“Good artists copy, great artists steal” is a quote famously attributed to Picasso. And if that’s the case, Picasso might have been a Robin Thicke fan, because Thicke and co-writer Pharrell Williams have just been slammed in a court case that said that their highly questionable hit ‘Blurred Lines’ infringes on the copyright of Marvin Gaye’s 1977 hit ‘Got To Give It Up’.
You can listen to the songs to make your own mind up, but Thicke and Pharrell have been ordered to pay out some US$4 million in copyright damages this week. In the history of music, there’s no avoiding the fact that some songs sound like others – there are only so many chords in the alphabet – and occasionally, the scandal becomes so obvious, the only way to settle it is through legal channels…
‘Down Under’ vs ‘Kookaburra’
‘Down Under’ versus ‘Kookaburra’ remains one of Australia’s biggest music-related court cases, involving an unofficial Australian anthem and a children’s classic. And it all came to a head thanks to Adam Hills.
On an otherwise uneventful episode of Spicks And Specks, the question was asked: “What children’s song is contained in the song ‘Down Under’?” The answer was, of course, ‘Kookaburra’.
‘Kookaburra’, a song about a Kookaburra that sits in an old gum tree, was written in 1932 by Marion Inclair and has been sung in school classrooms for decades. Colin Hay and Men At Work had apparently used part of the song’s melody in the flute section of their great Australian hit about Vegemite sandwiches.
Following this revelation, Larrikin Music (who owned the rights to the song) sued Men At Work for copyright infringement – a whopping 28 years after the offending song was released. The court battles ended in 2010, when it was decided that Larrikin were right, and would receive a cut of all royalties.
Sam Smith vs Tom Petty
Last year English artist Sam Smith tore up the charts with his song ‘Stay With Me’. It combined elements of pop, soul, gospel – and as he found out a little later, a Tom Petty hit.
Petty and Jeff Lynne wrote the song ‘I Won’t Back Down’ back in 1989, a track that features George Harrison on guitar, and is played on classic rock stations around the world. The similarities between chorus of the song, and Smith’s ‘Stay With Me’ are obvious to say the least.
The story had a happy ending, though: Petty’s people contacted Smith’s people, pointed out the similarities, and now Petty and Lynne have a songwriting credit on the track. Everybody wins.
‘Ice Ice Baby’ vs ‘Under Pressure’
Have you ever been at a party, or listening to the radio, when that bassline comes in? You’re stoked. “Yes!”, you say to yourself, “They’re playing ‘Under Pressure’, I love this song!”
And then all of a sudden, Vanilla Ice starts rapping.
There’s no doubt in even the casual listener’s mind that the two songs share similarities, and by similarities I mean, Vanilla Ice straight up ripped off a legendary Queen + David Bowie song.
Vanilla Ice went through various stages of denial over the matter, claiming he never sampled ‘Under Pressure’, then claiming that he did but changed it (watch his eloquent explanation below), and then just admitting it’s the bassline from ‘Under Pressure’. Bowie and members of Queen now enjoy some songwriting credits alongside Robert ‘Vanilla Ice’ Winkle.
If only they’d banned the damn song altogether.
