Ten examples — with audio clips — of tracks that sound suspiciously alike. Does the Creaky Boards’ "The Songs I Didn’t Write" really sound like Coldplay’s "Viva La Vida"? They do have certain similarities — the Creaky Boards suggest that both songs may have been inspired by the music from the video game Legend of Zelda. Feel free to share your own examples of other bands who are, well, very sincere in their flattery.
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Comments (1-23) of 23 Add your comment
Uh, I’m a huge Cat Stevens fan and the song they say sounds like his and paying royalties for) doesn’t sound similar enough at all to “Father & Son.”
“Every Breath You Take” and “Chasing Cars.”
And I swear that Duffy’s “Delayed Devotion” samples “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” although I can’t find the credit anywhere.
Miley Cyrus’s See You Again and Corey Hart’s I Wear My Sunglasses at Night
Oh, the Wanna be your Boyfriend and Girlfriend have the EXACT same Hey, hey you, you, I wanna be your______
It is pretty obvious. The most glaringly obvious. I remember Avril’s fans at the same denying any similarities – hahahahaha!
Um, Aaron? You must be tone deaf or something, cos Chasing Cars and that Police song sound nothing alike!
“Silver Lining” (Rilo Kiley) borrows a significant guitar riff from “My Sweet Lord” (George Harrison, who incidentally was involved in an infrigement case of his own). Not sure if this was intentional by Rilo Kiley or not or if they paid to use it.
Can’t listen to “Violet Hill” by Coldplay without thinking of “California” by Phantom Planet; especially the beginning
“Right Here Waiting” by Richard Marx and “Cry” by Mandy Moore always sound exactly the same to me.
Also “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” by Greenday and “Wonderwall” by Oasis have some similarities to me as well.
Britney’s “Baby One More Time” is pretty much a direct lift of Toni Braxton’s “You’re Making Me High”…
Christina Aguilera’s “Make Over” completely rips off the Sugababes’ “Overload.”
Here’s a few:
Alicia Keys’ “Fallin’” & James Brown’s “This is a Man’s World”
Janet Jackson’s “Black Cat” and Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”
Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation” and Sly & the Family Stone’s “Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” and Rick Astley’s “Together Forever”
They’re both over ten years old/not new, but you can sing the verses of “Closing Time” by Semisonic over Oasis’s “Wonderwall” almost perfectly. Same chord structure most of the way. And as for an example of an artist stealing from themselves, “Crash Into Me” and “Where Are You Going” by Dave Matthews Band also have similar verse chord progressions. Couldn’t he be more creative? Sheesh.
Thanks, Matti! ‘ppreciate it!
If you play the choruses back to back, they’re very similar.
The NBC Sunday Football theme song sounds exactly like “I Hate Myself for Lovin’ You” by Joan Jett. Maybe because it’s the same song only with cheesy football lyrics. And “All by Myself” sounds suspiciously like the adagio movement of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. Please tell me someone’s paying the dead Russian guy some royalties.
Ok, when I was driving in my car with a friend today, she thought that the “Halloween” movie-theme that was playing on the radio was actually the beginning of a Linkin Park song. Probably, “Numb/Encore” right?
These really date me– “Wipeout” and the background of “Woolly Bully”.
I can’t remember the song’s name but there was a pretty big song about 10 years ago by Scottish group Texas that was a blatant copy of Martika’s “Love, Thy Will Be Done”, like eerily similar.
The guitar riffs that open Led Zeppelin’s “Houses Of The Holy” and Joe Walsh’s “Life’s Been Good” are way too similar. They’re in the same key, even.
Ummm…”Under Pressure” and “Ice Ice Baby”? anyone?
Also, Jessica Simpson’s “A Public Affair” sounds shockingly like Madonna’s “Holiday”
Nickelback’s songs “How You Remind Me” and “Someday” are the exact same song, just with different lyrics. But I suppose you don’t have to worry about royalties or plagiarism when you’re ripping off your own song.
The new Tim McGraw song sounds an awful lot like a Diamond Rio song from a few years ago. In fact I have a hard time listening to it because I keep hearing the chorus of the other song in my head!
Joe Satriani’s suing and he’s gonna win.
Joe,
Queen sued Vanilla Ice for using their song without permission.
Exactly Claire. Miley Cyrus’s See you Again and Corey Hart’s Sunglasses at Night.
Huey Lewis Wanna New Drug and Ray Parker Jr.’s Ghostbusters. The horns section on Ghostbusters is sped up.