In this day and age where an artist or band's success depends more on image than musical talent, and a song's success is largely a measure of marketing, it's no surprise to see bands ripping off music from a less creatively bankrupt era.
The foremost of these has to be Jet / Are You Gonna Be My Girl, which blatently rips off not only the rhythm, but also the chord structure of Iggy Pop / Lust for Life. Fortunately, it seems there are many clueful enough to recognize this, most likely because Are You Gonna Be My Girl was recently featured on both iPod ads and ads for the movie "The Big Bounce" (which, ironically, is the latest in a long string of remakes, thanks creatively bankrupt Hollywood!) while Lust for Life is being used to advertize a cruise line.
There's also Fuel / Falls on Me, whose chorus bears an uncanny resemblance to Collective Soul / Heavy. In addition to subtle similaries in the music (despite the markedly different styles of Collective Soul and Fuel), compare the lyrics of the refrain of each song:
Collective Soul: "And all your weight, it falls on me, it brings me down. And all your weight, it falls on me, it falls on me."
Fuel: "And all of your ways, all you dream, falls on me. It falls on me."
There's also the Flaming Lips / Fight Test, which has many strange resemblances to Cat Stevens / Father and Son, not only in chord structure but also in the vocals. This resemblance is quite a bit more subtle than the other two, and consequently I wouldn't say it reflects negatively on the Flaming Lips... Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is, in my opinion, one of the best albums in recent history.
The foremost of these has to be Jet / Are You Gonna Be My Girl, which blatently rips off not only the rhythm, but also the chord structure of Iggy Pop / Lust for Life. Fortunately, it seems there are many clueful enough to recognize this, most likely because Are You Gonna Be My Girl was recently featured on both iPod ads and ads for the movie "The Big Bounce" (which, ironically, is the latest in a long string of remakes, thanks creatively bankrupt Hollywood!) while Lust for Life is being used to advertize a cruise line.
There's also Fuel / Falls on Me, whose chorus bears an uncanny resemblance to Collective Soul / Heavy. In addition to subtle similaries in the music (despite the markedly different styles of Collective Soul and Fuel), compare the lyrics of the refrain of each song:
Collective Soul: "And all your weight, it falls on me, it brings me down. And all your weight, it falls on me, it falls on me."
Fuel: "And all of your ways, all you dream, falls on me. It falls on me."
There's also the Flaming Lips / Fight Test, which has many strange resemblances to Cat Stevens / Father and Son, not only in chord structure but also in the vocals. This resemblance is quite a bit more subtle than the other two, and consequently I wouldn't say it reflects negatively on the Flaming Lips... Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is, in my opinion, one of the best albums in recent history.
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