Coldplay / Satriani plagarism . . . opinions?

[tomhug]

Start the day with some innocuous controversy.:-)
 
Coldplay Refutes Plagiarism Claim, Disses Satriani in Court  
 
Not a huge fan of either artist myself, they're in the (probably) won't turn 'em off if they come on the radio, but probably wouldn't buy a CD category.  
 
I thought Coldplay's recent Grammy performance was effective.
 
Thoughts? Opinions?

[dnburgess]

Given how Coldplay went out of their way to give kudos to Kraftwerk for Talk, I think they probably didn't deliberately rip Satch - but the songs are awfully similar. Coldplay should just apologise and split the royalties on that toon - it would mean much more to Satch than it would to them.

[hydrargyrum]

I've heard a little about this in the press.  Seems more like a case of you've only got so many chords to work with, than hey, let's rip off Joe Satriani.   I guess no one knows for sure, except Coldplay, but there have to be genuine cases of independent synthesis that result in products that are remarkably similar.
 
(Message edited by hydrargyrum on April 08, 2009)

[white_cloud]

Going to have to check this one out - Im a Coldplay fan but definitely not a Satriani fan.
 
Sounds interesing that Coldplay would rip him off as there is a most definite clash of styles - but who knows!
 
John.

[hydrargyrum]

Here is a link to a comparison on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvB9Pj9Znsw.  After reviewing, my personal opinion is coincidence.  I'm not a fan of either, but I find the debate interesting.

[white_cloud]

After listening to both I think its coincidence!
 
I can understand why the comparison has been made but for me, no - it isnt a rip off.  
 
Coldplay are very forthright about their influences and have openly admitted to using their own musical peers for certain parts of coldplay songs (the drums from hounds of love by Kate Bush for one example)
 
Its not impossible that they have used the Satriani riff but Imho unlikely.
 
John.

[karl]

I say coincidence. The Coldplay guys aren't stupid, they know the deal with copyright infringement and they've been happy to give credit in the past where they had consciously ripped something off. It's probably simply that one or more of them had heard Satch's tune once in the past and it just happened to come out subconsciously when they wrote this one. I know I've done it in the past - wrote what I thought was a great original melody, then took it into rehearsal only to have my keyboard player say something like 'Hey, isn't that the middle eight from 'Ladies Night'?' And he's usually right - I hadn't intentionally copied the melody, but I must have heard it and 'absorbed' it. Certain combinations of notes just sound good over certain chord progressions. And there are only so many notes and chords - some of these are bound to get subconsciously copied from time to time.
 
K.

[hydrargyrum]

How many songs have the exact same chord structure as Wild Thing, just as an example?  
 
Another good reason to doubt is that I don't believe anyone out there actually listens to Joe Satriani:=).

[jedisan]

I check out the posts over on the Talk Bass forums on a fairly regular basis. Don't know how many of you do the same, I was thinking of asking at some point. This situation between Satch and Coldplay has been extensively discussed at Talk Bass, including some pretty good legal arguments form individuals currently studying music legal issues. If you are interested in reading more on this issue, I would recommend reading the thread at Talk Bass. Even though, I think this is a case of just one of those things, from my readings, I think Satch has a fairly decent case. Of course, just my humble opinion though. Lot's of stuff about this on YouTube as well.

[peoplechipper]

I hope it's coincidence; I don't find Satch's song inspiring; on the contrary, the over-compressed thing that it is sounds like a guy who's spent way too much time doing product demos at music stores, left his soul in albuquerque or something...

[hydrargyrum]

Everyone has their own taste, and I sure don't mean to go claiming mine is better than anyone else, but in my opinion players like Satriani, Steve Vai, etc. seem to be trying to write music to impress guitar players.  I don't know of anyone who isn't a guitar player who listens to them.  I'd much rather hear someone like Modest Mouse, or Lou Reed, who may not be able to keep up with these guys technically, but who make every note count a little more.

[jbybj]

Everyone has their own taste, and I sure don't mean to go claiming mine is better than anyone else, but in my opinion players like Satriani, Steve Vai, etc. seem to be trying to write music to impress guitar players.
 
I have never really been inspired to explore Steve Vai's solo work, but when I saw him play with Zappa, it was astounding. Many of the same flashy virtuoso acrobatics, but under Zappa's direction, in the context of his group and his music, Vai was awesome. Very similar experience watching Adrian Belew play with Frank.

[jedisan]

James, I do agree with you. This style of guitar player really appeals to the guitar god type of fan. A couple of years ago, I attended an Ibanez sponsored show at NAMM, featuring Satch. While being able to respect and appreciate his prowess as a guitar player, for me, after about a half dozen songs, it all started to sound the same. And as far as Coldplay is concerned, I have always regarded them as U2 lite. But hey, I can in no way argue with their success. Heck, the song won a Grammy for goodness sakes. But really, all this don?t mean anything as far as the lawsuit goes. My money says Coldplay will play hardball hoping Satch backs down. And if he doesn?t, they end up settling.
 
(Message edited by jedisan on April 10, 2009)
 
(Message edited by jedisan on April 10, 2009)

[hydrargyrum]

Don't get me wrong James, I'm a huge Zappa fan, and definitely enjoy Vai's playing under his direction, but I couldn't touch his solo stuff.  Zappa gave those guys a purpose I don't really hear in their playing otherwise.  Once again, just my personal opinion.

[jet_powers]

I once saw Satriani open for Bowie but forgot all about him when Belew blew him away as part of Bowie's band.... not that this is sport or really anything to do with this thread, but the names dropped here jogged that memory.