Five songs that should have been sued for plagiarism
Musicians are no strangers to the courtroom – and not just the ones whose rock and roll antics land them behind bars when things end up going a little bit too far.
Lawsuits, for better and for worse, have become a common staple of the music canon in more recent years, with artist upon artist having to show up in court to defend their names against the threat of plagiarism. It’s undeniably tricky business, and ruffles many feathers as a result, because there are ultimately far too many songs in the world, and only so many chords floating around in the ether.
Regardless of whether or not you feel the courtroom is the way to go, it’s more than evident that the threat of plagiarism has forever changed the music landscape in irreversible ways, and it means everyone is on high alert. Sometimes songs are blatantly ripped off – looking at you, Vanilla Ice – while others are far more subconscious, so it’s definitely a minefield of possibilities.
In this sense, no matter how overt or covert the sound, there are inevitably going to be songs that get lucky in falling through the cracks and never face a lawsuit in the way they perhaps should have done. Here we pick out five of the most jarring examples. It’s down to you to decide whether the law should get involved.
Five songs that should have landed a plagiarism lawsuit:
‘Come As You Are’ – Nirvana
Nirvana may be hailed as the gods of grunge, but they were utterly terrible for ripping off other songs without a care in the world – and the fact was, Kurt Cobain knew it all too well. There are many examples of him lifting inspiration from the tunes of fellow artists, but possibly none are more cheeky or outrageous than ‘Come As You Are’ and its searing similarity to ‘Eighties’ by Killing Joke.
In this respect, Cobain knew he was in the wrong and could sense that the wheels of a lawsuit from Killing Joke’s end could soon be set in motion if he set the wheels in motion to release it as a single, as planned. In order to combat this, or soften the blow, he shoved the release of ‘In Bloom’, another Nevermind mega hit, ahead of it in the hopes that it would throw them off the scent. Miraculously, it somehow did, and he never got sued – but the ethics behind it are slightly questionable, to say the least.
‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’ – Bachman-Turner Overdrive
Pete Townshend dousing speculation of a mounting legal battle with One Direction back in 2013 was perhaps one of the most bizarre cultural crossovers we’ve ever had in terms of the classic rock canon colliding with the zeitgeist, but in doing so he also put to bed the longstanding rumours that there was some sort of feud between his band and Bachman Turner-Overdrive.
The latter band had released their massive hit ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’ in 1974, with The Who’s remarkably similar ‘Baba O’Riley’ having arrived 16 years prior. This had always sparked consternation, until the same likeness was spotted between ‘Baba O’Riley’ and One Direction’s ‘Best Song Ever’. At this point, Townshend had had enough – and while clearing the names of the British boyband by saying he wasn’t bothered, he also admitted: “[Randy Bachman] told me that he not only copied ‘Baba O’Riley’ for ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’, but he even called his band after us. Why would I not be happy about this kind of tribute?”
‘That’s All’ – Genesis
Procol Harum may admittedly be a bit of a rogue name to throw into the mix of this list, but they were a band with a far greater reach than just ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’. Indeed, a 1969 song by the name of ‘The Milk of Human Kindness was unceremoniously ripped off 15 years down the line by a band who really should have known better as kings of the scene – Genesis.
Do yourself a favour and listen to Genesis’ 1984 hit ‘That’s All’, then compare it to ‘The Milk of Human Kindness’ – and don’t say you can’t hear the blatant similarity. Sure, there’s plenty of bouncy piano beats out there in the world, but two with such close chord progressions, and by two revered British rock bands? It certainly smells a little fishy.
‘Bury A Friend’ – Billie Eilish
OK, sure, perhaps this one is not as conventional. But back in 2019, when Billie Eilish burst onto the scene with her beguilingly dark readdress to pop music, she was hailed as a visionary genius. Except – maybe she wasn’t. Especially when it came to ‘Bury A Friend’, her breakout hit from debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, should it really have been credited to The Doors?
Over half a century back in the past, the British band were brimming with a similarly kooky edge when it came to one of their most iconic tunes, ‘People Are Strange’, the chorus of which sounds a hell of a lot like ‘Bury A Friend’. Maybe the dark spirits were converging together on that one, but regardless of the illusion she may have put up, Eilish was not as original as she first thought.
‘Warning’ – Green Day
Much like Nirvana, Green Day are also prime offenders when it comes to a bit of the old creative licence in talking about their originality – mainly because, back in the day, they didn’t have a lot of it to show for themselves. As such, the examples of questionable ‘samples’, shall we call it, that Green Day pinched are endless. One of the most severe is ‘Picture Book’ by The Kinks.
Weaving its way into the American rockers’ 2000 single ‘Warning’, taken from their sixth studio album of the same name, the bass and melody of the two tracks essentially merge into one, although you’d be hard-pressed to find Billie Joe Armstrong admitting that. They may have been one of the most defining bands of 1990s and 2000s America, but this clearly wouldn’t have come to be the case without their selection of often not-so-subtle inspirations. The Kinks are only the tip of the iceberg.
