Viva La Ripoffs???

Guitar legend Joe Satriani is suing Coldplay for allegedly ripping off the melody from his 2004 guitar instrumental "If I Could Fly." Rolling Stone broke the story, and also has the videos posted side by side comparing the two. The similarities are definitely there, and if Satriani's lawyers can prove Coldplay heard the song before recording "Viva" they've got a case. However, proving someone listened to a song doesn't seem as easy as it looks, so he might end up on the short end of the stick with this one.

Last summer, Coldplay faced similar accusations from a Brooklyn indie group, Creaky Boards, whose ironically titled, "The Songs I Didn't Write" also sounds all too similar to "Viva La Vida." The band started a campaign via YouTube, supplemented by a conspiracy theorist-like claim that a man resembling Chris Martin was in the audience while they played the song during the CMJ Festival in New York and seemed to really enjoy the tune. Their case is a bit more feasible, but the conspiracy theory thing only hinders their cause in my opinion. Rolling Stone covered this occurrence as well.

I'm trying to be objective about this, and will give Coldplay the benefit of the doubt since I'm a big fan of their music. Also, I think this an argument that goes back a ways.

Creaky Boards' "The Songs I Didn't Write" (from 2007) vs. Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" (2008)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUhFLiw6h6s

Joe Satriani's "If I Could Fly" (from 2004) vs. Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" (2008)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ofFw9DKu_I&feature=related

Rolling Stone Article that broke the story.

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/12/05/joe-satriani-sues-coldplay-for-viva-la-vida-plagiarism/

Rolling Stone Article that broke the story of the Creaky Boards comparison last June. Take notice of the comments section below the article. Several people make mention of the Satriani similarities as far back as September. Perhaps Joe's people took a hint from them before filing legal action.

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/06/16/new-york-band-claims-coldplay-stole-viva-la-vida-melody/

Here's a look at an older case of the ripped off song with Ray Parker Jr.'s "Ghostbusters Theme" having ripped off Huey Lewis's "I Want a New Drug." I'm sure this had Huey singing "I want a new royalty check!"

Huey Lewis and the News "I Want a New Drug"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMSFX1Vb3xQ

Vs.

Ray Parker, Jr. "Ghostbusters Theme"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4uxIo4t7xM&feature=related

AND...an even older case of Beatle George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" which riffed off of The Chiffons' "He's So Fine." Harrison actually ended up having to pay up after the case went to trial in the 1970's

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzlRMhtXaD0&feature=related

AND... Led Zeppelin have so frequently done this, there's a whole compilation of it up on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjPAEPFaxoM In later years, Zeppelin went on to credit the older songs they "borrowed" from, but I think they were forced to. I don't care though, I still happily listen to them on a weekly basis.

AND...probably the most talent-less hacks in this article, The Offspring, possibly one of the worst bands I've ever heard in my life. They are one of the only bands I immediately switch the radio station on if I hear them come on. I can't even say this about the Beastie Boys as even though I hate their music, I still listen to "Sabotage" or "Intergalactic" if I hear them come on.

The Offspring, mercilessly ripped off the old Beatles classic "Ob La Di, Ob La Da" with their song, "Get A Job." Adding a steel drum to the song doesn't constitute a non-ripoff. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duyAHixppcM

In the words of Cleveland from "Family Guy" in his response to why he stabbed Skeet Ulrich, the same can be said of this band: "There is nothing good about who you are or what you do."

"I Ain't Afraid of No...Sequel???"

Before I get into how horribly my NFL week one picks went this past weekend (my post will come tomorrow following the two Monday Night games happening as I type this), I've got a breaking story on the digging up another 1980's franchise from under a rock front.

Rumors have been circling for a few months now that a "Ghostbusters" sequel was in the works with Judd Apatow (Writer/Director of "The 40 Year Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up," producer of "Walk Hard," "Superbad," and "Step Brothers") at the helm along with original writers and stars of the original films, Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis. The connection came with Harold Ramis playing the father of Seth Rogen in "Knocked Up," and Apatow co-producing "Year One," an upcoming comedy Ramis is directing, starring Jack Black and Michael Cera.

All four actors from the original 2 "Ghostbusters" films, Akroyd, Ramis, Bill Murray, and Ernie Hudson recently did voice work for an upcoming video game due to come out in 2009. In an email to Chicago Tribune entertainment columnist Mark Caro, Ramis said that currently his "Year One" writing team Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg (also behind the NBC hit comedy series, "The Office") are working on a script. Ramis also went on to say that Sony is "hoping to tap into some of the same acting talent" as Apatow's other films. If you are a fan of Apatow, this is great news. The potential here, is for actors such as Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, James Franco, Michael Cera, or possibly Jason Segal (star of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," or Craig Robinson (Darryl in "The Office," the hilarious nightclub doorman in "Knocked Up").
While I want to be excited about this, I'm also a bit skeptical. I was also excited when I heard they were making another "Indiana Jones" film, but that turned out to be a dookie sandwich with aliens. I remember back in the 1990's when the rumors were flying around that they were going to make another "Ghostbusters" film, this one with Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, David Spade, and Chris Farley. Then, when Farley died of a drug overdose in 1997, it echoed the same occurrence in the original film, when John Belushi's role was taken over by Bill Murray (a little known fact). Now that would have been a great film, the passing of the baton from one great "Saturday Night Live" generation to the next.

Too bad the best days of SNL are long gone, and this new pairing, as funny as Apatow's films are, wouldn't be the "Ghostbusters" of old. Apatow's humor is more in line with "Animal House" and "Stripes," a far cry from the underlying innocence and slapsticky "Ghostbusters." There was the subtle adult humor but these films were, after all, rated PG.

I'm a huge fan of Apatow's comedies, but it is evident that the resurrection of "Ghostbusters," if it were meant to be, would have happened much closer to 1989 when the second one was released. Ironically, this was the same year the last "Indiana Jones" film that was actually worth watching was released. 5 years stood between the first and second "Ghostbusters" films, 20 years before another one seems ill advised.

I'm going to call it as I see it here: this film is only being made for the purpose of generating money. Any artistic credibility they had went out the window with the 1990's. If the film was meant to be for the fans, then they wouldn't have made the fans wait 20 years for it, plain and simple. No sugar coating can change this fact, so immediately, this movie has one strike against it since the fourth "Indiana Jones" film wasted the "we were waiting for the right story and script to come along" excuse. If that miserable excuse of a movie was the script they were waiting 20 years for, then Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas should have retired somewhere between "Jurassic Park" and "The Phantom Menace." At the urging of the respective film studios who have steadily seen declines in ticket sales over the past few years as prices go up, these films are rearing their filthy heads into our nostalgic hearts, and we keep paying to see them, hoping, wishing, praying that we'll see a glimmer of what we once did.

The picture Ramis is painting for this one is having him and the other originals be present in a mentor-like capacity, with the younger busters taking over. Originally, the buzz was that the new group would be the 4 main guys from "The 40 Year Old Virgin," Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, Rogen, and Romany Malco. This team seems to be more true to the original film's formula and age range (maybe it's Carell's doofy, child-like performance as Brick in "Anchorman").

Regardless of the cast, I'll be one of the first in line to see this movie, wearing my vintage $5"Ghostbusters" t-shirt, in all my dorky glory, repeating such vintage lines as: "When someone asks you if you're a god, you say YES," "Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria," and "Okay, who brought the dog?" Whether it succeeds, or even gets made is a story yet to be told. I'm willing to bet it will make tons of money, maybe not up there with the $400 million or so Indy 4 made, but this film will also cost a lot less as well since it's a comedy first and foremost. By the looks of Hollywood desperation, and original ideas being in a drought as of late with regurgitated old franchises and remakes that should never happen, this film will be made. I hope another 20 years in the making sequel doesn't make me question my childhood taste in movies twice in 2 years; that's all I got to say about that.

Below is the link to Mark Caro's Chicago Tribune blog which broke the news:

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_popmachine/2008/09/harold-ramis-co.html