When does influence become theft?
Imitation is inevitable in any art form, and originality is a lost art – just look at how incestuous musical genres have become. But of course, the little room there is for innovation is no excuse for downright plagiarism – the line is blurry, but it’s definitely there.
Photo credit:Wikipedia Commons/Jim Summaria
Last week, Led Zeppelin came out victorious in a copyright lawsuit that claimed they had plagiarised the music to their most well-known song, ‘Stairway To Heaven’. Lawyers for the late guitarist Randy Wolfe of the band Spirit claimed that Led Zep lifted the riff from their 1968 song, ‘Taurus’, but a jury in Los Angeles only took a day to find the claim false.
The case was not necessarily about whether the two songs were similar, but rather whether Led Zeppelin’s exposure to the Spirit song influenced them during the writing of ‘Stairway To Heaven’. The two bands played on the same bill in the early stages of Led Zeppelin’s career.
Other songwriters have not been so lucky with the law, some being forced to hand over 100 per cent of royalties from their biggest hits to the suing artists.
The most recent high-profile case to make the headlines before ‘Stairway To Heaven’ was the battle between Robert Thicke and the family of Marvin Gaye over Thicke’s number one hit, ‘Blurred Lines’. But there are plenty of others to go round…
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Ray Parker Jr. – ‘Ghostbusters’ / Huey Lewis and The News – ‘I Want A New Drug’
What better place to start than the iconic Ghostbusters theme song and ‘I Want A New Drug’ by Huey Lewis and The News? The two settled out of court in 1995.
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George Harrison – ‘My Sweet Lord’ / The Chiffons – ‘He’s So Fine’
Poor old Georgey. It’s 1970, he’s free from The Beatles, his song ‘My Sweet Lord’ is his first solo track to shoot to the top of the charts, and then The Chiffons come along and take him to court because he apparently stole their song ‘He’s So Fine’.
The court ruled that he “subconsciously” copied the song, and according to Billboard, Harrison was too “paranoid” after the battle to write new songs for some time.
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The Strokes – ‘Last Night’ / Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers – ‘American Girl’
It was the opening chord that got The Strokes in hot water, but to be awfully punny, it was a petty crime, because The Strokes openly admitted to taking the intro from ‘American Girl’, and so no hard feelings arose.
In a 2006 interview with Rolling Stone, Petty commented: “Therewas an interview that took place with them where they actually admitted it. That made me laugh out loud. I was like, ‘OK, good for you.’ It doesn’t bother me.” The Strokes were even invited to open for Tom Petty on serveral of his tour dates back in 2006.
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Red Hot Chili Peppers – ‘Dani California’ / Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers – Mary Jane’s Last Dance’
Petty once again showed his disdain for lawsuits and allegations with his blase response to the similarity between his song and RHCP’s ‘Dani California’.
The two songs have similar chord progressions, but as Petty toldRolling Stone:“The truth is, I seriously doubt that there is any negative intent there. And a lot of rock & roll songs sound alike. Ask Chuck Berry… If someone took my song note for note and stole it maliciously, then maybe. But I don’t believe in lawsuits much. I think there are enough frivolous lawsuits in this country without people fighting over pop songs.”
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The Verve – ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ / The Rolling Stones – ‘The Last Time’
And then we come to the other side of the coin. Following their 1997 hit, The Verve lost a battle with two old Rolling Stones managers, Allen Klein and later Andrew Loog Oldham.
The Verve eventually settled out of court and handed over 100 per cent of their songwriting royalties for their biggest hit. The dispute came about after The Verve were accused of using a larger portion of the song ‘The Last Time’ – itself inspired by an orchestral performance of the original – than was covered in their negotiated licence.
There’s no doubt that as music’s development becomes more circular, these lawsuits will come and go more than ever. Hopefully artists can take the Tom Petty approach and recognise that there was probably never any bad intentions… besides, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Why can’t we all just get along?
