songs that sound like other songs

u2’s “vertigo” is basically suede’s “we are the pigs” at 1.5x speed

Is the guitar line from Tortoise's 'TNT' meant to be identical to the melody from Fiction Factory's Feels Like Heaven?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJdv2DGu-qc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQBoeBgb0uk

LOL i think there's a plausible deniability. But i'm convinced that the main part of 'Bridge at Iguazu Falls' is ripped from 'Encontro' by Projecto III

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2obLyHq3gbE

"forbidden doors" by tennis
sounds like
ll cool j's "i need love" (or if you prefer, necro's "i need drugs")

What are the chances Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran were listening to Animal Collective when they wrote 'I Don't Care'?

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj-0vMrZJbo

there's a guy who makes short videos on youtube, i'm guessing it's tik tok content originally. anyway, he talks about samples and interpolation a lot. sort of blew my mind that the horrible portugal the man song is just a riff on "please mr. postman", so much so that they have to pay royalties to brian holland.

I don't think they ever tried to hie that. Think Holland had a songwriting credit from the very start?

There's obviously lots of mash ups out there:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuGfkfmet0o

Whenever I hear U2’s Hold Me Thrill me (etc) it always reminds me of T Rex, Children of the Revolution

The Crystals: "He couldn't stand to hear me say / That I'd been with someone new."

The Beatles: "It's only love and that is all / Why should I feel the way I do?"

Thee Oh Sees "The Dream"

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

Just like Mötley Crüe's "Kickstart My Heart".

I just realized that the acoustic guitar in Rosalía's Dolerme was making me think of The Legendary Pink Dots' Our Dominion, which is probably very far-fetched for a rather generic melody, but that was the association.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuUa9ZQL28w

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

Felt - Red Indians
The Metallica song

gord's "carefree highway" and scott walker's "get behind me"

anyone have opinions on the ed sheeran/"let's get it on" lawsuit? the case seems dangerous because it surrounds the chord progression (please don't copyright chord progressions), but there are distinct melodic similarities imo

I've been reading about the court proceedings (and listened to his song), but I'm neither a musicologist nor expert on music law so I can't evaluate the strength of the claims. I admit his song does sound similar, and my layman's reaction is less "get outta here!" than it was with, say, the "Stairway to Heaven" claim; but Sheeran's side argues it's a common chord progression and there are key melodic differences after that, etc. (It's interesting/"fun" to read how he played the two songs on a guitar on the witness stand; addressed the point about him performing a medley of the two songs in concert; etc.)

(for the record, he said - "If I had done what you're accusing me of doing, I'd be an idiot to stand on a stage and do (the "Let's Get It On" mash-up) in front of 20,000 people.")

he is definitely correct that there are significant differences in the melody–the minor-key pre-chorus does not show up anywhere in the gaye song–but there are also parts where the melodies match up very very closely.

"If I had done what you're accusing me of doing, I'd be an idiot to stand on a stage and do (the "Let's Get It On" mash-up) in front of 20,000 people."

the george harrison case from a zillion years ago established that you don't have to consciously sit down and copy a song to violate copyright. maybe he was playing with fire when he played that mashup lol

Yeah, my understanding is that, beyond establishing a certain degree of similarity, the claimant just needs to demonstrate “exposure” to the prior work… and it’s sure not hard to do that with such a famous song!

Dang! (update from y'day):

(Sheeran) spent much of his testimony tearing into an analysis performed for the plaintiffs by University of Vermont music professor Alexander Stewart. Sheeran said Stewart misleadingly transcribed "Thinking Out Loud" to create nonexistent parallels between its melody and that of "Let's Get It On."

"He's putting in notes to try and find similarities. I don't want to swear, but — I'm not going to swear," Sheeran told the jury. "If I can be honest, I think what he's doing is criminal here. He's basically changing it to make it something it isn't. I don't know why he's allowed to be an expert."

Sheeran said he finds the infringement claims "really insulting" and damaging to the music industry as a whole. Asked what will happen if he loses the trial, Sheeran replied, "I'm done."

Sheeran sparred with the plaintiffs' counsel on cross-examination, accusing Patrick Frank of Frank & Rice PA of "poking holes in something that doesn't exist." The artist also bristled at Frank's focus on how many songs Sheeran created with co-writers rather than independently.

"Songwriters write songs with other songwriters. It's a common thing," Sheeran said. "You're not, like, breaking new ground here."

At one point, the defendant asked Frank if he "can honestly believe and stand behind" Stewart's analysis. Later, Sheeran exasperatedly told the lawyer that "people don't own chords."

"I understand," Frank said.

"I don't think you do, mate," Sheeran responded.

He sounds a lot more engaging on the witness stand than with a guitar in his hands! (/obvious dig)

Well since the « got to give it up »/« blurred lines » decision, chords or melodic similarities aren’t key anymore, are they ?

I think the impact of that case may have been somewhat tempered by the "Stairway to Heaven" decision (but I'm no expert here).

I listened to the Sheeran song for the first time right now-- Damn, I can immediately see why this lawsuit is happening.

um Ed, people most certainly own chords.

~proud owner of Csus2 since 1991~

how come Lady Gaga didn't get sued for "Born This Way"

(tbh I don't think she should have but y'know)

IIRC, Madonna called her basic or something in a TV interview, which is probably even worse than being sued.

At a bar the other night Stevie Nicks' "Edge of Seventeen" was too quiet to hear and I thought it was the Police's "Bring on the Night" for a couple of minutes.

Listen to the Manhattan's "Shining Star" (1980) and then Michael Bolton's "Soul Provider" (1989) and you will just as much Marvin - if not more - than in the Ed song.

Put them all in C for ease of comparison and you get something like

C Em F G
I've been really trying baby

C C/E F G
I'll be loving you till we're 70

C F
Honey you are my shining star

C Em F
I wanna be your soul provider

Listen to the Manhattan's "Shining Star" (1980) and then Michael Bolton's "Soul Provider" (1989)

Starting to understand why lawyers charge so much.

lolol

I find this lawsuit curious and kinda-scary. Fundamentally I don’t think litigiousness of this kind is honourable, and the plaintiff and his legal team deserve the worst for even considering it, a huge hearty “fuck you” to all of them

That said, it is interesting, to me, that a song with different chords, different melody, different tempo, different hooks, a completely different musical thesis, could nonetheless sound “the same” (or even “similar”) to the Gaye original. Like: it almost feels as if the Gaye might’ve been used as a reference for the mix, or something?

If I were an expert witness wrt the theoretical side of the material (speaking on behalf of the defense, obv) I’d be less likely to attempt to point out the dissimilarities between the two songs and more likely to attempt to define a set of characteristics that define “an Ed Sheeran song” and show that “Thinking Out Loud”, more than “copying Gaye”, copies Sheeran himself— Sheeran’s songwriting tropes are so narrow and repetitious and definable— it seems to me that it’d be an easier thing to prove that “Thinking” is definitively “an Ed Sheeran song” rather than disproving that it infringes on an existing Gaye song

I feel like a far more winnable lawsuit against Sheeran would be attempting to claim “The Shape Of You” as being a plagiaristic work— but again, guillotines and jails for all who pursue this type of stupid greedy litigation

very good point

this is so obviously a sheeran song, no chord progression can save it

stupid greedy suit

"Secondhand Love" by Pete Townshend and New Kids on the Block "Hangin' Tough."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-IRE8_7A3I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By86PcLufOU

ed sheeran gonna ruin pop music by being an insipid and unoriginal songwriter, just as we all feared

Aw because of this thread I will listen to a Sheeran song for the first time willingly… ILM : so much to answer for!

Wait it’s a song released 10y ago !? Why now !?

My god it’s horrible

common misconception about the case, Gaye estate isn't suing him because he stole the song, they're suing him because he's terrible

Personally I think they're suing him because they see a financial opportunity

also it's the co-writer ed townsend who's suing this time, not the gaye estate. tho i'm sure the gaye estate are kicking themselves for not thinking of it first

problem is these juries don't usually get how music works

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41y29ZrZX2L._SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_FMwebp_.jpg

Yeah, it's the heirs of Ed Townsend – including his daughter and sole living heir, Kathryn Townsend Griffin.

Wait it’s a song released 10y ago !? Why now !?

They actually sued first in 2017 (the same year Sheeran settled the infringement suit around his song "Photograph"); the case was dismissed; they refiled the next year, and it's taken this long to get to trial for whatever reason.

Are musicians watching this thread and using it for ideas for lawsuits

I've never heard a note of his music, but I hate cases like this. There are so many common chord progressions and musical ideas that have been used over and over, encouraging litigation over them is a dangerous precedent.

Elvis Costello used to perform a version of "Alison" that segued into "Tracks of My Tears" and (one time I saw him) "Kid" by the Pretenders, too. Maybe other songs? Once you start skirting some really common chord progressions there are any number of songs that seemingly (and often misleadingly) overlap. I mean, the doo wop chord progression alone!

according to Wikipedia Ed Townsend died in 2003, so unless he plagiarized his own death, it’s another estate situation. maybe they could also sue Sheeran (plus the aforementioned Pete Townsend!) for plagiarizing his name.

I Wrote a Song by UK Eurovision hopeful Mae Muller sounds like I'm an Albatraoz by AronChupa.

The most egregious example of "copyright infringement" that I've seen like this was Joe Satriani claiming that Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" was identical to the former's "If I Could Fly". They were identical, exactly identical. The issue wasn't plagiarism imo, because I will not accept that Coldplay, either consciously or subconsciously, were inspired in any way by "If I Could Fly". The issue was simply that, if you're a pop songwriter, and you're aiming for "mass appeal", then your harmonic/melodic choices become massively reduced, and it stands to reason that we will see "1000 monkeys" scenarios emerge; Coldplay and Satriani arrived at the same chords/melody the same way that two pigs might arrive at the same truffle.

I did like the fact that Keith Richards, while recording "Bridges To Babylon", overheard his daughter humming "Constant Craving" and had a "holy shit" moment when he realised that there was a similar "same result" in the chorus of "Has Anybody Seen My Baby?", and the band subsequently reached out to k.d. lang to ensure that she was fairly compensated

Curious why you think compensating the other songwriter was fair in the latter case, but an egregious demand in the former? It's the same situation (a claimed coincidence).