I remember starting a thread about this some time ago - as I can't find the original (it might have been pruned) I thought I'd start anew. So I was looking into further music from the 2000s (from a previous thread) and came across a Wikipedia entry for "Seven Nation Army" by the White Stripes. I was interested to learn that the main riff from that song was very similar to a passage from Bruckner's Symphony no. 1, 1st movement (heard best around the 3 minutes 35 seconds mark on the YouTube link). That reminded me that there has to be more pop songs out there that borrow heavily from other songs - be they classical music works (including the now heavily-plundered Pachelbel's Canon and Gigue in D) or even refer to notable passages and melodies from other popular songs. Taking this a few steps further, there are also some songs that actually sound a LOT like other existing tunes - some time ago I mentioned the example of how both "Shine" by Take That and the theme from "The Fall Guy" share certain rhythms, melodies, harmonies, and chord progressions to the extent that they do sound a little like each other. Similarly, often it's not even the specific melody or chord progression that's borrowed, but it's the unique sound of an older pop recording that is emulated in the newer song too - one notable example includes the guitar sound of "Telstar" by The Tornados and "Knights of Cydonia" by Muse. Taking this even further than that, some songs even go out of their way to sample older songs or classical music recordings, often without permission - the list is immense - and use them as part of a newer recording or song. I recall the KLF (especially when known as The JAMMs) did this a lot while geting into all sorts of legal wranglings in the process - not that they cared (they didn't of course) - and it's a common practice in modern hip-hop too. (Of course, all this is fodder for the mash-up movement who often take advantage of the musical similarities between songs to merge two or more recordings together to form a new remix - but that's another story altogether. ) Are there any other songs you've heard that sound a lot like a seemingly unrelated song, tune, music passage, etc. - either through sampling, borrowing a melody or harmonic chord progression from older popular or classical works, or even recreating the recording's innovative sound? In short, have you heard a brand new song and thought, "That sounds like [such and such]!"?
The beginning of Miley Cyrus' See You Again sounds exactly like Corey Hart's Sunglasses at Night. The two lines are "I wear my sunglasses at night..." and "I've got my sights set on you..." I don't think this was done on purpose and it's just one line so it shouldn't be a big deal, but they sound REALLY alike! I always think of the other song when I hear one of them.
The beginning of Fountains of Wayne's Stacy's Mom sounds just like Azra's You're Just What I Needed. And, of course I always think Def Leppard's Rock of Ages is Offspring's Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)
The guitar riff from Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" has always reminded me strongly of the guitar riff from Boston's "More Than a Feeling." I've been assured by people who actually play music that the notes are actually quite different. But I hear the similarity, nonetheless. Also, the riff from the chorus of "Calm Like a Bomb" by Rage Against the Machine reminds me of the main riff from Black Sabbath's "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath".
If you're referring to the song by The Cars, I wouldn't be surprised if that was intentional. FoW lists The Cars as an influence.
Bad Company had two songs: No Smoke Without a Fire and Holy Water. The music is virtually the same but the lyrics are different.
I find that Finger Eleven's "Paralyzer" sounds uncannily similar to Franz Ferdinand's "Take Me Out", but apparently not everyone can hear it. Maybe it's just me. >shrugs< Also, on the subject of relatively modern works sampling classical music, this is probably fairly well-known, but Procul Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale" borrows its melody from Bach's "Air on a G String".
I thought of "Paralyzer" as not only featuring elements of "Take Me Out" but also containing heavy elements of the verse-chorus structure of Simple Minds's "Don't You (Forget About Me)" too. "Take Me Out" has a lot in common with "Shut Up And Let Me Go" by the Ting Tings too - both have similar rhythms. Interestingly, that song is apparently the most-played song in Britain over the last 75 years.
Oh no.. I noticed that right off the bat the first time I heard it.. Kind of freaky really.. And of course, there's the most recent case of Joe Satriani accusing (rather convincingly) Coldplay of ripping off their big Viva la Vida hit from one of his more obsure, but excellent songs. Linky: http://www.zoorag.com/article/did_coldplay_rip_off_joe_satriani You can compare the two on Youtube...
The first time I heard it I was genuinely surprised when it wasn't "Take Me Out". So count me in, too.
I remember reading that Cobain said that's where he got it from. It's a different chord progression, but that is where he got the rhythm.
I love both bands, but the main riff of Queensryche's Best I can" sounds like the main riff of rush's Spirit of Radio. Rush's own Far Cry sounds like their song Neurotica
The first time I heard Enya's "Drifting", I thought it sounded very much like an instrumental version of REM's "Everybody Hurts". http://www.last.fm/music/Enya/_/Drifting
Johnny Cash's 1964 "Understand Your Man" is so much like Bob Dylan's 1963 "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" it makes you wonder why he didn't just cover it. --Justin
When I first heard Paralyzer, I thought, "Why do I know this song?" After reading this thread, I checked out Franz Ferdinand and the Ting Tings; but those aren't the songs I was thinking about. So I just finished doing some googling and found my answer: It's Led Zeppelin's "Trampled Under Foot" that has that same guitar riff!
Classics examples are "La Bamba" and "Twist and Shout". Also Elvis' "Little Sister" and the Beatles "Ballad of John and Yoko" sound alot alike to me.