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In a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Coldplay front man Chris Martin has admitted to plagiarizing many, if not most, of the songs he wrote. Specifically, Chris said:
“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.”
In another article, the song “Fix You” was specifically mentioned as being a copy of Elbow’s “Grace Under Pressure”. To that, guitarist Jonny Buckland had this to say.
“We’ve never so directly stolen off anyone before. We’ve never paid for our plagiarism.”
Joe Satriani has broken his silence for the first time after it was announced he is suing Coldplay for plagiarism.
The guitarist claims the British band copied elements of his 2004 song 'If I Could Fly' for their track 'Viva La Vida'. However, speaking for the first time about the case, the guitarist insists he did not want his claims to come to court, but that Coldplay ignored him. "Everybody assumes I'm trying to go after these guys in Coldplay, as if I'm doing this with malice, that's the furthest thing from my mind. I'm just doing what I need to do as an artist, to protect what's mine, to protect those feelings I put down in song," he told Musicradar.com.
"I did everything I could to avoid a court case with this situation. But Coldplay didn't want to talk about it. They just wanted this whole thing to go away. Maybe they figured this little guitar player guy will leave them alone after a while, I don't know. But we're talking about a piece of art that I created, and that's something I feel is important. I think everybody should feel that way."
Satriani said he recognised his work in Coldplay's single the moment he first heard the song.
"I felt like a dagger went right through my heart. It hurt so much," he said. "The second I heard it, I knew it was [my own] 'If I Could Fly'.
"Almost immediately, from the minute their song came out, my e-mail box flooded with people going, 'Have you heard this song by Coldplay? They ripped you off man.' I mean, I couldn't tell you how many e-mails I received. Everybody noticed the similarities between the songs. It's pretty obvious."
Coldplay have yet to respond to the guitarist's allegations.
Well you make your mind up. Is imitation the greatest form of flattery. Is Joe being a little precious? Or are Cold Play, who incidentally are charging $50 more than U2 for standing room at their upcoming gig in Sydney ($140 bucks!) ripping off uncle Joe's riff?
ahh yes, i remember this and it was about the time i also realized that i hate cold play. that must mean i also hate the song they knocked off so i hate the orignal and the plagurized song. Throw cold play in jail for copying a crap song and throw that made it first in jail for making a crap song. JOKE copying is bad, very very bad
ReplyDeleteMeh. I just don't like coldplay because they suck.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention that they l/s and b stole their musical direction, atmospherics and stylings from Travis to begin with...
ReplyDeleteAnother English invasion of Scottish ideas!
I must be the one person in the universe who's never heard Coldplay. But judging by all the hostility they attract, I don't seem to have missed anything. I'm rooting for the little guy. Go for it, Joe!
ReplyDeleteWhy Friday Fuckwits? They're fuckwits every day!
ReplyDeleteMoany whingey fecker, mind you I'd moan and whinge if I had to listen to Gwynneth Paltrow everyday. She's so boring and monotone, compared to her catterwalling, snooker commentary sounds like a Robert Ludlum novel being read by Richard Burton.
I'm with Miles ... Travis I have on my iTunes ... Coldplay not*!*
ReplyDeleteWhat again? This sounds like a re-hash of the whole RHCP-HBO-Tom- Petty-RHCP thing. Besides, I'm not much into most of the newer music but I will listen to Joe S. Let him have his day in court.
ReplyDeleteChris Martin? I'm not that fond.
ReplyDeleteHe's another one of those celebrities who called his child after a brand of microwave or something isn't he?
Apple Martin and Moses Martin will be so proud hahah
ReplyDeletepoor guy, a dagger thru his heart, he should try out some real problems-- if he thinks this is the worst thing that could happen to a human being. he sucks, they suck, no original ideas out there for ages.
ReplyDeletejoe should sue their asses off! GRRRR
ReplyDeleteknew there was more to why i never listen to those mofos, other than their stupid name....
Ooh Melanie harsh! I was actually going to buy tix for the concert based on my daughter's endorsement that 'the're really good live!' but not for $140!
ReplyDeleteWelcome aboard teh Cold Play hate club GrowUp. Deep!
Aww I went to the big day out once and all the teeny boppers had "Travis I'm having your Baby" written on their T Shirts. True story. What happened to Travis,they were good for a food fight.
Nick you'll have heard their songs I'm sure, very innocuous and they all sound sort of the same. Their lead singer is rather attractive though. Erm Joe is no little guy! He's nothing short of a legend in the guitar world and has the dubious honour of the most grammy award nominations without actually having won a gong!
Oooh Jack .. venomous! Poor Gwyn .. she has tasteless names for her kids as well.
My Bimbimbie! What a backlash against the Cold ones!
Subtorp. I was surprised to learn that old Joe never actually had a 'band' of his own but made his way through teaching, playing with others and of course engineering his own guitars. Saw him once at "Drummer's Dream" a workshop for up and coming musos that I took my son to .. .very, very entertaining and a great patron of young musicians.
Haha Tezza . . .well a fruit and a prophet . . .close but no doughnut! Still think he's a bit of a spunk, then he looks like my nephew (hmmm that doesn't sound right)
God ibeati, imagine living with a name like Apple! Poor kid would cop a hammering over here with nicknames like 'fruty tooty', 'Granny' or 'Pip'
Yeh Squirrel, rather dramatic language I agree. Actually I didn't think the similarities were as great as some other 'rip offs' I've heard. Don't hear Daft Punk complaining!
Wuffa! Another angsty anti Cold Play anti-fan! Ah, live and let live I say, it's a pop song . . .now if it was a book that might be different.Perhaps they could give the proceeds made from the song to Joes charity "Little Kids Rock"
Sue Guiney had a really interesting post today about how, as artists, we're always stealing ideas. But her take was a little different, it wasn't about plagiarism which for any artist is a nightmare, though frequently impossible to avoid. Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery but... hey man, go get original! And if you can't, try plumbing.
ReplyDeleteI saw Satriani in concert concert. It was amazing.
ReplyDeleteI dunno, though, I don't get all this suing back & forth. What's the big deal? Why can't you just let other people use your music? I would be flattered!
I am always suspicious of people who say 'but i didn't want it to go this far, i only did it to protect my precious creation' - I call B.S. on that.
It's the money. Just say it and be done with it.
Whew.
That said, I don't really like Coldplay all that much. Except for a couple songs...
In concert concert? Whoops! :)
ReplyDeleteAV to me plagiarism is directly copying someone's work. I'm not sure 'adopting' a riff is quite plagiarism in the literary sense. It's not like copying the Mona Lisa and flogging it off as an original or nicking paragraphs verbatim from a book. But I'm with you on protecting copyright. Although it's not impossible for two people to have the same rif, theme, idea I think.
ReplyDeleteMegs he's a pretty 'pure' guitarist isn't he? Ha, like New York, New York, a concert so good it's worth mentioning twice?
intellectual property is intellectual property, baino :(
ReplyDeleteOoer, my ignorance increases. I had no idea Joe was such a big name. Funnily enough, when we were on Kangaroo Island we found ourselves chatting to another big musical name, Guy Pratt. We only found out a few weeks later just how big he is in the music biz.
ReplyDeleteA difficult issue, plagiarism. So many songs are structurally similar to other ones. Just where does the similarity end and the flagrant rip-off begin? I'm sure the lawyers make plenty of money chewing it over.
Out of curiosity, just listened to Viva La Vida. Not impressed at all, quite talentless. Chris Martin can barely sing in tune. It sounds more like a football chant than a song. In fact it probably is a football chant, what do I know?
ReplyDeleteThe biggest problem is plagiarism can be so hard to prove, especially in music. I'm sure Cold Play could get an "expert" to come in and dazzle a judge and jury with a lot of music theory, and then they could say they were just kidding about the whole thing.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite definition, though, is that when you steal from one source it's "plagiarism". When you steal from any sources it's "research".
I have never heard a Coldplay song and I am not very eager to find out how they suck. I don't care much for them because I think one of the singers is married to an American actress, the one with blonde hair who starred in the movie Shakespeare and she was awful plus she is liberal, so I am not giving them a dime.
ReplyDeleteThe Beatles!
I think some people like Coldplay in my class but I am not really into music.
ReplyDeleteIndeed Wuffa. Since this post, Clare and I have been listening to the songs on the radio with more interest and it's amazing how many 'rip off' riffs there are on loads of songs. Perhaps not quite enough to say they've been 'plagiarised' but the similarities are uncanny. It wouldn't be tolerated in literature.
ReplyDeleteHaha . well done for going there Nick! An informed view is a wise view. Yeh, I find them rather repetetive. I'd never heard of Guy Pratt either? He's certainly played with some big bands!
Chris as a Copywriter in a past life, I can vouch for that! Yeh, I think with music it's going to be incredibly hard to prove the point. I think the only people who will gain satisfaction out of this one are the lawyers . . isn't it always the way?
Ces, ask the kids, they'll know. They're supposed to be (according to a recent poll) the best band in the world. Then maybe they gave themselves that tag. And yes, their lead singer is married to Gwynneth Paltrow of "Sliding Doors" fame. As for their politics, well I wouldn't know. If I like the music, I like the music. However in this case, I am ambivolent on both sides. And whatever people think about Gwyn, hey, she got to kiss Jude Law i some other little known movie so . . . kudos! Erm, The Beatles were pretty liberal my love! All from left wing Labour stronghold Liverpool!
Ropi? You're not? I can't do without it!
Yes, they were liberal but they wrote beautiful music so I forgive their politics! What can I say, genius is a pass.
ReplyDeleteI'd not listened to either of those tunes, and I have to say, having done so, I'm none the wiser. Perhaps it's because I found the both so boring that my concentration wandered off by itself.
ReplyDeleteSorry, no help here. But I'm anti-plagiarism, if that's any use. ;)
What a surprise. Not first, won't be last. Don't go to their concerts (any of them). That way you can't be ripped off :)
ReplyDeleteHaha . .Ces you're so funny! My thoughts exactly, some things transcend politics, hey look at us! Talk about the odd couple!
ReplyDeleteAh have to agree Jay. All a storm in a teacup I'm afraid but someone likes the old Cold Play! wish I could make a motza being boring! I'm so good at it!
Nah, won't be going to this one anyway Ashleigh! One thing about being middle aged is the understanding of the concept of 'value for money' . God did I say that?
By the way, my internet connectin is clearly a fan of Cold Play and has decided to go slow on account of all the hate mail!