Artists who reference other's songs

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Supertones' "Supertones Strike Back" twists the beginning of Metallica's "Master of Puppets" by adding cheerful horns!

Vinnie, Monday, 11 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Travis - the lyrics to Driftwood reference Blur's The Universal.There's also a song on Sparklehorse's Good Morning Spider which steals a few lines from VU's Candy Says.Mudhoney's Generation Spokesmodel refers to Gershwin's Summertime.

Damian, Tuesday, 12 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Clinic's "Distortions" also steals ever-so-slightly from "Candy Says"

electric sound of jim, Tuesday, 12 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

There's about a thousand just from the Spacemen 3, Spiritualized camp alone. Stooges "TV Eye" -> SP3's "O.D. Catastrophe". MC5 "Black To Comm" -> SP3's "Revolution". Suicide's "Rocket USA" -> SP3's "Suicide". John Prine's "Sam Stone" lyrics -> Spiritualized's "Cop Shoot Cop", etc. etc. Surprised no one has mention Stereolab's "Jenny Ondoline" <- Neu's "Hallogallo"

Chris Barrus, Tuesday, 12 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Primal Scream became so obsessed with 'Kick Out The Jams' that they seemed to nick most of it, notably the 'rama lama fafafa' on 'Don't Fight It Feel It'. But their version of 'Ramblin' Rose' was marginally more in tune than the Fives'.

Snotty Moore, Tuesday, 12 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Wilco's Misunderstood nicks stuff from Aphtamine which I cant seem to spell at the moment.

Mr Noodles, Tuesday, 12 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Tricky took a verse from "Doesn't Make It Alright" by the Specials for his bit on Massive Attack's "Eurochild" (and also one off "Maxinquaye", can't remember which one).

Darren, Tuesday, 12 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Surprised that there are so few mentions of Stereolab, plagiarists par excellence. They didn't just nick Hallogallo - their Emperor Tomato Ketchup album contains whole lines from Autobahn and Ruckzuck by Kraftwerk, plus a few Can basslines. Luckily I'm at work, a few miles away from my records, otherwise I'd have to listen to it and tell you *exactly* which songs and where etc....but I'm not that sad.

Plagiarism is usually fine with me, but I have to say I felt sick when I heard that Blur song where Damon starts singing 'Space is the place' with all the heart and soul of a fucking courgette.

Less lists! more talking!

Ondes Martinot, Wednesday, 13 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

two years pass...
Cornelius going into "Just Like Honey" by The Jesus & Mary Chain on "God Only Knows".
-- Kodanshi (kodansh...), March 11th, 2002.

I believe Sofia Coppola took notice of this.

BARMS, Wednesday, 9 March 2005 10:53 (nineteen years ago) link

three months pass...
"I got 96 tears and 96 eyes" - The Cramps, Human Fly.

Palomino (Palomino), Saturday, 25 June 2005 10:28 (eighteen years ago) link

Some really blatant ones:

o The TV Personalities casually drift into the Byrds' "8 Miles High" riff on one "King & Country."
o Cornershop's "England's Dreaming" collapses into Morrissey's "I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour..." before seemingly indicating their disdain with a "Fight the Power!"
o There's a Moose song (probably "Boy"?) which appears to steal most of its chorus from a Tim Buckley song I can't quite recall the name of. Can anyone confirm that I'm not fabricating this?

Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Saturday, 25 June 2005 13:18 (eighteen years ago) link

Belle and Sebastian's "I Don't Love Anyone" references Felt's "The World Is As Soft As Lace".

ailsa (ailsa), Saturday, 25 June 2005 13:34 (eighteen years ago) link

three months pass...
The riff from "Jenny Ondioline" (the "uhhhhhhh-uuuuhhh" part) by Stereolab also sounds like something out of "Loveless" by My Bloody Valentine. Death in Vegas also steal a lot of things, from The Rolling Stones and Status Quo to Cluster and Kraftwerk.
Spiritualized's "Take your time" organ line sounds exactly like the one in Martin Rev's "Metatron" from the album "Clouds of Glory.
The song that John Cale wrote called "The soul of Patrick Lee" sounds exactly like Lou Reed's "Venus in Furs". The guitar of "Panic" by The Smiths is "Metal Guru" by T-Rex. The drums on "Kowalski" by Primal Scream are the ones on Can's "Halleluhwah".

The list is endless, everyone stills from everyone, really. I once read that our civilization has a much bigger legacy of imitation than creativity, and I have to agree. But I do like when people take parts from other songs and write a much better one. If they make something better than the original, that's o.k. by me.

Bruno dos Santos, Saturday, 8 October 2005 16:51 (eighteen years ago) link

fuck this indie shit!
rappers have been doing it for 20 years, half of the popular rap and r&b songs refer to other songs, not just in sampling.

ezra, Saturday, 8 October 2005 17:15 (eighteen years ago) link

Forever, forver ever, forever ever ever...∞

M. V. (M.V.), Saturday, 8 October 2005 17:22 (eighteen years ago) link

Forever, forever ever, forever ever ever...∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞...®™

M. V. (M.V.), Saturday, 8 October 2005 17:28 (eighteen years ago) link

Oh, rappers don't count. They're not musicians.

Bruno dos Santos, Saturday, 8 October 2005 20:30 (eighteen years ago) link

And when they do borrow a song, they usually pay big money for it. We're talking about the sneaky ones, the ones that try to get away without paying any royalties and who don't even talk about the fact that they do rip off other people. I think.

Bruno dos Santos, Saturday, 8 October 2005 21:05 (eighteen years ago) link

This topic is something other than what the thread title suggests but I have one I need to say. I felt vindicated recently when someone said Vertigo sounded like Sonic Youth's Dirty Boots. I thought my dad was smoking something when he mentioned a Supremes song as an influence on Vertigo but then PFM made the same point in the U2 review and I was WTF.

Others off the top of my head.

Sonic Youth: Bubblegum (the vocal melody is the riff to Till the End of the Day by the Kinks)

Kinks: Sittin' On My Sofa shares a lyric with Lovely Rita and a guitar riff that is similar to the aforementioned Taxman song.

Cunga (Cunga), Sunday, 9 October 2005 02:01 (eighteen years ago) link

Coldplay's "Such a Rush" is a direct lyrical rip off Radiohead's "The Tourist"

Another example is "Twisted Logic", which is a rip off Radiohead's "Electioneering"

joe schmoe (joeschmoe), Sunday, 9 October 2005 12:12 (eighteen years ago) link

Dresden Dolls break into a bar of "I Will Survive" in the middle of "Good Day," and do the same trick with "Paint It Black" on "Jeep Song." However, this is all a tad precious and not nearly as cool as when...

...Elvis Costello drops two lines of "Dancing Queen" into "When I Was Cruel Pt.2"

joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Sunday, 9 October 2005 13:58 (eighteen years ago) link

(I'm more interested in this thread as a collection of direct quotes and not a list for ripoffs).

Here's one more:

R.E.M.'s "The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite" opens with Stipe's approximation of the "Lion Sleeps Tonight" falsetto (hence, probably, the song name - in R.E.M.'s grand tradition of holding on to blatantly provisional titles: "Country Feedback" etc).

joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Sunday, 9 October 2005 14:03 (eighteen years ago) link

What's the difference between a direct quote and a ripoff?

nbcv, Sunday, 9 October 2005 18:25 (eighteen years ago) link

The three examples above are direct quotes. The two examples above them are ripoffs.

joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Sunday, 9 October 2005 18:39 (eighteen years ago) link

bruce springsteen has had a lifelong habit of referencing other song titles in a way that's clearly intended as a reference.

examples:

"all or nothing at all" (referencing sinatra)
"mansion on the hill" (hank williams)
"wreck on the highway" (roy acuff)
"downbound train" (chuck berry)
"dancing in the dark" (sinatra again)
"two faces" (lou christie)
"walk like a man" (four seasons)
etc etc

you could argue that a lot of them are coincidences, but some of 'em have further lyrical references within, and when you add the book titles and movie titles he's also referenced with abandon, it's fairly obvious he's doing it on purpose.

fact checking cuz (fcc), Sunday, 9 October 2005 23:00 (eighteen years ago) link

the pooh sticks' entire ouevre, pretty much, my fave moment of theirs being the note-for-note rendition of a gtr solo from neil young's "powderfinger" that they drop into the middle of their cover of the strangeloves" "the rhythm of love."

fact checking cuz (fcc), Sunday, 9 October 2005 23:09 (eighteen years ago) link

the minutemen's "courage" features the bass line from madonna's "like a virgin," played of course by madonna fan mike watt.

fact checking cuz (fcc), Sunday, 9 October 2005 23:13 (eighteen years ago) link

The band Spacemen 3 REFERING/QUOTING DIRECTLY/F*CKING RIPPING OFF the opening monologue of MC5's "Kick out the jams" on their song "Revolution". "IT TAKES FIVE SECONDS OF DECISION"

Bruno dos Santos, Monday, 10 October 2005 03:18 (eighteen years ago) link

The House of Love's Shine On features a direct quotation ("A little girl, a little guy...") from Iggy Pop's The Endless Sea.

Palomino (Palomino), Sunday, 16 October 2005 02:11 (eighteen years ago) link

Dan Bejar (Destroyer/New Pornographers) litters his songs with lines from other songs, most notably You've got the spirit/Don't lose the feeling over and over on the Streethawk album, also quotes London Calling and too many Smiths references to count...

douglas eklund (skolle), Sunday, 16 October 2005 02:31 (eighteen years ago) link

thats the one i was gonna say, douglas!

petesmith (plsmith), Sunday, 16 October 2005 04:15 (eighteen years ago) link

The one that always drives me nuts because it's not QUITE close enough to be an actual for real ripoff is on the Flaming Lips' "The Spark That Bled," in the part where he's singing "Descending to relIEVE us" and all that stuff. I swear to god it's "Tell Me Have You Seen Her?"

Doctor Casino, Sunday, 16 October 2005 05:17 (eighteen years ago) link

Massive Attack goes into a few lines of both "Here Comes The Sun" and "If I Were A Rich Man"

splates (splates), Sunday, 16 October 2005 09:02 (eighteen years ago) link

^on 'Daydreaming'

splates (splates), Sunday, 16 October 2005 09:03 (eighteen years ago) link

Sorry about that, Pete--great minds think alike!

douglas eklund (skolle), Sunday, 16 October 2005 14:21 (eighteen years ago) link

At the end of Ride's "Twisterella", Mark sings a line from, er, "Twisterella", the song purportedly written by Billy Liar in the film of the same name. And it's wonderful.

CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Sunday, 16 October 2005 14:43 (eighteen years ago) link

Sonic Youth references The Byrds 8 miles High on Washing Machines Saucer Like

Empereror does a small part of Metallica's For whom The Bell Tolls in Anthems To The Welkin At Dusks' The Acclamation of Bonds.

Marty Innerlogic (marty innerlogic), Sunday, 16 October 2005 14:46 (eighteen years ago) link

ten years pass...

This section of Time Trap by Built to Spill sounds like a pretty direct nod to Gates of Steel by Devo.

https://youtu.be/goV57pGmiCk?t=11s

https://youtu.be/1F9amPUZokg?t=1m48s

how's life, Saturday, 6 February 2016 15:21 (eight years ago) link

two years pass...

Rabbit heart by Florence references house jam by gang gang dance

Ross, Saturday, 19 May 2018 09:57 (five years ago) link

SSION's recent "At Least The Sky Is Blue" strings multiple borrowed elements together, most conspicuously "In Every Dream Home...", "Not In Love" and "Hey Hey, My My".

(Come to think of it, Roxy Music themselves do similar in the latter half of "Remake/Remodel" innit. Classical works have likewise been known to pay tribute via borrowed melodic elements. Or so I keep reading in liner notes; they're often too subtle for me.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to9ggdpiSyk

Maximum big surprise! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Saturday, 19 May 2018 22:35 (five years ago) link

Cool ^

Ross, Saturday, 19 May 2018 23:14 (five years ago) link


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