Moments of Musical Mimicry

..
So -

The guitar solo at the beginning of Matthew Sweet's "Girlfriend" always sounds to me like it came right out of "Badge" by Cream.

Regarding "Eighties" and "Come as You Are" (not to mention "Life Goes On" by the Damned, which pre-dates both), that particular dead horse has been flogged too many times.

To make up for it: The bit in the middle of Right Said Fred's "I'm too Sexy" is lifted directly from Hendrix' "Third Stone from the Sun."

But i bet that was discussed to death, too...

Direct sample -- it's officially credited. Yes I have the single somewhere. ;-)

It's only bad when a complete melody is stolen - like Stone Temple Pilot's Plush and Pearl Jam's Evenflow, for instance.

Or the Yeah Yeah Yeah's godawful "Year to Be Hated" and fucking "Crimson and Clover" - I'm hoping for a pyrotechnics accident

There's a tiny little moment at the tail end of "Bohemain Rhapsody" where Brian May appears to play the riff from "Strange Magic" by ELO.

The chorus in Tom Petty's "Running Down a Dream" and the chorus in Juice Newton's "Queen of Heart" (particularly the guitar strum after each vocal line)

Also, the descending guitar line in Magazine's "The Light Pours Out of Me" and Gary Glitter's "Rock & Roll, Pt. 2"

b-b-but

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" - Classic Or Dud?

SLTS: F minor, B-flat minor, A-flat major, D-flat major (which, IIRC, resolves back to F minor 2nd inversion). i-iv-iii-VI(i)

MTAF: G major, C major, E minor, D major. I-IV-vi-V.

The recurring riff in the first song on Blonde Redhead's first album ("I Don't Want U") seems to be direct from the VU's "The Murder Mystery."

The grinding riff that opens one of Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers' songs (I think "Get Off the Phone") is straight from a Yardbirds song (again, can't recall which), only without the chord change midway through (thus making it even more brutish).

I love this topic; I've always wanted someone with a huge record collection to map out hundreds of these.

That tATu single reminds me of the Cranberries' godawful "Zombie," but I can't quite put my finger on the nature of the resemblance.

Also, clearly, Kraftwerk's "Radioactivity" vs. Simple Minds "Reel to Real Cacophony."

Bon Jovi's I'll Be There For You and the Beatles Don't Let Me Down

Strokes Last Nite ripping off Tom Petty's American Girl, obviously

"Mr Soul" and "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" have riffs that sound remarkably similar

The "thin white duke" melody in "Station To Station"
reminds me of Cream's "White Room."

But really, this happens so often in pop it's not even
noteworthy.

Most of the time, it's unintentional, I think,
hence forgivable. Often the redo surpasses the original.

Oasis are "masters" at this. I can't be bothered to
look up the song titles, they have

1. A blatant ripoff of the Stooges' "Search And Destroy"
2. A ripoff of Lennon's "Mama, I Don't Wanna Be A Soldier"
3. A ripoff of the Doors' "Roadhouse Blues"

and that's not counting stolen riffs from T. Rex, Beatles,
Mott The Hoople, and anyone else that got in their way.

In contrast, Blur's "End Of A Century" contains a pleasing
resemblance to Pink Floyd's (underrated) "Apples And Oranges."

Conversely, sorta, Eddie Floyd's "Don't Rock the Boat" has a bridge that sounds just like the Band.

Is the bridge of No Doubt's "Underneath it All" a moment of mimicry, or does it actually contain a Pixies ("Dig for Fire?") sample?

Also, the chords in the two progressions are related to each other and have a similar sound when played.

Speaking of No Doubt, "Don't Speak" ==> Aerosmith's "Dream On".

Cobain frigging teased MTaF right before ripping into SLTS at the 1992 Reading Festival. At the least, he was amused by the similarity; at the worst, he was openly acknowledging what he stole from.

Also, much has been made in years past, in various circles, of "Waking Up" = "No More Heroes", but I found the track The Stranglers ripped off in the first place for *that* riff. It's a keyboard riff at the beginning of a track on The Essential Pebbles and now it's come to it I can't remember what it's called... it's not "You Treated Me Bad" by the JuJus, is it? (Look for update on this once I get home to check)

I know every track on Pink Flag is supposed to be a re-cycling of something or other, but I can never tell what, aside from "Feeling Called Love" being "Louie Louie".

And that one that sounds like This Charming Man.

And the opening of Tender (Blur) has always reminded me of the opening of Here (Pavement).

If we're talking ripoffs, however, then I submit R.E.M.'s "The One I Love" as a slightly slowed-down version of Neil Young's "Hey Hey My My."

Good god I don't know...you may be right. I was just wanting a
'stuff that sounds like other stuff' thread but frankly the search
process flummoxes me..especially when I'm up late and tired like now blah blah..

also, maybe someone here remembers which it was, but i recall a silkworm record from '95 or so which, during the course of one song had a guitar solo that blatantly mimicked a pavement solo, from which tune i can't recall.

and speaking of pavement, the beginning of "silence kit" resembles "everyday" by buddy holly.

I doubt it's intentional or anything, but it's still uncanny.

the songs are pretty much identical. muddy waters would've made a good pooh stick.

Bowie's "Absolute Beginners" is "Memories" from Cats.

Actually, a great deal of Bowie, approrpiately, is someone else.

two nickleback songs played simultaneously, one left channel, one right channel.

Sir Douglas Quintet's "Crossroads" = Allman's "Melissa"
Dylan's "Hazel" = Neil's "Ambulance Blues"

and there was one from the other day that was EXACT but i forget now, will remember it and get back to yall

This has been driving me crazy, and a quick Google search turns up nothing, but there is no way this is a coincidence:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAZLmJGQHxc (1982)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eVrT5nZuro (1974)

The intros to David Bowie's 'Soul Love' and The Cure's 'The Drowning Man'

Surely I am not the only person to notice this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hW9fADmFrc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wRHBLwpASw

Don Henley's "All She Wants To Do Is Dance" and Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love" are pretty much the same song