Posted on 02/04/2009 10:13:35 AM PST by Blue Highway
When Chris Martin and his Coldplay mates show up at the Grammys this weekend, they'll have fiercer predators to contend with than the normal cadre of paparazzi: process servers.
Back in December, guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the British hitmakers, claiming they lifted a melody line from one of his songs for their Grammy-nominated hit 'Viva La Vida.' Satriani's attorney Howard King tells Fox News that the band has so far dodged getting served the legal papers, and that a big awards show like the Grammys seems like a perfect place to corner Martin and Co.
“I wonder if one of those categories is best ripped off song without giving credit to the original artist.”
If there were such a category, it would be dominated by rap and hip-hop “artists”.
cold play is a great band, talk is my favorite song.
It’s funny how every rap song that ever reached the charts had a lifted melody.
Heck, Run-DMC not only lifted the melody of “Walk This Way”, they even lifted two members of Aerosmith to record it!
Haha good one.
The “Singing Nun” was so guilt ridden, she killed herself.
I’m no fan of lite-pop junk like Coldplay, that is a pretty standard/generic chord progression. The first few notes of the bar are the same, but after that its just in key.
Satriani doesn’t have a leg to stand on, really.
It would be funny if Coldplay are planning on playing the very song they ripped off from Satriani and as they get ready to play, Joe walks out on stage playing his song in time to the Coldplay Viva crap and he serves the papers himself. All captured on live tv. Would be an interesting stunt, only Joe would be arrested for that stunt I’m sure.
satch is awesome love him been listing to him for 25 years now.go getem joe
If that happened, it might actually make the Grammys worth watching.
true, but most of those rap songs credit the original guy and he gets a cut and is listed on the ascap rights. For example, Public Enemy had a big hit a ways back with a song that sampled that 60s song For What It’s Worth(”There’s something happening here...) But they acknowledged it and the original artist agreed and got a cut, so it was all good. Coldplay flat out stole the melody and didn’t credit Satriani at all. That’s what this is about. He wants a cut. If they had gone to him in the beginning and asked to sample it he’d have been fine with it, I’d think.
Now, they can say it’s just a coincidence that the vocal line and melody in their song is exactly the same, but I don’t buy it. The odds are astronomical. I mean, his solo was pretty distinctive and for a pop band to come out with a song that duplicates it entirely hard to swallow.
If it goes to court, he likely wins. Or most likely, Coldplay will settle out of ocurt.
The progression just so happens to fit the melody of Satrianis song EXACTLY? Same tempo, same chord selection and melody? Too much of a co-incidence. Coldplay are not even that imaginative to create even mediocre pop-lite crap on their own.
Coldplays leader is married to libtard Gwenyth Paltrow. Their music is pretty lame.
ping
ven crap like Oasis rips off the Beatles/Kinks better than coldplay. Blur ripped off the Kinks and their leader Damon Albarn is a big Lib.
Chris’ wife will help pay for the bill. I’m surprised he lowered himself to come back to the US.
Their first CD (Parachutes) is outstanding.
It went downhill from there when they got so political.
"We have warned their British lawyers that we have hired a fleet of process servers lined up to dog the band everywhere they go this weekend in the hopes of serving them," King says.
The 52-year-old 'Surfing With the Alien' shredder is reportedly seeking damages and "any and all profits" from the group for allegedly plagiarizing his 2004 instrumental 'If I Could Fly.' Coldplay has denied stealing the riff, calling the similarities in the songs "entirely coincidental." They have been adamant, but also polite, about their stand on the issue. "Joe Satriani is a great musician, but he did not write the song 'Viva La Vida,'" they said in a statement in December.
Satriani's lawyer even promises to have camera crews at the event on Sunday to videotape the transaction. Coldplay are up for seven nominations at this year's show, including the coveted Record of the Year for, you guessed it, 'Viva La Vida.' To top it off, they're also scheduled to perform live. The 51st Grammy Awards air February 8th on CBS.
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