Top 20 Songs That Rip Off Other Songs
Hey, haven't we heard that tune before? For this list, we’re looking at songs that don’t just sound a bit similar; they sound so similar that in one way or another they triggered some sort of legal action.
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00:00Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the top 20 rip-off songs.
00:23For this list, we're looking at songs that don't just sound a bit similar, they sound
00:27so similar that, in one way or another, they triggered some sort of legal action.
00:32What copycat song do you think is the most infamous?
00:35Let us know in the comments below.
00:3720.
00:38The Kinks' All Day and All of the Night vs. The Doors' Hello I Love You
00:50Although The Doors' guitarist Robbie Krieger denied that his band copied the chord-driven
00:54main riff of the 1964 Kinks track, the Kinks' music publishers found that these two singles
00:59were just a bit too similar.
01:04Turns out, UK courts agreed, so a deal was eventually struck entitling the Kinks to a
01:10large share of Hello I Love You's British royalties.
01:19The Doors' song credits remain unchanged, but in 2014, Kinks' lead singer and main songwriter
01:24Ray Davies suggested to Rolling Stone that an out-of-court settlement had been reached.
01:3219.
01:34Tom Petty I Won't Back Down vs. Sam Smith Stay With Me
01:37Traditionally, when songs popped up that sounded a bit Tom Petty, the late Heartbreakers frontman
01:43let it slide, but this time things played out differently.
01:54Although the band leader expressed no hard feelings and deemed the similarities between
01:57the chorus to his I Won't Back Down and Smith's Stay With Me to be, quote, a musical accident,
02:03his publishing company entered the fray all the same.
02:15Perhaps it was because, unlike American Girl and Mary Jane's Last Dance, the TP track in
02:20question had a co-writer, fellow traveling Wilbury and ELO songwriter Jeff Lynne.
02:25In the end, Petty and Lynne ended up getting their due credit, along with 12.5% of the
02:31Stay With Me royalties.
02:3218.
02:33Joe Satriani – If I Could Fly vs. Coldplay – Viva La Vida
02:37Take notes on this one, you're gonna need them.
02:44First up, Brooklyn-based indie alternative band Creaky Board suggested that Coldplay
02:48had ripped off their ironically titled The Songs I Didn't Write.
02:52However, the British rockers had recorded a demo of Viva prior to that song's first
02:57performance.
03:05Then Joe Satriani stepped up, lawsuit in hand, claiming that Chris Martin and crew
03:09borrowed from his If I Could Fly.
03:18Things got even more complicated when Yusuf Islam, formerly Cat Stevens, joined in on
03:23the fun, pointing out that all of these songs sounded like his Foreigner Suite.
03:27Satriani's case was later dismissed in 2009.
03:3417.
03:38The New Seekers – I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing In Perfect Harmony vs. Oasis
03:43Shaker Maker
03:44Oasis has never tried to hide their reverence for the past when it comes to their own musical
03:47style.
03:48This is one case where Noel Gallagher may have borrowed a bit too much.
03:55The song I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing In Perfect Harmony began its life as
03:59a Coca-Cola jingle, before being fleshed out and recorded by The New Seekers, and ultimately
04:10having its melody and some lyrics woven into the fabric of Oasis's Shaker Maker.
04:20Most sources claim that Gallagher was forced to change the offending I'd Like To Teach
04:23The World line, alter a few notes, and cough up $500,000.
04:28Upon losing the aforementioned lawsuit, Gallagher quipped, quote, We drink Pepsi now.
04:3416.
04:35Muddy Waters – You Need Love vs. Led Zeppelin – Whole Lotta Love
04:39By cranking the tempo and volume of the blues, Led Zepp helped pioneer hard rock and heavy
04:44metal.
04:49But sometimes they stuck just a bit too close to their roots.
04:57While it took them a long time to get caught, the rock icons were finally sued in 1985 for
05:02Whole Lotta Love's Whole Lotta Similarities to the Willie Dixon-penned Muddy Waters classic
05:07You Need Love.
05:13Though things were eventually settled out of court, it wasn't the only time the British
05:17rockers were accused of borrowing material, as even Stairway to Heaven has been tainted
05:22by calls of plagiarism.
05:2415.
05:25The Rubinoos – I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend vs. Avril Lavigne – Girlfriend
05:31When The Rubinoos stepped up claiming Avril Lavigne had plagiarized them, Avril said,
05:37But, aside from claiming she'd never heard of the band or their song, she and her team
05:40chose a risky defense.
05:49They said Girlfriend was actually closer to the Rolling Stones' Get Off of My Cloud.
05:53Or Mickey.
05:54But wait a minute, what about the Ramones' song I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend?
05:58Had The Rubinoos themselves plagiarized?
06:00Ultimately, a musicologist decided The Rubinoos' track and Avril's song were completely different
06:05based on science.
06:06And the case was settled out of court when Avril's manager decided it was cheaper than
06:11paying lawyers.
06:1214.
06:13The Kinks' Picture Book vs. The Other Garden – Never Got The Chance vs. Green Day – Warning
06:18And now, how not to file a lawsuit.
06:25In 2001, Colin Mary, songwriter for an obscure English band called The Other Garden, sued
06:37Green Day, claiming that Warning was a copy of his song Never Got The Chance.
06:46The band's lawyer threatened to sue the punk rockers for as much as $100,000.
06:50Despite the fact that Mary admitted both his and Green Day's songs had the same distinct
06:54riff as Picture Book by The Kinks, needless to say, the lawsuit was eventually dropped.
07:0613.
07:07Lyric and Music's Kookaburra vs. Men at Work – Down Under – Down Under, a backhanded
07:12anthem of all things Ozzy and a monster hit in the early 1980s, became a source of legal
07:17trouble in the 2000s.
07:21Originally, the band's flautist, Greg Hamm, borrowed a two-bar motif from Kookaburra,
07:29an Australian children's song.
07:31Years went by without incident, until the connection between the two tunes was mentioned
07:35on the game show Spicks and Specks in 2007.
07:38That's when the right-holders to Kookaburra, Lyric and Music, came knocking, demanding
07:4460% of Down Under's royalties dating back to 1981.
07:48In July 2010, they instead were granted 5%, backdated to 2002.
07:54Sadly, Hamm passed away in 2012 at the age of 58, and bandmate Colin Hay cites stress
08:00from the court case as a contributing factor.
08:0912.
08:12Huey Lewis and the News – I Want a New Drug vs. Ray Parker Jr. – Ghostbusters – Who
08:17You Gonna Call?
08:18A lawyer if you're Huey Lewis, Lewis was actually asked to write a theme for Ghostbusters,
08:28but passed on it to write music for Back to the Future.
08:36So when Ray Parker Jr.'s theme for the supernatural comedy came out sounding suspiciously
08:41like Huey's I Want a New Drug, Lewis cited plagiarism.
08:53It was settled out of court almost a decade later, and when the News frontman spilled
08:57the beans on the confidential settlement on TV, Ray Parker Jr. turned the tables and sued
09:02Lewis right back in 2001.
09:0711.
09:10Sleigh Bells – Infinity Guitars vs. Demi Lovato – Stars
09:13Typically, only lyrics and melody are considered copyrightable.
09:22For New York band Sleigh Bells, Demi Lovato's Stars sounded, quote, virtually identical
09:27to their Infinity Guitars, with a little bit of riot rhythm mixed in, but it was chiefly
09:33the hand claps and bass drum counter rhythm that were cited.
09:42It was on this basis that the duo laid a case against Lovato, UMG Recordings, and producers
09:47and co-writers Carl Falk and Rami Yacoub.
09:49The problem was, Falk and Yacoub claimed no samples were used in the song, and that Demi
09:54only wrote one line.
09:56The matter was settled in April 2017, and Lovato's team maintained there was no deliberate
10:01infringement.
10:0610.
10:08Creedence Clearwater Revival – Run Through The Jungle vs. John Fogerty – The Old Man
10:13Down The Road
10:14In a very odd move, John Fogerty was sued for sounding like himself.
10:25Fogerty was once the lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and primary songwriter of Creedence Clearwater
10:30Revival.
10:31But after the band broke up, he relinquished his rights to CCR songs to get out of contractual
10:36commitments.
10:37So, when Fogerty released the solo track The Old Man Down The Road, Fantasy Records, owner
10:42of CCR's song catalog and his label during his Creedence days, claimed it ripped off
10:46Run Through The Jungle.
10:54The swamp rocker beat the case by bringing a guitar to the stand and demonstrating that
10:58the two songs were, in fact, quite different, and that you can't actually plagiarize
11:03yourself.
11:04Well played, Fogerty.
11:079.
11:09Gordon Jenkins – Crescent City Blues vs. Johnny Cash – Folsom Prison Blues
11:13In the annals of song plagiarism, there have been cases of subconscious plagiarism, outright
11:19plagiarism, uncleared samples, and downright sneakiness.
11:23This is a case of self-amusement gone awry.
11:26While stationed in West Germany in 1953, Johnny Cash wrote new lyrics to the melody of Crescent
11:31City Blues, inspired by the film Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison.
11:40Flash forward a few years, and Cash is now a recording artist short on material.
11:45So he offered up his Folsom Prison Blues to producer Sam Phillips, who told Cash not to
11:49worry about the legalities.
11:57Fifteen years later, the Men in Black would pay out $75,000 in retribution.
12:028.
12:03The Rolling Stones – The Last Time vs. The Verve – Bittersweet Symphony
12:08This 90s Britpop anthem was at the center of a lengthy and contentious plagiarism case.
12:16The Verve did obtain the rights to sample part of the Andrew Oldham orchestral version
12:20of the classic Stones song.
12:22The issue was how much the band used, and according to former Stones manager and rights
12:26holder of the song, Alan Klein, it was way too much.
12:38So 100% of the royalties went to Klein, and songwriting credit went to Mick Jagger and
12:43Keith Richards.
12:51That's when Oldham himself demanded recompense for the specific version of the song they
12:54had used.
12:55Though it took many years, this story does have a relatively happy ending, with the Stones
13:00backing off by 2019 and granting all future royalties to Verve lead singer Richard Ashcroft.
13:137.
13:16Chuck Berry – You Can't Catch Me vs. The Beatles – Come Together
13:20The story starts simply enough.
13:26John Lennon used an old Chuck Berry song as a starting point for a new song.
13:30But this similarity triggered legal issues with Berry's publisher, the controversial
13:34Morris Levy.
13:42Lennon agreed to record three songs owned by Levy, and attempted to do so during his
13:47rock and roll album sessions, until producer Phil Spector stole the tapes and went into
13:52hiding.
13:53When the tapes were recovered, Lennon tried reassuring Levy that he was upholding his
13:57end of the deal by sharing a rough mix of his progress, which Levy released himself
14:02and chased with a $42 million breach of contract lawsuit.
14:06Lennon, EMI, and Capitol Records countersued, with Levy being awarded a nominal $6,795 while
14:13having to pay out somewhere in the ballpark of $150,000.
14:176.
14:19The Chiffons – He's So Fine vs. George Harrison – My Sweet Lord
14:23Soon after releasing his solo hit, the first number one single by a former Beatle, George
14:28Harrison found himself at the center of a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Bright
14:32Tunes.
14:39Harrison was accused of plagiarizing the Ronnie Mac pen song, He's So Fine.
14:43The courts ruled that he had subconsciously copied the Chiffons smash, and would owe nearly
14:48$1.6 million in damages.
14:57But the story doesn't end there.
14:59After Harrison fired his manager, the previously mentioned Alan Klein, during the trial, Klein
15:04seized the opportunity to buy the copyright to He's So Fine.
15:09The courts ultimately decided that Harrison would only have to pay Klein's Abco Industries
15:14$587,000, and he ended up with the song's rights.
15:195.
15:20The Hollies – The Air That I Breathe vs. Radiohead – Creep
15:23This case is so open and shut it's almost dull.
15:35While writing Creep, Ed O'Brien pointed out to Tom York that the song's bridge had
15:39the same chords as The Air That I Breathe.
15:41So York decided to grab the song's melody too.
15:52That song's authors, Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood, then sued, but were impressed
15:57by the band's honesty and settled for credits and a cut of the Creep royalties.
16:01It's a sharp contrast to 2018, when Lana Del Rey would allege that Radiohead's team
16:06noticed passing similarities to Creep in her song Get Free, and demanded 100% of her royalties.
16:194.
16:23Marvin Gaye – Gotta Give It Up vs. Robin Thicke Featuring T.I. & Pharrell Williams
16:26– Blurred Lines
16:36In one of many controversies that plagued this summer hit, Robin Thicke actually sued
16:41Marvin Gaye's family for alleging the singer had plagiarized the late soul artist.
16:51While Thicke admitted he was inspired by Gotta Give It Up, he and co-writer Pharrell
16:55Williams contended that despite their similar vibe, they were essentially not the same,
17:00citing different chords, keys, and more.
17:08Bridgeport Music also became involved, due to claims that Blurred Lines sampled Funkadelic's
17:12Sexy Ways.
17:19Despite lots of support from music industry heavyweights who did not believe you could
17:23copyright a feeling, in 2018, a judge ordered Thicke and Williams to pay nearly $5 million
17:29to Marvin Gaye's estate.
17:333.
17:35Chuck Berry – Sweet Little Sixteen vs. The Beach Boys – Surfin' USA
17:39Here's an instance where the artist openly and knowingly used the tune to an existing
17:48song for his new composition.
17:52Brian Wilson wanted to write a song about surfing, and felt Chuck Berry's Sweet Little
17:56Sixteen was the perfect setting for his surf-themed lyrics.
17:59However, he neglected to credit Berry upon its recording and release.
18:10Although Surfin' USA was meant to be viewed as a tribute, Berry's publishing company
18:14was unimpressed, and forced Wilson's manager to surrender copyright to the Rock and Roll
18:19Pioneer's publisher, Arc Music.
18:252.
18:28Multiple Artists vs. Mark Ronson – Uptown Funk
18:31We guess it takes a village to write a hit song, too.
18:37Before the monster hit that is Uptown Funk was even released, Ronson and company offered
18:41some credit to Trinidad James.
18:44After it was released, The Gap Band came knocking, claiming similarities to their Oops Upside
18:49Your Head, followed by the sequence, collage, and finally zap in September of 2017.
18:57Additionally, Serbian artist Viktoria has alleged that the song lifts elements from
19:04one of her songs.
19:05By 2018, 17% of the track's royalties were transferred to The Gap Band, while the credits
19:11have ballooned from Ronson, Bruno Mars, Jeff Basker, and Philip Lawrence to include six
19:16additional songwriters from their respective groups.
19:23Before we unveil our number one pick, here are some honorable mentions.
19:27David Bowie – Boys Keep Swinging vs. Blur – M.O.R.
19:44Killing Joke – 80s vs. Nirvana – Come As You Are
20:01Brian Pringle – Take A Dive vs. Black Eyed Peas – I Got A Feeling
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20:36Queen – David Bowie – Under Pressure vs. Vanilla Ice – Ice Ice Baby
20:40It takes about seven notes to recognize Ice Ice Baby for what it is.
20:48While the signature bassline amounts to a sample, Vanilla Ice never sought permission
20:53to use it, and instead said his tinkering with the riff and adding one note made it
20:57original.
21:03But in the face of legal action, the rapper caved and granted David Bowie as well as all
21:08four members of Queen due credit… and royalties.
21:14In 2013, Ice claimed to have bought Under Pressure outright.
21:22However, the song's publishing info shows that it's co-owned by companies representing
21:26Queen, Bowie, and EMI Music, making Ice's claim a bit dubious.
21:37Do you agree with our picks?
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