So then the crazies are Huey Lewis, Ray Parker Jr.'s lawyers who decided to settle rather than risk losing big in court, and everyone in this thread except you, right?
Just checking.
Yeah, I guess settling was the right thing to do.
Wow , twice I tried to respond and I got a time out.
Okay, fuck all if Huey got a big pay off. I still say the two songs sound nothibng alike. They are both shit songs, we all agree. But they sound nothing alike. Please.
Once you get past the “spooky” sounds in Ray Parker’s tune, you have four bars of a bass riff that is similar to the first four bars of IWAND (and Weird Al’s I Want A New Duck, for that matter) but different enough to easily tell the two songs apart.
Cite?
from neutron star’s post above:
Ghostbusters. I Want a New Drug.
close your eyes and lsiten to each one. You’ll hear the differences (Weird Al’s tune, except for the density of the orchestral back up, is identical to Huey Lewis’ - but then he had permission)
The thing with ghostbusters/i want a new drug, my sweet lord/he’s so fine etc., is that they don’t “sound” alike to the average listener without a music background, but the chord progressions are the same, which isn’t always evident by listening, but by looking at the sheet music, or listening to the rhythm track only, which you can’t really hear on the radio. Or so I’m told.
continuing the hijack. . .
It’s not so much that the melodies of IWAND and GB are alike, it’s the supporting chords, beat, and structure. I agree with you that the melodies aren’t very similar. Consider the Mona Lisa parodies. Have you seen the Mona Lisa parodied as a cat, dog, or numerous other entity? If you just consider the face in those parodies the pictures are nothing alike, but the supporting parts of the painting are what’s similar.
on preview —what WeeBairn said
I/m on dial up and cannot do you tubr material, but if you if you have audio material I will surely contemplate that.
Here. It’s the last pair of songs on the page. Clearly, they’re different songs, however, there is a distinct similarity between them, too.
They sound similar enough to me, I haven’t heard the Huey Lewis song before, but as soon as it started I thought of ’ Ghostbusters’.
The intro is similar, the bass line is virtually identical - and that includes the bass drum reinforcment of the bass guitar, the structure is very very similar, the bridge is the same except that the instruments are differant.
Guilty as charged.
Okay , it still does not sound the same to me. Whatever. Good vibrations here in. Boo yah.
At the risk of derailing the hijack, I know that Tom Waits is absolutely vigilant about pursuing and litigating against anyone who adopts his vocal and musical style.
I wonder if the Romantics would be quite so aggrieved if the song had come out on CD or .mp3* instead of a game? This just seems to be an end run by Activision to avoid paying bigger royalties.
*For example, Todd Rundgren had half an LP (Faithful) that was a note-for-note replication of songs by other artists. It was a bit disconcerting to hear “Good Vibrations” on the radio and then find that it wasn’t the Beach Boys. However, I never heard of any legal problems. Most folks thought that it was just Todd being Todd.
ETA: Okay, how weird is it that Abby_Emma_Sasha just said “Good Vibrations” while I was composing my post?
A little anecdote…
At the time all of this was going down, a few friends of mine in a local recording studio recorded a parody song called “Hit Stealers”. They were able to go back and forth between both songs effortlessly by using the same background tracks for both. It’s a shame I don’t still have a copy of their efforts. It made the similarities glaringly obvious.
They are way too close for comfort.
and
Yep, Tom Waits is the first person i thought of when i read F.U. Shakespeare’s question.
Waits sued Frito Lay, and won over $2 million, back in 1991 for using a likeness of his voice singing a song similar to one of his in one of their ads. You can read the Ninth Circuit opinion on the appeal here (pdf). This case makes quite a few references to the Midler case.
Who in the world has time to make a Thomas the Tank Engine video for Ghostbusters? 
Well, your first post in this thread was praise for Celine Dion, so it’s possible that you’re tone deaf. 
Well let’s say that anyoe who could prefer Celine Dions version of ‘I drove all night’ as the best version, instead of the Roy Orbison one has to be gulity of something.
How do you figure?
Activision: We’d like to use the master track for “What I Like About You”
Romantics: No, we want more money than you’re willing to offer.
Activision: Can we make a cover?
Romantics: Yes
Someone also forgot to tell The Romantics that Guitar Hero leads to increased album sales: Songs included in Guitar Hero 3 see a dramatic leap in digital sales | Ars Technica
I am a musician, and often notice small similarities between songs . (This was VERY common with Oasis: it was like they wrote songs by putting the Beatles in a blender). Other musicians invariably concur with me on these similarities, but non-musician friends think we’re hearing things.
I’m guessing you’re not a musician, Abby?
Gee, maybe if Howlin’ Wolf (or some other equally influential blues singer) were still alive, Waits could sue him for copying his style before Waits was born.
Late-70s Pittsburgh-area rock band Crack the Sky did a spot-on version of “I Am the Walrus” (which they actually pulled off live!) and I don’t remember any legal woes. I suspect the depth of pockets plays a role in decisions to sue.