 12 December 2003 07:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Digital Emotion's "Outside in the Dark" rips the groove from "Billy Jean".

― Matt Boch (Matt Boch), Friday, 12 December 2003 09:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Two songs that are alost exactly the same:

The Doll "Burning up like a fire"
The Cars "Just what I needed"

Odd as they came out at very similar times and it would be unlikely that one would have heared the other....

Maybe its cuz they are both dull and derivative...

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 12 December 2003 10:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Andre 3000 'Behold a Lady' = Siouxsie b-side 'I Could Be Again'

― Baaderist (Fabfunk), Friday, 12 December 2003 11:15 (twenty-two years ago)

The guitar riff on last song on the new Strokes album is similar to the chorus of Junior Senior's 'Rhythm Bandits'.

― Jay Kid (Jay K), Friday, 12 December 2003 11:22 (twenty-two years ago)

five months pass...

Huey Lewis and The News "I want a new drug"=Ray Parker Jr. "ghostbusters"

and nelly and justin timberlake have a song over "back in black" by AC/DC how disgusting. the sad fact is that most of the 10-16 year old girls that listen to justin timberlake have no idea o fthe musical travesty that has been committed. but I will admit that it is kinda neat.

― Matt Graves, Monday, 24 May 2004 18:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Huey Lewis and The News "I want a new drug"=Ray Parker Jr. "ghostbusters"

huey lewis and the news came first. they sued ray parker for that one.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 24 May 2004 18:49 (twenty-two years ago)

that fucking stupid uncle kracka song sounds just like "a thing called love" by bonnie raitt. and I hate it.

― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 24 May 2004 18:51 (twenty-two years ago)

radiohead's "subterranean homesick alien" reminds me of nick drake's "parasite"
i always get "freeze frame" and "footloose" mixed up.
that puddle of mudd song "she hates me" = "tell me more" from grease

― Felonious Drunk (Felcher), Monday, 24 May 2004 18:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Not sure which came first, but the Clash's "Manicifent Seven" and Man Parrish's "Hip Hop Be Bop" are almost identical.

― sexyDancer, Monday, 24 May 2004 19:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I think we covered it on another thread but I still don't get how "L Dopa" rips off Killing Joke.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 24 May 2004 19:19 (twenty-two years ago)

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Jackson Browne - That Girl Could Sing
Alan Parsons Project - Games People Play

― henry s, Wednesday, 7 January 2026 15:22 (five months ago)

XTC - War Dance
Travis - U16 Girls

Same verse melody

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5OBajm9IBQ

XTC did actually want Lillywhite to produce Nonsuch at one point but he was too busy holidaying with Kirsty, denying him the realisation a half-decade later that he was effectively in the presence of one of its songs after all.

― you can see me from westbury white horse, Wednesday, 7 January 2026 18:57 (five months ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXgjN_9Id88

― you can see me from westbury white horse, Wednesday, 7 January 2026 18:57 (five months ago)

David Byrne/Brian Eno - Regiment
Stereo MCs - Connected

― henry s, Thursday, 8 January 2026 23:07 (five months ago)

The new Bruno Mars single has some backing “oh oh ohs” that sound identical to Junior Senior’s move your feet.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 9 January 2026 13:21 (five months ago)

a lot of feller filler is indistinguishable from eno's "over fire island"

― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 9 January 2026 21:33 (five months ago)

two weeks pass...

start of D:Ream "UR the best thing" just reminded me of "You're the one that I want" from Grease

― kinder, Monday, 26 January 2026 20:37 (four months ago)

Everybody recognizes the similarity between "Heaven is a Place on Earth" and "You Give Love a Bad Name," but "Heaven ..." also sometimes sounds a bit like "Kidney Bingos" by Wire.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 2 February 2026 19:09 (four months ago)

Oh, and I assume it's intentional that Sabrina Carpenter's "Manchild" sounds like "What a Fool Believes," and also that the new Bruno Mars sounds like "You Make Me Feel like Dancing." I suppose interpretation is the new sampling? Sayer is used to getting ripped off on that front.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 2 February 2026 19:13 (four months ago)

Wait wut?!?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxqreCG0htQ

GNR sounds so close that when you don't get the chorus it's downright shocking.

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 12 February 2026 22:17 (four months ago)

woah, not come across that before!

― kinder, Friday, 13 February 2026 07:38 (four months ago)

Was the riff from "Tell Me When My Light Turns Green" a direct influence on Guru Josh?

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

― Jonk Raven (dog latin), Monday, 23 February 2026 10:37 (three months ago)

oops

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2CIiES_xxk

― Jonk Raven (dog latin), Monday, 23 February 2026 10:38 (three months ago)

two weeks pass...

Bohannon "Disco Stomp" and Hello "New York Groove"

― j.o.h.n. in evanston (john. a resident of chicago.), Sunday, 15 March 2026 00:01 (three months ago)

Sitting in on some bar karaoke the other night (inadvertently of course) it occurred to me that "Heaven's On Fire" by Kiss and "I Hate Myself for Loving You" by Joan Jett are very similar.

Looking into it, it turns out OF COURSE, they share the same songwriter: Desmond Child.

― Josefa, Sunday, 15 March 2026 00:51 (three months ago)

My car iPod segued from Stereolab's "Lo Boob Oscillator" to Suicide's "Dream Baby Dream", and the one sounded like a long coda to the other. It's hardly an unusual chord progression but the tone and repetition meshed well.

― assert (matttkkkk), Wednesday, 18 March 2026 01:59 (two months ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n--Ro4-hNbo

Maybe it wasn't fate that brought Lou Reed and them together.

― pplains, Wednesday, 18 March 2026 03:42 (two months ago)

Today I noticed that the choruses of "Heartwork" by Carcass and "People of the Lie" by Kreator sound almost identical

― Paul Ponzi, Monday, 23 March 2026 17:28 (two months ago)

Bohannon "Disco Stomp"

Famously already a big influence/source for "How Soon is Now?"!

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 23 March 2026 17:54 (two months ago)

The Sweet - Fox on the Run
ELO - Do Ya

― Cattedrale metropolitana di Santa Maria de Episcopio, Monday, 6 April 2026 14:54 (two months ago)

I noticed that Neil Sedaka must have borrowed his own verse chord progression for "Love Will Keep Us Together" from an earlier obscurity he wrote for the Harlem Globetrotters animated series, "Bouncin' All Over the World":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOFd-KTD9i0

― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 6 April 2026 15:54 (two months ago)

one of the two main parts in "open the light" by boards of canada sounds like that of the chorus of "wooden ships" by CSN/JA but actually, like, good.

― brimstead, Tuesday, 7 April 2026 00:59 (two months ago)

two weeks pass...

Lloyd Cole "She's a Girl and I'm a Man" and Jackson Browne "Boulevard"

― j.o.h.n. in evanston (john. a resident of chicago.), Monday, 27 April 2026 20:46 (one month ago)

The first line of the chorus of Chappell Roan's "Casual" is very similar to the first line of Neil Young's "Old Man"

― Ben Gibbard and the Libbard Wibbard (Prefecture), Monday, 27 April 2026 21:44 (one month ago)

The start of "Can't get it out of my head" by ELO (probably more from the Fountains of Wayne cover) sounds like the start of "Perfect" by Alanis Morissette

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdq5rt-1ztA
FoW

Alanis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZ-_oyHFdeM

― kinder, Thursday, 7 May 2026 18:06 (one month ago)

four weeks pass...

James - Laid is just a slightly slower La Bamba

― rameau in the main room (dog latin), Thursday, 4 June 2026 10:03 (one week ago)

Good one!

had to hear it for myself

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC21lUQsPzs

― kinder, Thursday, 4 June 2026 12:18 (one week ago)

Olivia Rodrigo borrows the descending crescendo/outro from "Surf's Up" for "Traitor", complete with identical harmony.

― imperial frfr (Steve Shasta), Saturday, 6 June 2026 01:41 (one week ago)

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