The Doors stole “All Day and All of the Night” for “Hello, I Love You.”
Steve Miller stole the riff from “All Right Now” from Free for “Rock 'n Me.” When called on it, he called it “an hommage” (Cue line from Stardust Memories). There’s also a riff on one of his own songs on the album “Brave New World” that he reused for one of his later hits, but I forget which.
The opening guitar riff of The Strokes’ “Last Night” is a rip-off of Tom Petty’s “American Girl.”
It seemed pretty obvious back in the day that Steve Miller’s “Rockin’ Me Baby” borrowed heavily from Free’s “It’s All Right Now.”
Also, the intros to the Eagles’ “Duelin’ Daltons” and Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” are similar, but I don’t think either was trying to rip the other off.
Opening riffs:
Nirvana “Heart-Shaped Box” - 1993
Jets From Brazil “I Typed For Miles” - 1998
Korn “Shoots and Ladders” - 1995
Beth Orton “She Cries Your Name” - 1996
I know there are a couple more that bug me, but I can’t think of which songs trick me with the opening notes at the moment. Maybe I’ll remember them later.
They can all thank the Small Faces (Get Yourself Together)for the distinctive bass riff.
I always thought the riff from Beck’s *Loser *was pretty close to *Midnight Rider *by the Allman Brothers.
I think the most blatant one I’ve heard is
Elastica - Connection
vs.
Wire - Three Girl Rhumba (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cH7QmMTCMWI)
Same culprits, not as blatant:
Elastica - Waking Up
vs.
The Stranglers - No More Heroes (I think there might even have been lawyers involved there)
k.d. lang - Constant Craving
vs.
Rolling Stones - Anybody Seen My Baby (more lawyers)
And there was that Coldplay / Joe Satriani (?) one not so long ago.
(Some of these examples taken from a similar thread last year.)
The way you phrased that post could lead to some confusion…
Constant Craving came before Has Anybody Seen My Baby (by 5 years). It was the Stones who accidentally lifted the bit from lang, not the other way around.
I’m also not sure lawyers got involved - AIUI, Jagger noticed the similarity before lang and acted to head off lawsuits before they were threatened.
The opening of Iron Butterfly’s In a Gadda da Vida (1968) sounds a lot like Sunshine of Your Love (1967) by Cream…
The story I’ve read is that Keith Richards’ daughter heard the track shortly before the album was releaed, and began singing “Constant Craving” along with it. Mick and Keith were puzzled, and she ahd to explain that their song sounded just like K.D. Lang’s.
To avoid trouble, they gave K.D. credit and shared the royalties with her.
Some riffs are so recycled that they might as well be in the Public Domain. I Want To Hod Your Hand/Just What I Needed/With or Without You falls into this category. So would any I-IV-V-I riff.
You can’t get much more blatant than the Velvet Underground’s “There She Goes Again”, which rips off the riff from Marvin Gaye’s “Hitch Hike”. (But both songs are great.)
Stones: Jumping Jack Flash
Kinks: Catch Me Now I’m Falling(riff starts about 40 seconds in…)
From Darryl Hall himself:
"“No question about it,” Hall agrees. “Michael Jackson once said directly to me that he hoped I didn’t mind that he copped that groove. That’s okay; it’s something we all do. "
What I found more intereesting is this:
“[Eddie] Van Halen told me that he copied the synth part from ‘Kiss on My List’ and used it in ‘Jump.’ I don’t have a problem with that at all.”
… never noticed that until now. Cool!
I believe The Verve used a sample for Bittersweet Symphony, rather than just sounding like it. Wikipedia has this to say:
Note that last bit - Jagger and Richards no longer hold the rights to the song and were not responsible for the law suit.
But that isn’t really a riff is it? It is just a chord progression. A riff involves much more than simply which chords are played in what order.
The Heavy sampled Dyke and the Blazers for their song How You Like Me Now.
I love this song a lot and I was a bit disapointed to hear that parts of it was sampled from another song. Though I shouldn’t have been suprised at this, seeing as how The Heavy are so influenced by funk, ska, and so many other styles.
So does it diminish an artist when they sample another work? I think in some cases, like the Heavy, they like the song so much they want to use it to share it with more people. On the other hand, Ice Ice Baby sounds like a cheap rip off of Under Pressure. On the third hand I have no idea what I’m talking about so I could be literally talking out of my figurative ass.
Huh? I dont’ get it. “I Want to Be Your Boyfriend” is a gorgeous little pop masterpiece, with lyrics that actually scan (more rare than you’d think) and fit the music, and a lovely guitar solo.
“Get Off of My Cloud” is great too. But I can’t hear it as source material for the Rubinoos’ hit.
I’ve confused the two often when playing them back in my mind.