songs that sound like other songs

the first two chords are the same, but not much else

but it's a shit song so

yeah, I guess you're right. the first five seconds of the song are practically a disclaimer that it's gonna be warmed-over glurge straight through, so idk why I was fool enough to keep listening

My wife and I were in Target today; a ringing guitar intro was playing over the PA.
ME: What’s this Strokes rip-off song?
HER: You’re gonna laugh when you realize what it is.
The vocals come in: She was an American girl....
#moded

― i’m still stanning (morrisp), Saturday, July 14, 2018

^Just wanted to follow this up with something even dumber (from today):

*a song plays from my wife’s phone*
Me: Is that Free Design?
Her: What?
Me: The band playing... is it Free Design?
Her: uh, it’s the Carpenters. You’re too hipster for this room, buddy.

Ha wow, also i never noticed that about Tom Petty before

John Lennon's "(Just Like) Starting Over" - "But when I see you, darling/It's like we both are falling..."

The Beach Boys' "Don't Worry Baby" - "But she looks in my eyes/And makes me realize..."

that's somewhat of a melodic cliche of 50s rock ballads that both of those songs borrow

You'd have to name me something else that uses that exact same sequence of four chords AND has the melody starting on the sixth scale degree, on beat two of the measure, then a seventh to the fifth scale degree, before descending in stepwise motion. Both songs do the exact same thing.

then UP a seventh

This new Bob Dylan song “I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You” sounds like that one song from “The Tales of Hoffmann”

xp to tim

the melodies are similar, and the consecutive sevenths are unique, but what both songs are doing are paying harmonic homage to the ballads of their youth.

The Beach Boys example is more complex because it leads into a key change, but that chordal turn (ii IV iii VI) is a nod to early rock ballads like “Don’t Blame Me” by The Everly Brothers and Frankie Valli’s “Alone.” Though the intervals aren’t the same, both melodies also share some similarities with “Be My Baby,” which it reverses the order of the cadences (III VI ii V)

it

my point is, yes those melodies are very similar, likely because they’re both trying to evoke a doo-wop/early rock feel

The Four Seasons' "Alone" was released after "Don't Worry Baby" and "Don't Worry Baby" was written in 1964 (or '63) when Brian Wilson was 21, so I'm not sure how much of a homage to his youth it was.

Oh, I see, it was a cover.

yeah don’t worry baby was released early enough to be a part of that original tradition, not as a homage, though doo-wop/girl group was starting to fall out of vogue

the original shepherd sisters version of alone came out in 1963

nothing comes immediately to mind for me — can anyone point to an example in the music of e.g. the ravens, moonglows, five satins, orioles, duprees, teenagers, etc ?

It occurs to me recently that the rhythmic feel of "Hungry Like the Wolf" owes rather a lot to "Bang a Gong (Get it On)."

i.e., the accent pattern of the rhythm guitar in the verse. (rest) DARK in the CITy, (rest) NIGHT is a WIRE.

I'm pretty sure that Pavement's 'Box Elder' unashamedly referencing the Verlaines 'Death and the Maiden' will have been mentioned upthread. Anyway, here's Stephen Malkmus covering 'Death and Maiden' https://youtu.be/8-GqgN00Kr0
We just need the Verlaines to cover 'Box Elder'to complete the cycle.

Dusseldorf-based Wolfgang Riechmann's "Weltwelt" from 1978.
Dusseldorf-based Kraftwerk's "Metropolis" from 1978.

... at least for the opening third of the Wolfgang Riechmann track that is, thereafter it sounds like:

The Residents, "Diskomo".

I don't know which was released first, Riechmann or Kraftwerk, the Residents is from 1980.

... sorry, I meant, Dusseldorf-based Wolfgang Riechmann's "Silberland" from 1978.

I'm pretty sure that Pavement's 'Box Elder' unashamedly referencing the Verlaines 'Death and the Maiden' will have been mentioned upthread.

I guess it’s been mentioned somewhere – YouTube has the red line indicating that I’ve watched the “Death and the Maiden” video at some point in the past (tho I don’t remember it)! Yeah, it’s clearly the inspiration for “Box Elder.”

frank zappa "the central scrutinizer" (1979) < jethro tull "overseer overture" (1973)

This new Bob Dylan song “I’ve Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You” sounds like that one song from “The Tales of Hoffmann”

― Colonel Radle (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, June 20, 2020 7:57 AM (two days ago)

OK, I'm curious on this one. Which song?

The one they use on the Phil Silvers Hamlet episode of Gilligan's Island.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_nuit,_%C3%B4_nuit_d'amour?wprov=sfti1

”Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour" (often referred to as the "Barcarolle") is a piece from The Tales of Hoffmann (1881), Jacques Offenbach's final opera. A duet for soprano and mezzo-soprano, it is considered the most famous barcarolle ever written and described in the Grove Book of Operas as "one of the world's most popular melodies."

Sonic Youth’s “Heather Angel” (1998) mixes the alternating chords from Pink Floyd’s “Hey You” and the dissonance and rhythm of Blonde Redhead’s “Water” (1997)

"it's my body" by peel dream magazine sounds a hell of a lot like stereolab's "les yper-sound"

listening to the rest of the album and i guess "if stereolab were shoegaze" is kinda their thing, so nvm

Haerts - Your Love
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB2UdWyzU7o

sounds like the Dawson's Creek theme choon

By Gvain Degraw

not a soundalike, more of an amusing resemblance

x-ray spex - identity
chicago - 25 or 6 to 4

otm

Never realized "Blitzkrieg Bop" sounded exactly like "Come On, Let's Go" until I saw this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zn_S14V3AE

xp - zep's "babe i'm gonna leave you" also has the 25 or 6 to 4 riff

feel like both of those songs are indebted to "while my guitar gently weeps" with descending chords that become chromatic towards the turnaround.

The synth melody in Viper's "You'll Cowards Don't Even Smoke Crack" has a loose resemblance to the guitar melody of "Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman.

it's a very loose comparison, but I just heard the classic live version of Little Feet's "Fat Man in the Bathtub" and it sounded like GNR's "Mr. Brownstone" at half speed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g00odMf7Exg

Little Feet

It didn't sound like Mr. Brownstone to me, but it sure was funny watching Little Feat just then in double-time.

The synth melody in Viper's "You'll Cowards Don't Even Smoke Crack"

I read this and thought "hmm never heard of this crazy punk rock band called The Vipers, I do believe I shall consult the youtube and check it out" only to find out it's not quite The Vipers I thought it was gonna be, but still the best from the cringe rap genre I've seen since R.A.E.D's "I No She Wants Me Back"

feel like both of those songs are indebted to "while my guitar gently weeps" with descending chords that become chromatic towards the turnaround.

I think Zep I was recorded around the same time as the white album in Sept 1968 (?) and they had already been playing their arrangement of "Babe" that summer.

Tbh, the "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You"/"25 or 6 to 4" pattern mostly makes me think of a chromatic variation on the flamenco Andalusian cadence.

https://youtu.be/77ScJgcOhZ0

^right at the start of that clip

Ha, so Page explicitly described it as an "homage to flamenco": https://recordcollectormag.com/articles/led-get-physical

ha, lil feet

I've been convinced for years that Den Harrow's "Mad Desire" sounds like an Alphaville song, chiefly "Big in Japan", but the biggest Alphaville fan I know couldn't hear it so maybe I'm just hearing things. Also, there's this one song that comes on all the time on SiriusXM's First Wave channel that always dupes me into thinking it's Captain Sensible's "Wot" (I want to say it's a song by Malcolm McLaren?) whenever it comes on the radio. I wish I could remember which one it is, but I am always disappointed when I find out it's not "Wot".

not so much "songs that sound like other songs" as "songs that use the same guitar loop"

amaarae - 'leave me alone': https://youtu.be/tT9cCSntOoc
sleepy hallow - 'i get luv': https://youtu.be/h1slju0HReg

Well, when we're talking samples it's kind of a different animal, isn't it?

this is different, it's not a sample. it's an original loop that both songs use.

prob belongs in its own thread, but this is worth a read: https://pitchfork.com/features/article/how-loops-are-changing-the-sound-and-business-of-rap-production/