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]!"?
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]!"?
