See, I just don’t get that. The way he phrases it makes it sound to me like he’s playing it off as a substantive change (in addition to the fact that he doesn’t credit the sample). And to say “It doesn’t sound anything like ‘Under Pressure.’ Only part that sounds like ‘Under Pressure’ is the hook” makes me chuckle. Sorry. The “hook” is what the song is based on, so if the hooks sound similar, it seems disingenuous to me to say it doesn’t sound “anything” like ‘Under Pressure.’ I mean, you can’t even tell which song is starting is playing on the jukebox, until you listen for that extra note, and even then many listeners are not going to be able to pick it out until the lyrics start.
Look, I’m fine with sampling, recontextualization of music, etc. But even if I were presented with those statements alone, not framed in any context, they would sound a bit silly to me.
The reason bias is so successful is that once people accept your slant it is difficult for them to change their views even when presented with evidence that they are incorrect. Given the statements we see, including the one where Vanilla Ice talks about the original content he put in, it’s clear that he is defending his song. Perhaps the question was, “How would you respond to people who say your song is the same as Under Pressure?” Or maybe something alleging that he just stole the song without doing anything himself.
I see and hear the same thing you see and hear. I come to a different conclusion than you. You chalk that up to bias, I disagree. Even given your best case scenario, it sounds silly to me.
The sounds of the guitars are quite different, but the opening notes of Chuck Berry’s Johnny B Goode are identical to the opening notes of Louis Jordan’s Ain’t That Just Like a Woman.
If your conclusion is that it’s “silly” then I wouldn’t chalk that up to bias. I wouldn’t even disagree with that opinion. The bias comes in when people come away from the video believing that Vanilla Ice is claiming the bass lines are unrelated. That is factually incorrect.