Coldplay sued for plagiarism

Amazotheamazing

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/theampersand/archive/2008/12/05/216213.aspx

MagicMarker

Seems pretty clear cut to me.

Nolanger

We know already:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055434691

funktastic

Ride would also have a good case:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMaJWlU2i54

compare to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XonuuQZSCE

shane86

Hope they get cleaned out. Utter sh1t only bought by people who also like The Killers, The Chillis, Maroon 5 and other completely irrelevant similar new-ish bands of poor sound and laughably bad lyircism.

davylee

shane86 wrote: »

Hope they get cleaned out. Utter sh1t only bought by people who also like The Killers, The Chillis, Maroon 5 and other completely irrelevant similar new-ish bands of poor sound and laughably bad lyircism.

What a stupid statement. I have all coldplays albums but yet i dont like any of the other bands you stated???
Why do people catagorise every band somebody likes by mentioning just one.
Coldplay Poor sound?? Maybe you should have a listen to some of their stuff or better still go see them live and then say they have a bad sound.
It would be very hard to say

shane86

davylee wrote: »

Why do people catagorise every band somebody likes by mentioning just one.

They are a poor band.

Liked mainly by people who also dig the aforementioned irrelevant bands (could probably throw Nirvana and the Foos into that list as well)

We may have to agree to disagree. So be it.

davylee

shane86 wrote: »

They are a poor band.

Liked mainly by people who also dig the aforementioned irrelevant bands (could probably throw Nirvana and the Foos into that list as well)

We may have to agree to disagree. So be it.

Most threads ive read on boards regarding coldplay have been ones of discontent.Thats fine because thats opinion.
But when people start saying if you're buying coldplay you're probably buying the killers, maroon 5 etc thats just snobbery.
If you like one band you hear on the radio you like them all and the only reason you do is because of all the exposure from radio.
From reading a lot of threads thats what i believe most people think.
and thats wrong

ShawnRaven

Already in R&M, but i'll say it again. Coldplay don't have a leg to stand on in this case, and I'm sure Mr Satch will be more than happy to settle out of court.

Maybe Chris & Co will cop on and stop being so lazy in future. They might even manage to pull off Parachutes II with a little bit of effort, but i won't hold my breath.

ShawnRaven

funktastic wrote: »

Ride would also have a good case:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMaJWlU2i54

compare to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XonuuQZSCE

Nah, i'm a fan of Ride but they the two songs aren't that similar, they start off with the same note... and thats about it.
Dreams Burn Down wasn't mindnumbing sh*te either, nor did it depend on a reality TV show to get it over (which lets face it, at the time (2002), In My Place wouldn't have been anywhere near as successful had it not for Big Brother using it.)

Nice to see though i'm not the only one who remembers them, and Nowhere was such a f*cking awesome album.

funktastic

Coldplay have said Ride were a big influence in their early days. The opening drum beat is very similar, and the opening guitar riff.

Yep Ride are a much better band.

MooseJam

whats wrong with the killers all of a sudden

stovelid

ShawnRaven wrote: »

Nice to see though i'm not the only one who remembers them, and Nowhere was such a f*cking awesome album.

This thread has put in mind of them, and Nowhere, again. Just dug it out again. Great stuff, especially Dreams Burn Down, Kaleidoscope, and Vapour Trail.

drumdrum

Its a pretty clear cut case alright!

But anyone here whos a musician will know how hard it is to be totally original these days. Pretty much everyone who is in a band will have at some point in their careers written a song that is new to them, but incidentally is too similar to another song, even though they will never have heard of that song before!

After all, there are only 12 notes per scale to which only a few of them "sound good" under normal classical rules, which modern pop music seems to adhere to for some reason. Listen to jazz or experimental music to see how good adventurous music progressions can be!

Dublin_Andy

Coldplay are brilliant.... they have such a unique sound. chris martins voice is unlike any other voice ive heard..

same goes for The Killers. and the Chili s. i have a few of their music books..

i hate when people say that their utter ****e... if they actually listen to any of their albums or go see them live they might change their tune about how **** they are...

i like classic rock and 80 s etc etc. my taste in music is very diverse...

but you cant say a band is ****... people who say that just arent giving these recent bands a chance...they are going by the singles they release and what they hear on the radio or in a club or whatever...

Hellm0

Not having listened to the sound samples I cannot really say if they are similar or not but in all fairness it is pretty difficult NOT to rip off the music you like when writing.

As for the comments grouping all fans of one band into some hypothetical group of people with bad taste; I think both Satriani and Coldplay are useless, but I like some of the Killers and love Nirvana. Don't be a music nazi; there are lots of reasons to like/dislike different bands, you just don't like people:P

Dublin_Andy

shane86 wrote: »

Hope they get cleaned out. Utter sh1t only bought by people who also like The Killers, The Chillis, Maroon 5 and other completely irrelevant similar new-ish bands of poor sound and laughably bad lyircism.

by the way, you cant put maroon 5 in the same league as any of them bands...

if you knew about modern music you d kno that maroon 5 are a pop band...

truecrippler

Dublin_Andy wrote: »

Coldplay are brilliant.... they have such a unique sound. chris martins voice is unlike any other voice ive heard..

same goes for The Killers. and the Chili s. i have a few of their music books..

i hate when people say that their utter ****e... if they actually listen to any of their albums or go see them live they might change their tune about how **** they are...

i like classic rock and 80 s etc etc. my taste in music is very diverse...

but you cant say a band is ****... people who say that just arent giving these recent bands a chance...they are going by the singles they release and what they hear on the radio or in a club or whatever...

Unlike any other voice you've ever heard? He just whines like the rest of the crap bands out nowadays.

Killers are useless too. Their music sounds like it should belong as a backing track to some National Geographic Program but they decided to throw in some lyrics that have to do with someones Boyfriend looking like their girlfriend..... very creative indeed.

truecrippler

Dublin_Andy wrote: »

by the way, you cant put maroon 5 in the same league as any of them bands...

if you knew about modern music you d kno that maroon 5 are a pop band...

In all fairness now, I think the Killers and Coldfrayplay are "classed" as rock... now thats funny. They're in the same league as Maroon 5 imo.
They appeal to people who enjoy commercially good bands that sell their selves on image and their music video's.

Diggabot

Coldplay have gotten progressively worse as they've gone progressively up Chris Martin's ar*e. Parachutes was a good album but their sub-par delusions of U2 grandeur have gotten dull.

LaMer

Utter sh1t only bought by people who also like The Killers, The Chillis, Maroon 5 and other completely irrelevant similar new-ish bands of poor sound and laughably bad lyircism.

If by the Chillis you mean Red Hot Chili Peppers, what a retarded statement, I mean seriously retarded. They've been around since the early 80s and have created a distinct sound.

Diggabot

truecrippler wrote: »

... they decided to throw in some lyrics that have to do with someones Boyfriend looking like their girlfriend..... very creative indeed.

Don't forget "are we human or are we dancers" ..... pure pants!!!

zuroph

Diggabot wrote: »

Don't forget "are we human or are we dancers" ..... pure pants!!!

:rolleyes: do some research on the line, just cos u dont understand it doesnt mean its rubbish.

nxbyveromdwjpg

shane86 wrote: »

They are a poor band.

Liked mainly by people who also dig the aforementioned irrelevant bands (could ... Nirvana)

...moron

Diggabot

zuroph wrote: »

:rolleyes: do some research on the line, just cos u dont understand it doesnt mean its rubbish.

I think the association with the great Hunter S Thompson is insulting to his memory.

Dudess

stovelid wrote: »

This thread has put in mind of them, and Nowhere, again. Just dug it out again. Great stuff, especially Dreams Burn Down, Kaleidoscope, and Vapour Trail.

Oh man, I was OBSESSED with Ride in my early teens... what the hell went wrong?! Genius band - such a shame.
ShawnRaven, check out my shoegazing thread: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055134614
Anyhoo, have to say I'm very much in agreement with funktastic. There are serious similarities between Dreams Burn Down and In My Place. Can't believe I didn't notice that before...

LaMer wrote: »

If by the Chillis you mean Red Hot Chili Peppers, what a retarded statement, I mean seriously retarded. They've been around since the early 80s and have created a distinct sound.

No doubt RHCP used to be great... but in the past 10 years they've become as bland as The Lighthouse Family. They get played on Cork's 96FM on a loop (for those in Dublin, think 98FM crossed with Q102).

I don't agree with the really snide dissing of people's tastes though. I think Coldplay are generally bland but they've a few great songs, ditto Keane. I think The Killers are pretty good. Better to have people listening to the likes of them than Shayne Ward...

Basq

nm can take a few days off for his lack of constructive criticism..

Setun

Well Martin's writing isn't great as it is.

r3nu4l

Anyone else notice the not quite subliminal 'ROFL' at around 15 seconds in that vid when Chris Martin appears 'stretched' due to the poor aspect ratio of the picture?

Either way, the original bit seems clear cut but the 'Ride' song isn't so clear cut imo.

As to whether Coldplay are 'irrelevant' or not, that's simply a matter of taste. I'm sure if Shane86 listed all the 'cool' 'relevant' bands he liked many of us here would disagree, probably as many as would agree with him. Personal taste, live and let live people. :rolleyes:

jim o doom

I reckon dissing music is fine; it riles the people who like it up - which is great fun! C'mon people, don't tell me that none of you like winding up other people from time to time & if the thing you are using to wind them up happens to be music you don't like - all the better! because people tend to feel pretty strongly about "their taste" even though it's entirely subjective, which is all the better to use it for "wind-up ammo". Oh yeah and coldgay suck btw

meditraitor

shane96 wrote: »

Hope they get cleaned out. Utter sh1t only bought by people who also like The Killers, The Chillis, Maroon 5 and other completely irrelevant similar new-ish bands of poor sound and laughably bad lyircism.

Bit over the top there chief, Coldplay are ok, the Killers are good, Chillis good and maroon 5 are tripe.

Why are these bands irrelevant?

What do you mean by bad sound? Whats a good sound?

Laughably bad lyricism? What are good lyrics?

I wouldnt but many would consider your reply to be one of a 12 year old who just got his hands on a zeppelin album and thinks he knows what "real " music is.

Killers have sold 12m records
Coldplay have sold 40 m records
Chillis have sold over 50 m

All these bands have big fan bases and its mainly because many millions of people love there stuff for which they deserve some respect. All musicians write music so others can enjoy it, thats the point. And if over a hundred million people enjoy the music of these bands you so quickly label as crap then maybe its your taste and opinion that is crap.

Back on topic

Ride were crap and if they go to court they wont get a penny as Im sure if I spent a while I could find an earlier tune from a different band which would sound like their stuff.

Thats music, all music is born of influence and sometimes similarities are inevitable.

Dudess

meditraitor wrote: »

I wouldnt but many would consider your reply to be one of a 12 year old who just got his hands on a zeppelin album and thinks he knows what "real " music is.

Just an opinion though.

Killers have sold 12m records
Coldplay have sold 40 m records
Chillis have sold over 50 m

All these bands have big fan bases and its mainly because many millions of people love there stuff for which they deserve some respect. All musicians write music so others can enjoy it, thats the point. And if over a hundred million people enjoy the music of these bands you so quickly label as crap then maybe its your taste and opinion that is crap.

I'm not dissing those bands - I pointed out their strengths earlier - but really, popularity is not a sign of quality, nor is it demanding of respect. I mean, do I have to bring up Westlife, Backstreet Boys, New Kids on the Block...?

Ride were crap

Bit hypocritical of you, don't ya think? You were just on at someone for labelling other bands crap. Now you may dislike Ride, and that's cool, but in my opinion, they were far more creative and original than any of the bands you're insisting deserve respect.

and if they go to court they wont get a penny as Im sure if I spent a while I could find an earlier tune from a different band which would sound like their stuff.

Why does that mean they wouldn't get a penny?

I dislike music snobbery but I also dislike the music PC brigade - "we're so angry at people who look down on those who like mainstream, non cutting edge music that we've been pushed to the point of thinking it's ok to actually diss those who like alternative music".

gillyfromlyre

shane86 wrote: »

They are a poor band.

Liked mainly by people who also dig the aforementioned irrelevant bands (could probably throw Nirvana and the Foos into that list as well)

We may have to agree to disagree. So be it.

Nirvana, what? do they wear the same type of socks or something, I can't see or for that matter hear a comparison, who do you like as a matter of interest

stovelid

In fairness, the drum intro sounds similar, but the poster was correct when they said - within the (admittedly musically narrow) accepted indie format - that 'reused' tunes are to be expected.

Take the first song (Seagull) on the actual Ride album in question: the opening bass riff sounds like.....hardly needs an introduction at this stage.

meditraitor

Dudess wrote: »

Just an opinion though.

I'm not dissing those bands - I pointed out their strengths earlier - but really, popularity is not a sign of quality, nor is it demanding of respect. I mean, do I have to bring up Westlife, Backstreet Boys, New Kids on the Block...?

Bit hypocritical of you, don't ya think? You were just on at someone for labelling other bands crap. Now you may dislike Ride, and that's cool, but in my opinion, they were far more creative and original than any of the bands you're insisting deserve respect.

Why does that mean they wouldn't get a penny?

I dislike music snobbery but I also dislike the music PC brigade - "we're so angry at people who look down on those who like mainstream, non cutting edge music that we've been pushed to the point of thinking it's ok to actually diss those who like alternative music".

Fair enough, and I dont regret voting you as most lickable.

cornbb

I've never been a fan of Coldplay, I think they're dull, twee and unimaginative. Don't think its necessarily a clear-cut case of plagiarism though. Its entirely possible that Satriani (a great guitarist but a pretty bland composer) and Coldplay (also bland composers/songwriters) both happened to come up with the same bland 4-chord progression. I'd be interested to hear a musicologist's opinion of this.

Dudess

Have to say I love Viva La Vida - great song.

stovelid wrote: »

Take the first song (Seagull) on the actual Ride album in question: the opening bass riff sounds like.....hardly needs an introduction at this stage.

I'm stumped - what?

meditraitor wrote: »

I dont regret voting you as most lickable.

stovelid

Dudess wrote: »

I'm stumped - what?

Taxman. I always thought so anyway..

Karl Hungus

cornbb wrote: »

I've never been a fan of Coldplay, I think they're dull, twee and unimaginative. Don't think its necessarily a clear-cut case of plagiarism though. Its entirely possible that Satriani (a great guitarist but a pretty bland composer) and Coldplay (also bland composers/songwriters) both happened to come up with the same bland 4-chord progression. I'd be interested to hear a musicologist's opinion of this.

It's not just the same 4 chord progression. If that's all there was to it, then I doubt anyone would blink an eye, but there's more than the chord progression, the vocal melody is almost identical to the lead guitar melody in Satch's song. It's the same melody played over the same chord progession, and either of those things indipendant of each other could easily be a coincidence, but together it doesn't leave much room for coincidence.

Dudess

stovelid wrote: »

Taxman. I always thought so anyway..

Not as similar as The Jam's Start/Elvis Costello and the Attractions' Pump It Up, but yeah, Ride made no secret of their adoration for the Beatles. There's a track on their Going Blank Again LP called Not Fazed, which has always reminded me of Day Tripper.

Zaph

Another guy unimpressed by Coldplay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KEGHfQuZJY

cornbb

Karl Hungus wrote: »

It's not just the same 4 chord progression. If that's all there was to it, then I doubt anyone would blink an eye, but there's more than the chord progression, the vocal melody is almost identical to the lead guitar melody in Satch's song. It's the same melody played over the same chord progession, and either of those things indipendant of each other could easily be a coincidence, but together it doesn't leave much room for coincidence.

The chord progression is the key to the thing though. (Or maybe I should say tonality progression? I'm not sure.) It basically lays the bedrock for the melody to lie upon, a framework if you will, and the melody has a certain amount of freedom once it follows that framework. I'm sure you know what I mean, as a musician.

I think if you listen closely to the melodies there are more deviations than are apparent than if you just listen to the tonality/chord progression. But its the similar chord progression that jumps out at us.

Anyway, I'm not a musicologist, I'm just trying to say that the song isn't Necessarily a rip-off, and I say that as someone who dislikes Coldplay a lot. They are a populist band, they are followers not leaders. They have very few innovative ideas of their own.