Songs That Sound Too Close For Comfort

I am sure that all of us are forever hearing songs (new and old) and thinking “Hmmmm, what does that remind me of…” The other day I heard John Waite’s ‘Encircled’ and thought that I was actually listening to the beginning of Alice Cooper’s ‘Poison’.

It’s not like it’s some hip-hop sample, because real musicians don’t need to use other people’s music for their artistic gains. Real musicians have their own talent and ability, so therefore write their own music. Covering a song is of course different and very few artists ever make it worthwhile but, that’s another story.

I can only assume that when a highly respected artist produces some music that is uncomfortably similar to some ‘other music’, that they have never heard the ‘other music’ before. Of course, everyone has heard ‘Poison', which was written by Cooper and a certain Desmond Child, way after Waite’s ‘Encircled’. I am surpised however, that a songwriter of Child’s stature, wasn’t familiar with John Waite’s back catalogue.

When I decided to write this article, I suddenly realised that I can barely remember any of the songs that I have heard over the years and thought “Plagiarising Bastards!” However in recent times the most unlikely candidate stays fixed firmly in my mind…

Yes, strangely the biggest culprits have been Dream Theater. The undisputed kings of neo-prog and all things musically wondrous, have obviously never heard any Muse, Limp Bizkit or Tool. Muse’s ‘Citizen Erased’ is utterly plagiarised by Dream Theater in the last 34 seconds of ‘These Walls’ from Octavarium.

‘Never Enough’ from the same album is so swamped in ‘Musisms’ it’s uncanny! On the release of ‘Octavarium’, they said that they had been listening to Coldplay a lot, but no mention of the UK’s other biggest band at the time. They have since conceded to liking Muse and I am still searching for any Coldplay fills from Mike Portnoy.

Our beloved Dream Theater also have a stab at Limp Bizkit’s ‘Eat You Alive’ with another Octavarium number ‘Panic Attack’ – this one is close to a lawsuit. My brother always had a bee in his bonnet about a Tool track that he feels is being reproduced. When I asked him which song it is he replied “Hummm... think it was track 8 but can't remember which DT album or which Tool track it is either!” OK, so this one isn’t conclusive.

Making reference and rejoicing in other people’s sounds is fine, but sometimes it just sounds like a total rip off. I hate to use Dream Theater as a main subject, but these are the facts and were ignored by the critics, fans and band alike. In their defence, nearly every other neo-prog band has plagiarised everything that they have ever recorded.

Oasis are frequently associated with the Beatles musically, but also had a good crack at Slade and T-Rex, but cleverly kept everything somehow original, even if ‘Cigarettes And Alcohol’ is a tad similar to the latter’s ‘Get It On’. However, Green Day’s dreary ‘Bouelevard of Broken Dreams’ is very similar to ‘Wonderwall’!

Others that spring to mind and always shock me are Belinda Carlise’s ‘Heaven Is A Place On Earth’ that totally rips off Bon Jovi’s ‘Living On A Prayer’. Bon Jovi (and interestingly their co-writer, Desmond Child) also get it in the neck from Robbie William’s ‘Let Me Entertain You’, which is just a reworking of ‘Keep The Faith’.

Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ is surely Boston’s ‘More Than A Feeling’, and Jet’s ‘Are You Gonna Be My Girl’ must be Iggy Pop’s ‘Lust For Life’? And then there’s the infamous case of Whitesnake’s ‘Judgement Day’ verses Led Zep's ‘Kashmir’ – enough said.

On a personal level, one of my own unpublished songs ‘If It Wasn’t Love?’ is almost musically identical to The Darkness’s ‘Friday Night’. However (to my knowledge), they have never heard my song and ‘Friday Night’ is a fantastic ray of light, so no harm done!

There are only so many notes, chords and formulae to go around, so as we regurgitate them, similarities will occur more and more. As a child I used to naively conclude that the Beatles had it easy as “No-one had ever written any other songs before them…” But as time moves on and the world generally wants melody driven music, it’s hard not to collide with the templates The Beatles, Muse and Limp Bizkit have already laid down.

However, my favourite sound-alike is by the door on my wood burner, that sounds exactly like the beginning of Anthrax’s ‘Random Acts Of Senseless Violence’!

Have a good one and keep warm this Christmas!!!

RHR