Posted Tuesday 05/05/2009 8:00 PM in
Maxim Music Blog by Conrad Doucette
Filed under: Lawsuits, Cat Stevens, Joe Satriani, Coldplay, Plagiarism
Can't people just leave Coldplay alone?
The poor English dudes just want to get on with the business of being a hugely popular, non-threatening, massively wealthy Huge Rock Band. They want fame. Popularity. Respect.
Two out of three ain't bad, etc.
You may recall that Coldplay were served with a lawsuit over the winter, the allegation being that their song "Vida La Vida" sounded a little too much like Joe Satriani's "If I Could Fly." It was hard not to agree with Satriani - comparatively, the choruses are very similar. Also, as Satriani wouldn't shut up about, he wrote "If I Could Fly" for HIS WIFE, and so Coldplay stealing his melody was like Coldplay KNOCKING UP HIS WIFE, and so Coldplay would HAVE TO PAY for STEALING his VERY PERSONAL SONG about his freaking WIFE.
So yeah, that suit's still going on. And, of course, there was also the claim by Brooklyn indie band Creaky Boards that "Viva La Vida" was actually their melody. Man.
Now, Cat Stevens is piling on, too. The current Yusuf Islam told UK tab The Sun (via the NME) that "Viva La Vida" is really his tune, specifically part of his The Foreigner Suite Part II. Preach on, dude:
“There’s been this argument about Coldplay stealing this melody from JOE SATRIANI, but, if you listen to it, it’s mine! It’s the 'Foreigner Suite,' it is!”
Luckily for Coldplay, Stevens isn't suing. But that doesn't mean he won't necessarily not get anything out of all this. Remember, the Flaming Lips avoided legal entanglements by splitting the dough from their 2002 song "Fight Test" with Stevens, who very rightly observed that the Lips' melody was not dissimilar to his own "Father & Son."
You may be asking yourself, if Satriani's song sounds like Coldplay's, and Coldplay's sounds like Cat Stevens', then why doesn't Cat Stevens go after Joe Satriani? Good question. Perhaps he's waiting for every artist who's ever written this stupid melody to come out of the creaky boards. Or maybe he's waiting to be called as a witness at the Satriani trial.
Here's the Cat Stevens song in question. Go to 5:20 or so, close your eyes, and picture a bearded Chris Martin.
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| Posted by ronald on 05/06/2009 2:37 AM | report abuse |
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Why don't you take your argument to the Jerry Springer show ? Who cares about Cat Stevens or what ever he calls himself? He changed his name, but some of his best work is the soundtrack of Harold and Maude circa 1971. Joe Satrini is above reproach !! How many songs do you know that loosley follow the tune of "Happy Birthday" ? I guess I agree with you that Cold Play could've come up with the tune on their own but in America's sue happy society, what could you expect ?
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| Posted by Andy on 05/06/2009 10:02 AM | report abuse |
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I just don't get it. Most musicians would know that this is a basic chord progression. You can only do so much before you run out of things. Cat Stevens was definitely not the first to use this, and Coldplay will not be the last person to use this.
And why wouldn't Cat be going after Satriani, he obiviously "stole it" first.
Just as Ronald said, sue happy.
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| Posted by jeff on 05/06/2009 6:28 PM | report abuse |
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I agree, any musician will tell you that they have come up with tunes and chord progressions that sound very close to each others songs from the past and from similar time. i've written songs and then herd eerily similar songs on the radio weeks later. The reason being is that musicians all listen to each other's music, we find ideas we like and we take old songs switch them up (different tempo, instrument parts, and lyrics but the same basic sound, brought into our time and call it a new sound.) America is VERY sue happy, which is just one of our many flaws. I won't deny that Satriani is an amazing guitarist and I really enjoy his music, but I think the real problem is that he is the past and he's grown used to being the star, and he's not ready to give up his spot. I really don't think the members of Coldplay were trying to metaphorically gan-bang his wife. come on Joey, grow up.
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