Top 20 Songs That Rip Off Other Songs

[Music] welcome to Miz Mojo and today we're counting down our picks for the top 20 ripoff [Music] songs there's that Fogerty ruling anything you do from now on we own it for this list we're looking at songs that don't just sound a bit similar they sound so similar that in one way or another they triggered some sort of legal action what copycat song do you think is the most infamous let us know in the comments below number 20 The Kinks all day and all of the night versus the doors hello I love you although the

doors guitarist Robbie creger denied that his band copied the chord driven main riff of the 1964 Kinks track The Kinks music Publishers found that these two singles were just a bit too similar turns out UK courts agreed so a deal was eventually struck entitling The Kinks to a large share of hello I love you's British [Music] royalties the door's song credits remain unchanged but in 2014 Kink's lead singer and Main songwriter Ray Davy suggested to Rolling Stone that an outof Court settlement had been reached hello I number 19 Tom Petty I Won't Back Down versus

Sam Smith Stay With Me traditionally when songs popped up that sounded a bit Tom Petty the late Heartbreakers frontman let it slide but this time things played out differently stand and I down although the band leader expressed no hard feelings and deemed the similarities between the chorus to his I Won't Back Down and smth stay with me to be quote a musical accident his Publishing Company entered the fry all the same you stay with me you're all I need perhaps it was because unlike American Girl in Mary Jane's Last Dance the TP track in question

had a co-writer fellow traveling wilbury and ELO songwriter Jeff Lynn in the end Petty and Lynn ended up getting their due credit along with 12 .5% of the stay with me royalties number 18 Joe Satriani If I Could Fly versus Coldplay Viva Lita take notes on this one you're going to need [Music] them first up brooklyn-based Indie alternative band creaky board suggested that Coldplay had ripped off their ironically titled the songs I didn't write however the British rockers had recorded a demo of Viva prior to that song's first performance [Music] the then Joe Satriani stepped

up lawsuit in hand claiming that Chris Martin and crew borrowed from his if I could [Music] fly things got even more complicated when youse of Islam formerly Cat Stevens joined in on the fun pointing out that all of these songs sounded like his Foreigner Suite satriani's case was later dismissed in 2009 number 17 the new Seekers I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing in Perfect Harmony versus Oasis Shaker maker Oasis has never tried to hide their reverence for the past when it comes to their own musical style but this is one case where NL

Gallagher may have borrowed a bit too [Music] much the song I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing in Perfect Harmony began its life as a Coca-Cola jingle before being fleshed out and recorded by the new [Music] Seekers and ultimately having its Melody and some lyrics woven into the fabric of oasis's Shaker maker most sources claim that Gallagher was forced to change the offending I'd like to teach the world line alter a few notes and cough up $500,000 upon losing the apir mentioned lawsuit Gallagher equipped quote we drink Pepsi now number 16 Muddy Waters you

need love versus lead Zeppelin whole lot of love by cranking the tempo and volume of the Blues Leed zeep helped Pioneer hard rock and heavy [Music] metal but sometimes they stuck just a bit too close to their [Music] Roots while it took them a long time to get caught the Rock icons were finally sued in 1985 for a whole lot of loves whole lot of similarities to the Willie Dixon penned Muddy Waters classic you need love B though things were eventually settled out of court it wasn't the only time the British rockers were accused of

borrowing material as even Stairway to Heaven has been tainted by calls of plagiarism number 15 the Ruben I want to be your boyfriend versus Abra LaVine girlfriend when the Ruben who stepped up claiming ail LaVine had plagiarized them ail said Ruben who but aside from claiming she'd never heard of the band or their song she and her team chose a risky [Music] defense they said girlfriend was actually closer to The Rolling Stones Get Off of My Cloud or Mickey but wait a minute what about the Ramon song I want to be your boyfriend had the

Rubino themselves plagiarized ultimately a musicologist decided the Rubino's track and AAL song were completely different based on science and the case was settled out of court when ail's manager decided it was cheaper than paying lawyers number 14 the Kink's picture book versus the other Garden never got the chance versus Green Day warning and now how not to file a [Music] lawsuit in 2001 Colin Mary songwriter for an obscure English band called the other [Music] Garden sued Green Day claiming that warning was a copy of his song never got the chance War without the band's lawyer

threatened to sue the punk rockers for as much as $100,000 despite the fact that Mary admitted both his and Green Day songs had the same distinct riff as picture book by The Kinks [Music] needless to say the lawsuit was eventually dropped number 13 laran music's cabur versus Men at Work Down Under down under a backhanded anthem of all things Aussie and a monster hit in the early 1980s became a source of legal trouble in the 2000s originally the band's flest Greg Ham borrowed a two- bar Motif from cabur an Australian Australian children's song years went

by without incident until the connection between the two Tunes was mentioned on the game show and specs in 2007 that's when the right holders to cabar laran music came knocking cabar sitting in the old G Tre demanding 60% of down under royalties dating back to 1981 in July 2010 they instead were granted 5% backdated to 2002 sadly ham passed away in 2012 at the age of 58 and bandm made Colin Haye cites stress from the court case as a contributing factor you know the fact of the matter is that had went unrecognized for 27 years

because it was unconscious it was innocuous It Was Naive number 12 Hy Lewis in the news I want a new drug versus Ray Parker Jr Ghostbusters who you going to call a lawyer if you're Huey [Music] Lewis Lewis was actually asked to write a theme for Ghostbusters but passed on it to write music for Back to the Future so when Ray Parker Jr's theme for the supernatural comedy came out sounding suspiciously like huie's I want a new drug Lewis cited plagiarism something strange in your neighborhood who you going to callers it was settled out of

court almost a decade later and when the news front man spilled the beans on the confidential settlement on TV B Ray Parker Jr turned the tables and sued Lewis right back in [Applause] [Music] 2001 number 11 sleigh Bell's Infinity guitars versus Demi Lovato Stars typically only lyrics and Melody are considered copyrightable for New York band slay Bells Demi Lovato's Stars sounded quote virtually identical to their Infinity guitars with a little bit of Riot Rhythm mixed in but it was chiefly the hand claps and bass drum counter Rhythm that were cited it was on this basis

that the duo laid a case against Levato umg recordings and producers and co-writers Carl FAL and Ramy yakob the problem was falc and yakub claimed no samples reused in the song and that Demi only wrote one line the matter was settled in April 2017 and Lev team maintained there was no deliberate infringement bab number 10 Credence Clearwater Revival run through the jungle versus John Fogerty the old man down the road in a very odd move John Fogerty was sued for sounding like himself got got Fogerty was once the lead vocalist lead guitarist and primary song

writer of Credence Clearwater Revival but after the band broke up he relinquished his rights to CCR songs to get out of contractual commitments so when fogy released the solo track the old man down the road Fantasy Records owner of ccr's song catalog and his label during his Credence days claimed it ripped off run through the jungle better the jle better the jle the swamp rocker beat the case by bringing a guitar to the stand and demonstrating that the two songs were in fact quite different and that you can't actually plagiarize yourself well played Fogerty my

songs tend to sound like my songs right number nine Gordon Jenkins Crescent City Blues versus Johnny Cash fome prism Blues in the annals of song plagiarism there have been cases of subconscious plagiarism outright plagiarism uncleared samples and downright sneakiness this is a case of self-amusement gone aai while stationed in West Germany in 1953 Johnny cash wrote new lyrics to The Melody of Crescent City Blues inspired by the film inside the walls of fome prison when I was just a baby son Flash Forward a few years and cash is now a recording artist short on material

so he offered up his fome Prison Blues to producer Sam Phillips who told cash not to worry about the legalities I know I can't be free 15 years later the Men in Black would pay out about $75,000 in retribution number eight the Rolling Stones The Last Time versus The Verve Bittersweet Symphony this '90s Brit pop Anthem was at the center of a lengthy and contentious plagiarism [Music] case The Verve did obtain the rights to sample part of the Andrew oldum Orchestral Version of the classic stone song the issue was how much the band used and

according to former Stones manager and writs holder of the song Alan Klein it was way way too [Music] much so 100% of the royalties went to Klein and songwriting credit went to Mick Jagger and Keith [Music] Richards that's when oldum himself demanded recompense for the specific version of the song they had used though it took many years this story does have a relative happy ending with the stones backing off by 2019 and granting all future royalties to Verve lead singer Richard [Music] Ashcraft number seven Chuck Barry you can't catch me versus The Beatles Come Together

up with me the story starts simply enough John Lennon used an old Chuck Barry song as a starting point for a new new song but this similarity triggered legal issues with Barry's publisher the controversial Morris Levy hereat as repayment lenen agreed to record three songs owned by leie and attempted to do so during his rock and roll Album sessions until producer Phil Spectre stole the tapes and went into hiding when the tapes were recovered Lennon tried reassuring Levy that he was upholding his end of the deal by sharing a rough mix of progress which Levy

released himself and chased with a $42 million breach of contract lawsuit Lenin Emi and Capital Records counter suit with Levy being awarded a nominal $6,795 while having to pay out somewhere in the ballpark of 150,000 number six the chiffons he's so fine versus George Harrison My Sweet Lord soon after releasing his solo hit the first number one single by a former Beetle George Harrison found himself at the center of a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by bright [Music] Tunes Harrison was accused of plagiarizing the Ronnie mpen song He's So Fine the courts ruled that he had

subconsciously copied the chiffon Smash and would owe nearly $1.6 million in Damages he's a soft spoken [Music] guy but the story doesn't end there after Harrison fired his manager the previously mentioned Alan Klein during the trial Klein seized the opportunity to buy the copyright to he so fine hallu the courts ultimately decided that Harrison would only have to pay Klein's ABCO Industries $587,000 and he ended up with the song's rights number five the Holly the air that I breathe versus radio head Creep this case is so open and shut it's almost dull I'm AEP [Music]

[Applause] while writing creep Ed O'Brien pointed out to Tom York that the song's Bridge had the same chords as the air that I breathe so York decided to grab the song's Melody [Music] too that song's authors Albert Hammond and Mike Hazelwood then sued but we're impressed by the band's honesty and settled for credits and a cut of the creep royalties it's a sharp contrast to 2018 when lad Del Reay would allege that radio heads team noticed passing similarities to creep in her song get free and demanded 100% of her royalties number four Marvin Gay got

to give it up versus Robin Thick featuring TI and Fel Williams Blurred Lines let's welcome one of the great talents in the history of popular music let's get your hands together gang for Mr Marvin gate in one of many controversies that plagued this summer hit Robin Thick actually sued Marvin Gay's family for alleging the singer had plagiarized the late Soul [Music] artist while thick admitted he wasn't inspired by got to give it up he and co-writer Fel Williams contended that despite their similar Vibe they were essentially not the same citing different chords keys and [Music]

more Bridgeport music also became involved due to claims that Blurred Lines sampled Funkadelic sexy [Music] ways despite lots of support from music industry heavyweights who did not believe you could copyright a feeling in 2018 a judge ordered thick and Williams to pay nearly 5 million to Marvin Gay's estate number three Chuck Barry sweet little 16 versus The Beach Boys surfing [Music] USAF USA here's an instance where the artist openly and knowingly used the tune to an existing song for his new [Music] composition Brian Wilson wanted to write a song about surfing and felt Chuck Barry's

sweet little 16 was the perfect setting for his surf the themed lyrics however he neglected to credit Barry upon its recording and [Music] release such a to see although surf in USA was meant to be viewed as a tribute Barry's publishing company was unimpressed and forced Wilson's manager to surrender copyright to the rock and roll Pioneers publisher Ark music she's got the grown up blue number two multiple artists versus Mark Ronson Uptown Funk don't believe me just we guess it takes a village to write a hit song too before the monster hit that his Uptown

Funk was even released Ronson and Company offered some credit to Trinidad James after it was released the Gap Band came knocking claiming similarities to their oops upside your head followed by the sequence collage and finally zap in September of 2017 additionally Serbian artist Victoria has alleged that the song lifts elements from one of her songs by 2018 177% of the tracks royalties were transferred to the Gap Band while the credits have ballooned from Ronson Bruno Mars Jeff basker and Philip Lawrence to include six additional songwriters from their respective [Music] groups before we unveil our number

one pick here are some honorable mentions David Bowie boys keeps swinging versus blur [Music] swing Killing Joke 80s versus Nirvana Come As You Are come as you are as you were as I want you Brian Pringle take a dive versus blackeyed Peas I Got a [Music] Feeling I got to feel it that tonight going to be a good night before we continue be sure to subscribe to our Channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos you have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them if you're on

your phone make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications number one Queen and David Bowie Under Pressure versus Vanilla Ice Ice Ice Baby it takes about seven notes to recognize Ice Ice Baby for what it isce ice baby while the signature Baseline amounts to a sample Vanilla Ice never sought permission to use it and instead said his tinkering with the Riff and adding one note made it original [Music] but in the face of legal action the rapper caved and granted David Bowie as well as all four members of Queen doe credit and

[Music] royalties in 2013 ice claimed to have bought under pressure outright however the songs publishing info shows that it's co-owned by companies representing Queen Bowie and em my music making is's claim a bit [Music] dubious do you agree with our picks check out this other recent clip from M Mojo and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos