songs that sound like other songs

"Cleo", from John Cale's first album, reminds me of Bowie's "Sound and Vision" - or the other way round - probably wrongly but there ya go

Intro to Jimmy Buffet's "Fins" ~= intro to AC/DC's "Son of a Bitch"

Sloan's "She Means What She Says" = The Nazz "Open My Eyes"

=The Who "I Can't Explain"

=The Clash "Guns on the Roof"

As unlikely as it sounds, I'm starting to become possessed of the conviction that either Paul Simon or producer Eno ripped off Lilys' "High Writer At Home" for Simon's "How Can You Live in the Northeast".

"There She Goes Again" by The Velvet Underground adds a few notes to the opening riff of "Hitch Hike" - most noticable on The Rolling Stones' version.

"Smoke On The Water" by Deep Purple also adds some notes to the guitar riff from "Loose" by The Stooges.

Birthday Party's "Dull Day" totally rips off (or pays tribute) to Can's "Vitamin C".

Caribou's "Desiree" totally rips off the Beach Boys "Lady" which in turn rips off an old Brian Wilson-produced track by the Honeys called "Pray For Surf"... I don't know if Pray For Surf rips something else off though.

ah, actually my MP3 of the Brian Wilson Pet Projects comp is mislabelled. The Honeys song is actually by American Spring and is called "Fallin In Love"

The first time I head that first Jewel song, "You Belong To Me" it was obvious to me that the verse took the melody from "Needle and the Damage Done" and the chorus was "Danny's Song" ("in the morning when I rise...") from Loggins and Messina.

People say "Mr. Brightside" sounds like Placebo but to me it sounds more like the coda of "Between Planets" by the Jesus and Mary Chain. But JAMC probably stole that from someone else anyway.

"Sweater Song" by Weezer is a scarily accurate ripoff of "I Bleed" by the Pixies. Sing along and see!

christopher cross - arthur's song
elton john - goodbye yellow brick road

inspired by yesterday's music round on university challenge which i sucked at.

"Sweater Song" by Weezer is a scarily accurate ripoff of "I Bleed" by the Pixies. Sing along and see!

uhh its also: Wild Thing, Louie Louie, Here I Go Again on My Own, Hey Now You're an Allstar and Beverly Hills (Weezer)

cant forget Hang on Sloopy

I've always thought Abba's "Waterloo" borrows quite liberally from "Build Me Up Buttercup". Compare the two:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ45_kvgyq4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgyq0adAIhE

Just done some "googling" & have answered my own question. ie. 'Ghetto supastar' by Pras (1998) is a rip off of 'Islands in the stream. Thanks to Jim.

-- geoff huggins, 22. toukokuuta 2006 15:22 (1 year ago) Bookmark Link

The Gibb brothers are credited as cowriters of "Ghetto Supastar" though, so it's more like a "I'll Be Missing You"/"Men In Black" type of reworking than a rip-off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy3ILuDwAXA

As for another very obvious reworking, here's DJ Bobo's "Somebody Dance With Me", which takes the chorus from "Somebody's Watching Me". I'm not sure if Rockwell was actually even credited for this.

The chorus of 'Black Coffee' by All Saints sounds a lot like the chorus of 'Got A Feelin'' by The Mamas and the Papas.

sublime's "what i got" rips off beatles' "lady madonna".

hoosiers new tune has ELO's goodbye mr blue all over it.

There's a descending progression in British Sea Power's "Atom" which is just like Buzzcocks "Everybody's Happy Nowadays".

I was just saying on the thread about Pure Prarie League's "Amie" how much it cops from "Christine's Tune (Devil in Disguise)" by the Flying Burrito Brothers.

Only recently occurred to me that "The Great Annihilator" by Swans is very reminiscent of "Tomorrow Never Knows" by ye olde Beatles. kinda (it's all in the percussion).

Chromatics' "I Want Your Love" reminds me of Cat Power- "Keep on Runnin'"/John Lee Hooker- "Crawlin' Black Spider".

christopher cross - arthur's song
elton john - goodbye yellow brick road

inspired by yesterday's music round on university challenge which i sucked at.

I made exactly the same mistake! I'm also rubbish at the intros round on Never Mind the Buzzcoks.

What is it with all those songs appropriating the opening drums on "Be My Baby"? I seem to hear a a couple of new ones every year.

"high & dry" by radiohead and "slow love" prince.

Buzzcocks "Lipstick" and Magazine "Shot by Both Sides." Though I guess that one is one purpose.

I probably need to listen to them back-to-back, but I heard u2's "All I Want is You" the other night in a bar and it really brought to mind "Let Me Die in My Footsteps" by Dylan.

Just done some "googling" & have answered my own question. ie. 'Ghetto supastar' by Pras (1998) is a rip off of 'Islands in the stream. Thanks to Jim.

-- geoff huggins, Monday, May 22, 2006 5:02 AM (1 year ago) Bookmark Link

I did some "googling" recently too and apparently "Bittersweet Symphony" is a rip-off of some Stones song!!!

http://photos10.flickr.com/12257835_e98b844cf5.jpg

Kinda obvious but "Lust for Life" by Iggy Pop and "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet are almost twins.

-- musically (musically), Friday, 9 June 2006 16:46 (1 year ago) Link

I always figured one (or more) of them was closer to 'You Can't Hurry Love' by the Supremes

notice that a lot of rap songs seem to sound like bits of old songs maybe one or two bars played over and over again, very often the drumbeat, or even sung choruses between the "rapping".

what's all that about?

And Solomun's "Jungle River Cruise" is essentially the younger (i.e. It came out after, I think) Amazonian cousin of the superior, Pele's "Childhood's End".

Electric Light Orchestra - "Mr. Blue Sky" and the theme song to the US version of The Office

Kinda obvious but "Lust for Life" by Iggy Pop and "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet are almost twins.

-- musically (musically), Friday, 9 June 2006 16:46 (1 year ago) Link

I always figured one (or more) of them was closer to 'You Can't Hurry Love' by the Supremes

-- Popture, Monday, December 17, 2007 3:01 PM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

I think "Songs that use the bass line from 'You Can't Hurry Love'" could be its own thread (if it isn't already).

Silver Apples - Program
Folk Implosion -Nothing Gonna Stop

Actually, them cardigan wearin' folk imploders basically plundered Silver Apples for the Kids soundtrack. Us internet music nerds already know this - did the they not expect people to find out?

Electric Light Orchestra - "Mr. Blue Sky" and the theme song to the US version of The Office

-- Mr. Snrub, Monday, December 17, 2007 3:25 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Speaking of which, the first 10 seconds of the Office theme sounds a LOT like the first 10 seconds of "Theme For An Imaginary Western" by Jack Bruce.

When I first heard that dang abnoxious Atari Teenage Riot album I was like "Does nobody else hear Bad Brains and Sham 69 riffs?" Dr. Know is what makes this song good, not some German dudes! There are at least a few Bad Brains samples which built that album...

Other thread made me think of it. James Brown - It's a Man's Man's Man's World -> Alicia Keys - Fallin'

to be honest the pre-chorus of Linkin Park's "Breaking the Habit" reminds me of the pre-chorus to Mike and the Mechanics' "The Living Years".

the verse to "High Flying Adored" from Evita and "Stuck on You" by Lionel Ritchie

I heard a Bad Company song today that totally ripped off the intro to "Ozone Baby" by Led Zeppelin.

Brian Eno - Needles in the Camel's Eye -- Velvet Underground - Waiting for the Man

The Fall - Elves -- Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog

Refrains of:
Alice Cooper, "You and Me"
Partridge Family, "I'll Meet You Halfway"

Riffs of:
Beatles, "It's All Too Much"
Three Dog Night, "Family of Man"

christina aguilera - "beautiful" --> motley crue - "home sweet home"