songs that sound like other songs

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"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)

Sloan's "She Means What She Says" = The Nazz "Open My Eyes"

=The Who "I Can't Explain"

― phil dennison, Monday, 24 May 2004 19:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Felt's "The Stagnant Pool" calls to mind The Cure's "Disintegration"; particularly the long guitar play toward the end.

― Evanston Wade (EWW), Monday, 24 May 2004 19:24 (twenty-two years ago)

of course there's always NIN "Down In It"= Skinny Puppy's "Dig It"

― Felonious Drunk (Felcher), Monday, 24 May 2004 19:27 (twenty-two years ago)

There's a Decemberists song (I think it's "I Was Meant for the Stage") that has the same melody as Sting's "Fields of Gold"

Also, I was just noticing the other day how Sly Stone's "Hot Fun in the Summertime" has the same little chord progression as a Led Zep song (maybe "Fool in the Rain" or something from that album) - though obviously Sly came first.

― Josh Love (screamapillar), Monday, 24 May 2004 19:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I always mix up "Times Like These" by the Foo Fighters with the beginning of the verse of Manics' "Australia".... It's because of the first "I...", I guess.

― JP Almeida (JP Almeida), Monday, 24 May 2004 20:10 (twenty-two years ago)

"Flatness" by Uncle Tupelo sounds kinda like "Letter Never Sent" by REM.

― christhamrin (christhamrin), Monday, 24 May 2004 20:15 (twenty-two years ago)

we could also add ALL REGGAE EVER to this thread

― sexyDancer, Monday, 24 May 2004 20:28 (twenty-two years ago)

TLC - "Unpretty"

Hanson - "Mmmbop"

― Kornél Kovács (Kornél Kovács), Monday, 24 May 2004 22:58 (twenty-two years ago)

"White Light/White Heat" sounds kind of like an early Jerry Lee Lewis song.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Monday, 24 May 2004 23:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Phil Collins' "Sussudio" = Prince's "1999"

The intro to "Breakout" by Swing Out Sisters = PSB "West End Girls"

― Seb (Seb), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 00:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Tom Waits "Such a Scream" = Mystikal "Shake Ya Ass"

― Sym (shmuel), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 02:51 (twenty-two years ago)

The Clash "Wrong 'Em Boyo" = "Sloop John B"

― adgaehg, Thursday, 27 May 2004 02:26 (twenty-two years ago)

The Faces' "Cindy Incidentally" sounds like Dylan's "I Don't Believe You"

― de, Thursday, 27 May 2004 02:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Alphaville's "Forever Young" = Pachelbel's Canon

― lkjp, Thursday, 3 June 2004 12:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Belle and Sebastian "We Rule the School" also = Pachebel's Canon
Also on a B&S theme, "Mary Jo" = "A Winter's Tale" by David Essex.

― ailsa (ailsa), Thursday, 3 June 2004 13:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Marshall Tucker Band "Can't You See" = Velvet Underground "Sweet Nuthin'"

― autovac (autovac), Thursday, 3 June 2004 18:27 (twenty-two years ago)

The guitar on the Fall's "Rolling Dany" is the same riff as "Smokin' in the Boys Room"

Also, keeping with This Nation's Saving Grace, Magnetic Fields took the riff from "Paint Work" for "A Chicken With Its Head Cut Off"

― Mike Ouderkirk (Mike Ouderkirk), Friday, 4 June 2004 06:28 (twenty-two years ago)

three months pass...

Kasabian 'LSF' and the theme music to Mopatop's Shop

― peter dee (peter dee), Thursday, 9 September 2004 19:44 (twenty-one years ago)

four months pass...

I can't keep straight all the threads that are like this (shouldn't there be a tracklink uptop to the recent one?) so if this has been mentioned before forgive me

You Belong to Me sounds like 19th Nervous Breakdown
Tokyo Storm Warning really sounds like 19th Nervous Breakdown

― Ken L (Ken L), Friday, 21 January 2005 04:25 (twenty-one years ago)

the main riffs in "Da Funk" by Daft Punk and "Never Let Me Down Again" by Depeche Mode are fairly similar (that descending thing they both do). Sometimes I'll whistle one then switch to the other.

― Brandon Mitchell (A.H.), Friday, 21 January 2005 05:10 (twenty-one years ago)

and both songs are the same tempo, with the riffs separated by like a 5th or something between them.

― Brandon Mitchell (A.H.), Friday, 21 January 2005 05:12 (twenty-one years ago)

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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 (five days ago)

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