Yahoo! Services

Account Options

New User? Sign Up Sign In Help

Yahoo! Search

Music Blogs

Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before

Posted Tue 17 Jun 2008 12:15PM BST by Mitch Carter in The Guestlist

Are Coldplay Guilty of Plagiarism?

Coldplay are refuting claims that the melody from ‘Viva La Vida' was copied from a song by indie rockers the Creaky Boards. The Brooklyn-based band state that Coldplay ripped off the melody from their ironically, and perhaps prophetically, named track ‘The Songs I Didn't Write' and they've put together a video comparing the two to prove it. In the video, Creaky Board frontman Andrew Hoepfner also claims that Chris Martin was spotted in the crowd at one of their gigs in 2007. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine last year, Chris Martin has admitted to plagiarising many, if not most, of the songs he wrote.

"We're definitely good, but I don't think you can say we're that original," he notes. "I regard us as being incredibly good plagiarists."

They're not the first British band to get in trouble for borrowing melodies. Coldplay's former label mates Radiohead settled out of court with 60s beat band The Hollies over their top ten hit ‘Creep'. Albert Hammond and Mike Hazelwood claimed the Radiohead song ‘Creep' followed a similar chord pattern to The Hollies' ‘The Air That I Breathe'. Hammond and Hazelwood now share a similar portion of the songwriting credits and royalties.

101 Comments

81. Joseph -
that is uncanny

82. charlie -
if you cannot see that this is an absolute rip off then you are retarded. cold play are a comercially driven joke of a band. this proves it! blam

83. Joseph -
thats not just the chord sequence ripped off, its the whole melody as well. but i dont like how creaky boards have reacted.

84. charlie -
what did you want the guy to do hear that the song is obviously a rip off and jst say [profane] it n carry on with his life. kiddding me

85. ROBERT -
nother case of he said she said rubbish ,, money grabbing loosers

86. Yahoo! Music User -
Have you heard of the twelve bar blues, many bands and many songs have been written using this sequence of chords, but do you hear the person who wrote them initially piping up and declaring that they should receive all the royalties, NO, so Creaky Boards, get a life and write something that catches the emotions of the public to buy your music so you too can benefit from inspiring the nation.

87. CRAIG -
rip off

88. Yahoo! Music User -
If I was to accuse someone of plagiarism, I think I'd choose a better song...

89. bigbrofan -
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I think they are very similar, but lots of songs share similarities. Creaky Boards should try to be philosophical about this. Things like this happen in lots of situations - that's just life! They should enjoy the publicity while it lasts and hope it gives them the break they need.

90. CAROLINE -
coldplay are the most brill band , all the tracks on this album , like all their music is amazing .the words , the tune the tallented Chris Martin voice, plus the melody all together make up this brill track.we fans in our millions love their music, someone wanting to get in on the act ,SAD REALY DONT U THINK.

91. Yahoo! Music User -
Its just music , whats next? copyrighting chord C.? cos someone 'owns' it. bunch a feckin kids...

92. whiskas -
Well I thought all Indie/grunge/punk or whatever bands sounded the same... Maybe I was wrong, he he he...

93. LOUISA -
COLDPLAY ROCKS!!!!!

94. P -
coldplay are awesome

the song sounded similar
but not the same

95. Yahoo! Music User -
Coldplay are a mediocre band. They were playing live on for the BBC the other day and they sounded really poor and amateurish when singing 'yellow'.

96. M.C.B -
this actually sounds like a song from the movie Music and Lyrics..."POp goes my heart" And its Hugh Grant singing it.

97. Yahoo! Music User -
Coldplay have more bass, clearly. It's alike, but why would Chris Martin want to see Creaky Boards perform? Think on that.

98. -
+ Lennon, were he still alive, would be within his rights to sue Radiohead for 'Karma Police'. Listen to the refrain and check the similarity with 'Sexy Sadie'.

99. Mark -
I've only just got this laptop, so I am still finding my way around what it's all about - hence a 'delayed' response to this question. I've just been listening to 'Knights Of Cydonia' by Muse - a band once observed as being similar to Radiohead? Not too much to figure out really: they once had the same producer! In KOC I can hear Dick Dale - very obvious! The Tornadoes, Spaghetti Western themes, and Iron Maidens' "gallopping guitars" - or was it 'Champion; The Wonder Horse'? Can't remember exactly. I haven't even heard the two songs in question so I guess I am talking out of my hind-quarters once again, however, others have and have observed. Unintentional plagarism is everywhere. And what is wrong if an artist borrows a riff or lyric done by someone else if they like it? Listen to QOTSA, and then go through your parents (even grandparents) record and tape collections. If it introduces new music, or re-introduces old music done by the original artists, then that's great. If there is always going to be this arguement over who-pinched-what-off-who then music in the future will be played safe through covers bands, because no-one will want to 'get into trouble'. Now I can tell you there aren't very many good covers bands; I saw this one the other night and.......

100. Pp -
coldplay can suck ma huge throbbing cocck. Grandad fuccking rock for idiots who cant see past the end of their noses. Chris Martin is a [profane], and, he pushes marbles up his asss, for fun.
Page:  1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 
Leave Your Comment
You must sign in to leave a comment
Select a Blog Posts
a-CMU-blog
by Chris Cooke
396
Chart Watch UK
by James Masterton
127
Down The Front
by Reviews Editor
49
Recommenders
by Reviews Editor
41
Snap, Crackle and Pop
by Dave Rumour
194
The Guestlist
by Mitch Carter
88
This Day In Music
by Neil Cossar
336
Touching The Void
by Johnny Famethrowa
227
Video Premieres
by The Editor
43

Most Comments

Jay-Z for BRITs

Dotmusic -
Tue 24 Nov 2009 11:30AM GMT

Dotmusic - Rap don to perform medley at London bash More »

More News Stories