# What American song is this ripping? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 1, 2012, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-american-song-is-this-ripping/620545 "2012-05-01T18:58:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-american-song-is-this-ripping/620545/1 "2012-05-01T18:58:07Z")
This song, while I like it, sounds insanely familiar. Isn’t there an american/english song just like it? [Bhaag DK Bose](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OVGbdOG7dA&feature=fvst) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-american-song-is-this-ripping/620545/2 "2012-05-01T19:06:48Z")
Miley Cyrus’s “We Belong to the Music” is all I got. It just kind of sounds like generic foreign rock to me, otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-american-song-is-this-ripping/620545/3 "2012-05-01T20:38:53Z")
It sounds like about half the entries in your average Eurovision Song Contest. Not being entirely facetious, it really does. Although whatever it is they’re chanting makes me think of “Wild Boys” by Duran Duran (not “Rio”). ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-american-song-is-this-ripping/620545/4 "2012-05-01T21:15:38Z")
Some of the comments seemed to be going back and forth as to whether it was a ripoff of [American Idiot.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Yi-LvnM_5M&ob=av3n) I’m not sure, myself… ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-american-song-is-this-ripping/620545/5 "2012-05-01T22:52:25Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Some of the comments seemed to be going back and forth as to whether it was a ripoff of [American Idiot.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Yi-LvnM_5M&ob=av3n) I’m not sure, myself… American Idiot? Really? I’m struggling to find the resemblance. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-american-song-is-this-ripping/620545/6 "2012-05-01T22:59:32Z")
_MAYBE_ I could see some resemblance to Green Day’s [Boulevard of Broken Dreams](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWNRUVMboq4), but it requires a little imagination. The lead singer of the OP’s looks like he’s somewhat styled after Billy Joe Armstrong from Green Day, if you squint hard enough, so I guess I could see how some people are getting Green Day from it. Maybe. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-american-song-is-this-ripping/620545/7 "2012-05-02T00:34:04Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > It sounds like about half the entries in your average Eurovision Song Contest. Which, without hearing it, would cause me to ask the OP, “Define ‘ripping’ because that’s nothing like I would expect in a ripping song.” (listening) Okay, it’s more “ripping” than any other Bollywood song I’ve heard, but note the qualification. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-american-song-is-this-ripping/620545/8 "2012-05-02T03:00:34Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > It sounds like about half the entries in your average Eurovision Song Contest. Not being entirely facetious, it really does. Although whatever it is they’re chanting makes me think of “Wild Boys” by Duran Duran (not “Rio”). I think maybe that’s it…it just sounds so common. Even my SO, who is not Indian, thinks it sounds like something. it rings all kinds of bells. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-american-song-is-this-ripping/620545/9 "2012-05-03T10:11:31Z")
Which is exactly what most Euro-songs are designed for, the idea being that if you can convince people that they already liked your song before they even heard it, they’ll vote for it. The other tackle is “let’s try to come up with something which doesn’t sound like the other 20+ songs, but which at the same time is not so different to irritate the viewers/judges…” ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-american-song-is-this-ripping/620545/10 "2012-05-03T13:46:01Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Which is exactly what most Euro-songs are designed for, the idea being that if you can convince people that they already liked your song before they even heard it, they’ll vote for it. The other tackle is “let’s try to come up with something which doesn’t sound like the other 20+ songs, but which at the same time is not so different to irritate the viewers/judges…” Also, don’t forget the “let’s come up with some weird choreography/dresses/disguises/gimmick that will distract the voters/juries from the song itself” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-american-song-is-this-ripping/620545/11 "2012-05-03T19:45:15Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > _MAYBE_ I could see some resemblance to Green Day’s [Boulevard of Broken Dreams](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWNRUVMboq4), but it requires a little imagination. The lead singer of the OP’s looks like he’s somewhat styled after Billy Joe Armstrong from Green Day, if you squint hard enough, so I guess I could see how some people are getting Green Day from it. Maybe. There’s kind of a pop-punkish sound to it, to. I can see some faint resonance of The Jam in there (like “Going Underground”), though it’s about as vague as the Green Day resemblance. I’d agree that it’s its own thing while still sounding like something else (except maybe in the solos, which are somewhat distinctive). ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-american-song-is-this-ripping/620545/12 "2012-05-04T03:43:16Z")
It suffers from [Four Chord Syndrome](http://youtu.be/5pidokakU4I) so that could be why it sounds familiar. Green Day is infamous for [blatant use](http://youtu.be/JdxkVQy7QLM) of it. The video linked shows more. Once you hear it, you can’t unhear it. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-american-song-is-this-ripping/620545/13 "2012-05-04T03:52:02Z")
Missed the window but to me it sounds like “We’re not going to take it” by Twisted Sister. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-american-song-is-this-ripping/620545/14 "2012-05-04T05:47:40Z")
> [@Sister\_Vigilante](#): > > Missed the window but to me it sounds like “We’re not going to take it” by Twisted Sister. You mean “O, Come All Ye Faithful?” 😉 Huh, it’s interesting to see what songs this tune reminds people of. It’s all over the map. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-american-song-is-this-ripping/620545/15 "2012-05-04T12:35:07Z")
It’s funny that people should mention Green Day, because quite independently the chorus did make think a little bit of a rockier version of their song “Time of Your Life”. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-american-song-is-this-ripping/620545/16 "2012-05-04T13:57:40Z")
> [@JoseB](#): > > Also, don’t forget the “let’s come up with some weird choreography/dresses/disguises/gimmick that will distract the voters/juries from the song itself” 😛 And that one that would have won if we’d just thought of telling the rest of Europe “it’s a joke, folks!” ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-american-song-is-this-ripping/620545/17 "2012-05-04T17:16:14Z")
It is kind of similar to Green Day though I don’t feel it sounds like Boulevard of Broken Dreams. But it’s kind of their style. Regardless, I do like the song, and it’s sung by a very Americanized Indian. His Hindi accent is kind of charmingly bad, but not so much that it’s annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-american-song-is-this-ripping/620545/18 "2012-05-05T01:32:37Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > You mean “O, Come All Ye Faithful?” 😉 …whoa. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-american-song-is-this-ripping/620545/19 "2012-05-05T03:01:11Z")
When I don’t know the lyrics to a song, that is pretty much what it sounds like when I sing it. I hope that isn’t an offensive thing for me to say against the Hindi language. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2012, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-american-song-is-this-ripping/620545/20 "2012-05-05T03:07:19Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > You mean “O, Come All Ye Faithful?” > [@Sister\_Vigilante](#): > > …whoa. [Lookee!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YV-SpT69IZ8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-american-song-is-this-ripping/620545.md?page=2)