Eddy Grant Accuses Gorillaz Of Copying After Gorillaz Manager Threatens People For Copying...

from the where-to-start dept

Wed, Mar 17th 2010 6:36am — Mike Masnick

So, the music press has been busy talking about the accusations from Eddy Grant that the band Gorillaz copied his old tune with one of their recent hits. You can compare the two songs here. There appear to be some similarities, but they're pretty different songs:

The timing on this is a bit interesting. Gorillaz is a band from Damon Albarn, and just a couple months ago, the manager of Albarn's musical acts (Blur, Gorillaz) was screaming about how he wanted to give "pirates" who leaked the Gorillaz album a "good kicking." Perhaps he ought to stay away from Eddy Grant for a bit.

Of course, it's a bit silly for Grant to be upset too. He wrote a song that was popular years ago, and now he wants free cash because some other band made a song that has some vague similarities?

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Filed Under: copying, eddy grant, gorillaz, music

45 Comments

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Rob.Etler (profile), 17 Mar 2010 @ 6:41am

Funny, I thought "Stylo" was a perfect copy of "I Against I" by Massive Attack. Both feature Mos Def.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 17 Mar 2010 @ 6:44am

Re:
Okay:

A. Massive Attack is on eof the most underappreciated musical acts of all time

and

B. Maybe it's just me, but those two songs don't even sound ANYTHING alike to me. That may be because I hate house/techno music the way a fat kid hates treadmills....
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Mar 2010 @ 6:48am

Well I guess he deserves what he got. Live by copyright, die by copyright.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Mar 2010 @ 6:56am

There are only 7 notes (12 if you count the sharps and flats). There are only a finite number of ways you can arrange them in a song. There are even less ways to arrange them that sound pleasing to the ear. The chances of two people independently chancing on a similar arrangement without ever hearing the other's work is therefore pretty good. Maybe this is just that, a coincidence...
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Ima Fish (profile), 17 Mar 2010 @ 6:59am

Electric Avenue is the worst "song" in history. So if the Gorillaz did copy from Grant, that makes them the worst band in history.
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herodotus (profile), 17 Mar 2010 @ 7:06am

"That's MY crappy forgettable pop son!"

"No, it's MY crappy forgettable pop song!"

"I was writing crappy forgettable pop songs before you were born, punk!"

"So die already! YOUR kind of crappy forgettable pop song is already forgotten, whereas MY kind of crappy forgettable pop song is the wave of the soon to be forgotten future!"

And so on, and on.....
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Mar 2010 @ 7:07am

Even if they didn't outright sample and manipulate the original synth riff, they can NOT not have known it sounded so similar. It's not like Gorillaz is some unknown band, they have the money to clear samples and/or give a writing credit to the guy : guilty.
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Hephaestus (profile), 17 Mar 2010 @ 7:10am

Re:
"Electric Avenue is the worst "song" in history."

Funky Town tops Electric avenue anyday of the week ... dont even get me started on Yoko Ono ...
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Rob.Etler (profile), 17 Mar 2010 @ 7:11am

Re: Re:
Agreed on the MA being underappreciated. And on the house/techno hate. But the songs really do seem to carry the same structure. I dunno, maybe it's just me.
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JMG, 17 Mar 2010 @ 7:17am

Re:
If we're talking worst. song. ever. I've got two words: MacArthur Park.
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PopeRatzo (profile), 17 Mar 2010 @ 7:20am

Silliness
Pop musicians accusing each other of copying is like ninjas accusing each other of being sneaky.

That's what they do. Shut up already.

Gorrilaz makes some fun music, but for them to try to claim that their work is some sort of protected "intellectual property" is nonsense.

God, copyright is poison. It makes people sick and crazy.
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Mark Harrill (profile), 17 Mar 2010 @ 7:31am

Re: Re:
I see your MacArthur Park and raise you a Don't Worry Be Happy
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Rob.Etler (profile), 17 Mar 2010 @ 7:45am

Re: Re: Re:
I'm going with Winchester Cathedral. At least MacArthurt Park didn't beat out Eleanor Rigby for Best Song at the Grammy's.
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scarr (profile), 17 Mar 2010 @ 7:47am

A lawsuit would be stupid, but anyone who claims they can't hear any similarity didn't listen to the songs. There's a repeating three-note synth line that is exactly the same in both songs.

That isn't a "blatent rip-off", as it isn't terribly unique riff, but I can clearly see how one would remind a person of the other.
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Ima Fish (profile), 17 Mar 2010 @ 7:47am

Re: Re:
"Yoko Ono ..."

The mistake you're making is your assumption that Yoko Ono is a musician who creates music. Comparing the quality of a song to the quality of a bloody corpse is nonsensical.
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Hulser (profile), 17 Mar 2010 @ 7:47am

Re:
Even if they didn't outright sample and manipulate the original synth riff, they can NOT not have known it sounded so similar.

So, you're saying it's not possible that The Gorillaz could be unaware that one of the trillion songs that have been recorded sounds roughly similar to their song? Rather than impossible, I think it's almost certain.

It's not like Gorillaz is some unknown band, they have the money to clear samples and/or give a writing credit to the guy : guilty.

But if you're the person from Gorillaz who wrote this song and you've never even heard the Eddie Grant song, you wouldn't even think to clear the sample of give writing credits because it wasn't a sample and you wrote it.
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Trails (profile), 17 Mar 2010 @ 7:51am

Re: Re:
You can tell I'm a geek because it took me a good 5 minutes of re-reading to figure out you meant "one of" and not using some new vernacular which describes Massive Attack as awesome by referring to them as being on the end of a file.
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Dark Helmet (profile), 17 Mar 2010 @ 7:55am

Re: Re: Re:
And you can tell that I still have a long ways to go in attaning my sought after geek card because I had to reread both our comments about six times before having any clue as to what you were talking about :)
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Hulser (profile), 17 Mar 2010 @ 7:59am

Re:
Electric Avenue is the worst "song" in history.

What makes this story doubly perplexing is that 95% of the people who even know who Eddie Grant is only know him for Electric Avenue and that isn't even the song Gorillaz are being accused of copying. Doh!

Also, about the worst song in history comment. This reminds me of those VH1 "top worst songs" shows. The thing is, if they really found the worst songs, they'd be by no one anyone ever heard of. What these shows should really be called is "Let's make fun of some videos that were popular at the time, but look silly in hind sight."
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Mar 2010 @ 8:20am

Re: Re:
Yeah, right. Nobody in Gorillaz' entourage ever went clubbing EVER. Please.
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Rob.Etler (profile), 17 Mar 2010 @ 8:27am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
And...you know what? I'm not even close to getting that geek card. I'll just stand back and watch you guys blow me out of the water. :P
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Bob Webster (profile), 17 Mar 2010 @ 8:35am

Melody
A simple arpeggio does not make a melody, and that is all that is similar (and not even identical) between the songs. It sounds like something I made up on the piano when i was 5 years old.
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JPR, 17 Mar 2010 @ 8:43am

Re: Re: Re:
I'm 26, from the UK, have had a weekly DJ residency in a large nightclub for the last three years, and I've NEVER HEARD THIS SONG.
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Michial Thompson, 17 Mar 2010 @ 9:11am

I tried to listen
I can hear the similarities in the two songs, from the vocals (not words) to the beat to the notes, but doesn't copyright require it to be "copied"

As someone pointed out there are only 12 notes, and a finite number of combinations that are tolerable to the ear, and take that times the number of instruments and you still have only a small number of combinations compared to the number of songs out there.

To me they both sound like any other song you would hear in a techno club, and to be honest they all sound alike to me so maybe he should be sueing everyone.
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PRMan, 17 Mar 2010 @ 9:15am

Really?
That's a real band? I thought that Apple made it up to put o the iPod box.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Mar 2010 @ 9:34am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
It's one of Derrick May's favorite tunes ever.

It came out in the early EIGHTIES.

It's been sampled dozens of times.

Environ/Balihu are basically built upon copying this tune over and over.

Gorillaz aren't just some noobs who reinvented the wheel. They can't NOT know this song.
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The Infamous Joe (profile), 17 Mar 2010 @ 9:52am

Re: Re:
Speaking of popular videos (or not?) am I the only one that doesn't understand why UB40's video for 'Red, Red Wine' is a bunch of white people drinking beer?

so confused.
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The Infamous Joe (profile), 17 Mar 2010 @ 9:57am

Re: Silliness
Not sure why, but your comment immediately made me think of A Ninja Pays Half My Rent(youtube video)

What? I'm in a sharing mood, okay?
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Mar 2010 @ 11:26am

BOBBY FUCKING WOMACK?!?
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vivaelamor (profile), 17 Mar 2010 @ 12:46pm

Re: Re: Re:
I'm a geek too? I'm shocked.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Mar 2010 @ 1:03pm

seems to me his point is to give them some of their own medicine to prove the stupidity of it all
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Dave, 17 Mar 2010 @ 2:12pm

Re: Re:
Impressive worst song choices! I agree, Electric Avenue is abysmal, MacArthur Park is wretched, Yoko Ono is like dentist drilling. I'll offer another selection: Seasons in the Sun.

Back briefly to the subject, wow, Eddy's been hitting the spliffs pretty hard, I think... if that song is actionable, then the Satriani vs. Coldplay suit would be a guaranteed win for Satriani.
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DMNTD, 17 Mar 2010 @ 3:54pm

I see..
I ditch effort for new attention.
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Horatio, 18 Mar 2010 @ 9:05am

A three note riff? C-Eb-Bb all on the counts 1-2-3(hold) is a copyright violation? We are totally fucked if this is upheld in any court anywhere.
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Oscar, 18 Mar 2010 @ 10:14pm

nope
not cuz the melody line has 6 notes out of 8 that are the same that the song's the same, that's complete and massive BS by Eddie... + gorillaz' has that bridge in a different tone, not to mention the intense soul signing. Oh and BTW, i love house, but this «time wrap», this is crappy house!
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Don, 19 Mar 2010 @ 9:27am

Time Warp ripoff
If Damon stole it from Eddy Grant, then Eddy Grant stole it from Marvin Gaye's vocalizing at the beginning of this song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmZ03Q7AoaU
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Douche, 30 Mar 2010 @ 4:20pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
"They can't NOT know this song."

Neither of my parents nor uncles/aunts or anything who went clubbing around this time have any clue what the song is and have never heard it before. I have no idea what Environ/Balihu are, and Derrick May?
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ash, 12 Jan 2011 @ 9:47am

Gorillaz?
This is one big copying catastrophe! how was this ever resolved?

Ash

video production
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video production london
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SEO, 13 Jan 2011 @ 2:16pm

Well they do seem pretty similar!
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praveen, 26 Jan 2011 @ 3:47am

news
such a nice blog..!! thanks for giving a opportunity to see this wonderful blog....
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bjjbook, 24 Apr 2011 @ 10:10pm

As someone pointed out there are only 12 notes, and a finite number of combinations that are tolerable to the ear, and take that times the number of instruments and you still have only a small number of combinations compared to the number of songs out there. ran แรน
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Video Production, 12 Jul 2011 @ 1:45am

Video Production
These days with sampling, remixes and covers it's such a fine line between duplicating the same song to taking a part of it to create a new song. Technology in music despite its improvements has also brought with it its own array of issues. I'm not sure, which side of the fence I'm on with this, all I know is, is that it's rather complicated!
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KelasDerk, 20 Jul 2011 @ 4:20am

The underlying problems experienced by many other musical magazine in other countries maybe related with lack of support from the music fans them self. They have to realized that without the support from them, there will be no more music reference like these magazines anymore. mensagens
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