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Getbig Main Boards => General Topics => Topic started by: Benny B on June 08, 2012, 09:33:40 AM
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Top 10 Musicians Who Make Their Living Ripping Off Other Musicians
It’s tough to be completely original in music; we get that. There are so many bands and so many styles that virtually everybody is going to end up sounding like somebody else at one point or another.
Some people though, take that excuse to the extreme, and basically make their fortune off other people’s sounds. The “best” of the bunch rip off several bands in the span of one damn album, and sometimes within the same song.
10. Skillet
(http://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Album-Cover-skillet-awake.jpg)
A fairly new band to the mainstream crowd, these guys come roaring out of the gate quickly with two singles that are basically somebody else’s. It probably took the average radio fan several listens before realizing Monster wasn’t just Three Days Grace writing a sequel to Animal I Have Become. But since they’re almost exactly the same song, from the beat to the heavy sound to the theme to the way the guy sings, then the listener can be forgiven.
Things got even more confusing when they released their next single, Awake And Alive, featuring synths, violins, and pretty female vocals designed to make us forget about the ugly male vocals immediately preceding them. And yet we were supposed to be shocked when we found out it wasn’t Evanescence.
We were shocked however, to find out they are a Christian band. Pretty sure shamelessly aping several bands in one shot falls under the “thou shalt not covet” thing that God was so against.
9. Union Underground
(http://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/union-underground.jpg)
This early 2000’s metal band had a couple radio singles get frequent play, though you’d swear it was two other, better, bands if you didn’t catch the DJ beforehand. Their first single, Turn Me On Mr. Deadman, was little more than a Powerman 5000 outtake, right down to the creepy spoken-word verses and screaming choruses. Their next single, Killing The Fly, slowed things down and added oddly-familiar harmonic vocals. Coincidentally, it couldn’t have been more Alice In Chains if Layne Staley himself had written the damn thing.
In addition, they loved The Beatles and wanted to let you know it. “Mr. Deadman” was supposedly a saying that was revealed by playing the Beatles song Revolution 9 backwards, and another song of theirs, Revolution Man, was about Lennon himself. The only thing they didn’t do in tribute to Lennon was create original and interesting songs.
8. Natalie Imbruglia
(http://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/natalie_imbruglia-torn.jpg)
You hate to bag on someone as adorable as Natalie, but she sadly doesn’t have an original musical bone in her body. Her biggest hit, Torn, was a watered-down cover of an Ednaswap song, and the rest of her debut album alternated between being an Alanis Morrisette tribute and a beginners guide to Portishead-style trip-hop.
Her Alanis phase was never more prevalent than in the song Intuition, which features a chorus that sounds EXACTLY like the chorus to Alanis’s Hand In My Pocket. Though she came close to topping that with another song, Big Mistake, which combined slow trip-hop verses with an angsty-rock-chick chorus, complete with Alanis-style yelps to end each line. Natalie had a few more hits, but never came close her initial success ever again; perhaps her approach was a Big Mistake after all.
7. Jet
(http://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Jet.jpg)
Approximately 25,381,726,349,738,482,374 bands rip off AC/DC; few get a multi-record deal and make millions while doing it. Jet is one of those bands, shamelessly aping AC/DC’s guitar sound, riffs, even their knack for NOT playing their instruments for several bars, just to make us wet in anticipation for the next riff. We’re looking at YOU, Cold Hard Bitch.
Adding to their Angus Young fetish is their love for the White Stripes or, more accurately, how Jack White sings the typical White Stripes song. Listen to Are You Gonna Be My Girl and try to tell yourself that isn’t exactly how Jack sings 95% of his songs. You can’t.
6. Puddle Of Mudd
(http://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/puddle-of-mudd.jpg)
Bands like this could easily be re-named “Intro To Grunge 101,” as they basically ape anything that made the genre great, only they do it less great.
From Alice In Chains’ slow grind, to Pearls Jam’s vocal growl, to Creed’s far-inferior version of Pearl Jam’s vocal growl, Puddle Of Mudd specializes in taking the best of grunge angst and summarizing it all up as “Ah love the way you smack my aaaaaaaaasssssssssssss”.
But lest you think all they do is rip off the grunge they so love, fear not: they also love to rip off the musicals they so love! The verse in their hit single She Hates Me features a bouncy guitar and lyrics sung in almost the exact same way as Grease’s Summer Lovin’. Unlike the original, however, he doesn’t have to tell us more, tell us more: since the girl in Mudd’s song f’ing hates him after only a week of dating, we can only assume he didn’t “get very far”.
5. Godsmack
(http://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/godsmack.jpg)
Lead vocalist Sully has one Hell of a Boston accent, but he sadly has not put it to use during his songs, preferring instead to take the path traveled by every band he liked growing up. For the most part, Godsmack sounds like Alice In Chains, complete with the occasional dual vocal harmony, mixed with Metallica’s power and overall guitar sound. Hell, even their name is a rip-off, as God Smack is an obscure AiC tune from 1992.
But wait, there’s more! Sully is a Wiccan who’s very much into spiritual spookiness, so the band occasionally channels Tool and other mystical rock bands, with tunes like Voodoo, Spiral, and Sully’s entire solo album. But the Voodoo video did have a naked tribal woman in it, so they have that much going for them at least.
4. Wolfmother
(http://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/wolfmother.jpg)
Tons of garage bands out there take the sounds of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, among others, and make them their own. Luckily, nobody hears them unless they literally walk past the garage at the wrong time. Not so with Wolfmother, who have taken their fascination with the heavier side of classic rock to the umpteenth degree.
Literally every note out of their repertoire is lifted from a classic 70’s band, whether it be Led Zeppelin’s wailing vocals, Black Sabbath’s fascination with fantasy and the occult, or Deep Purple’s simple, yet irresistibly catchy lyrics. Even their look (gigantic afros, psychedelic videos, trippy concert posters), is copied straight from bands that did it better thirty years ago.
Listening to Wolfmother’s Woman or New Moon Rising is only useful if you want to immerse yourself in the greatest bands of the ‘70s, but just don’t have the time to listen to them all.
3. Sum 41
(http://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/sum-41.jpg)
Sum 41 is just amazing. In just a few short years, they have managed to rip off not one, not two, but THREE completely different genres of music. If that weren’t pathetic, they’d probably deserve some kind of medal.
When they first appeared, they gave us songs like Fat Lip and In Too Deep. Here, they either copied the frat boy hip-hop of early Beastie Boys, or somehow managed to water down Blink 182’s pop-punk even more so than it already was. Later on, they took a line from Fat Lip that mentioned how much they love bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, and decided to rip off 80’s metal as well. Each successive album got slightly more metal, and when the band tours, they are known to open up for themselves as an 80’s metal band called “Pain For Pleasure.” They even “let” PFP record songs on Sum 41 records, which just goes to prove a point: if you’re going to rip off multiple bands over multiple genres, you might as well be clever and meta about the whole thing.
2. Lenny Kravitz
(http://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/lenny-kravitz.jpg)
When you think “shameless rip-off artist,” one of the first names that come to mind is Lenny Kravitz. From his debut in the late 80’s to, well, today, Kravitz has made a name for himself by doing basically what Jimi Hendrix did, only on a much, much smaller and far less interesting scale. So naturally, Jimi checked out after four years, and Lenny has hung around for over twenty.
When he’s not creating entire songs like Are You Gonna Go My Way or Fly Away, which are entirely based on one slightly Hendrix-y riff that Hendrix would have almost certainly tossed out for being too boring, Lenny is also ripping off the very essence of Prince. But no matter how many instruments Lenny plays by himself, or how often he attempts to create Prince-style sexy slow jams like You Belong To Me, and no matter how many girly shirts he wears even though they’re two sizes too tight, Lenny Kravitz is very not Prince. Now, if he starts using more U’s, UR’s, and 2’s in his song titles, then he might have an argument.
1. Kid Rock
(http://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/kid-rock.jpg)
The ultimate rip-off artist, Kid Rock has been pretending to be every genre ever heard of since the late-90’s. He alternates between being a poor man’s Bob Seger, a poor man’s Lynyrd Skynyrd, a poor man’s Johnny Cash, a poor man’s Metallica, and a poor man’s Grandmaster Flash, among countless others. Bottom line, if you are a classic rock, southern rock, hard rock, or old-school hip-hop artist, Kid Rock probably sounded like you at one point or another.
Kid Rock’s magnum opus when it comes to ripping off artists more original than he would have to be 2008’s All Summer Long, where he sings about listening to Sweet Home Alabama, just in case we’ve forgotten what a good song sounds like. He does this by ripping off that EXACT song in the chorus, while producing a completely Xeroxed copy of Warren Zevon’s Werewolves Of London and passing that off as his own.
For his crimes and outright plagiarism, Kid Rock received the ultimate punishment: one of the biggest hits of the year and millions of dollars in his bank account. Life isn’t fair at all.
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Lenny Kravitz doesn't belong on that list come on man
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Lenny Kravitz doesn't belong on that list come on man
yes he does...the summary of him is pretty spot on ;D
Actually I have never listened to an entire album of Lenny's music, but what I have heard rings rather inauthentic and unoriginal. The Prince/Jimi idolization is obvious.
I have only heard of three of the above mentioned artists on this list (Lenny, Natalie and Kid), so you r&r lovers could provide better analysis of the others on this list than I. I just posted this for shits & giggles for music fans. :)
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hahahah benny is running out of political topics to discuss now he wants to talk about music, no matter you are still a one dimensional jerk off.
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hahahah benny is running out of political topics to discuss now he wants to talk about music, no matter you are still a one dimensional jerk off.
*cue the same 3 or 4 crybaby pictures followed by "Oh looks like I've got another butthurt follower*
In 3.....2......1......
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Don't forget Led Zeppelin
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Good musicians borrow, great ones steal.
all music is just a huge game of theme and variation, there's not much else to be done, the only difference between artists is their unique sound and stance on things.
for instance, werewolves of london by warren zevon is the same as kid rock's all summer long, the difference (besides each ones unique sound) is zevon is singing about a werewolf and kid rock has a white trash stance.
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hahahah benny is running out of political topics to discuss now he wants to talk about music, no matter you are still a one dimensional jerk off.
^ this x1000
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Don't forget Led Zeppelin
That's actually the first group that came to mind for me as well.
The Kid Rock as the number one "rip off" musician is way off as far as I'm concerned. Yeah he combined two artists which maybe you could hold against him but it wasn't meant to be outright stealing of their material, I'm sure he was fans of both.
As far as his musical interests, big fucking deal if he had a wide variety of artists he idolizing...I still don't see where the "rip off" factor comes into play there as well.
I am by no means a Kid Rock fan, I think he's around mostly because he fills a certain niche but having him at number one is just ridiculous.
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Don't forget Led Zeppelin
::)
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Most bands just aspire to sound like a mix of their favorite bands.
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LOL. as soon as I saw this title I thought of Lenny Kravitz. Sinead Oconnor who ripped off 'Nothing compares to you' should be on there.
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hahahah benny is running out of political topics to discuss now he wants to talk about music, no matter you are still a one dimensional jerk off.
I talk about different things all the time, my butthurt friend. ;) I post regularly in the Parker music thread, The MMA Board, The Entertainment Board, the book thread in the General Topics board, etc.
Besides, you seem to be under the impression that the opinion of someone as dumb as you matters to me. ::)
It does not.
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*cue the same 3 or 4 crybaby pictures followed by "Oh looks like I've got another butthurt follower*
In 3.....2......1......
LOL
Dude, you already outed yourself as a guy who likes to masturbate to Black men screwing white women. ;D
There's a name for racist white guys like that...hmmm...let me think... :-X
You played yourself, son! "polychronopolous"...hahaha! Oh, brother! ::) ::)
(http://www.motifake.com/image/demotivational-poster/0912/cmon-son-c-mon-son-ed-lover-demotivational-poster-1260974460.jpg)
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^ this x1000
It's my 623 post-having gimmick! I love it! ;D
You still use your old account, or just given up on it completely? :-\
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LOL. as soon as I saw this title I thought of Lenny Kravitz. Sinead Oconnor who ripped off 'Nothing compares to you' should be on there.
Sinead did not "rip off" that song. However, she made a direct remake of the song without Prince's permission.
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Good musicians borrow, great ones steal.
all music is just a huge game of theme and variation, there's not much else to be done, the only difference between artists is their unique sound and stance on things.
for instance, werewolves of london by warren zevon is the same as kid rock's all summer long, the difference (besides each ones unique sound) is zevon is singing about a werewolf and kid rock has a white trash stance.
Great ones may steal, but add to it in a way that puts a unique spin on the sound. ;) Sure, all artists have influences. You can't help but be inspired by those who came before you. However, its lame when you are blatantly imitating the musicians you idolize in a way that everyone can hear straight away.
Prince and Micheal Jackson, two guys that were often compared and pitted against one another by fans, are an example of artists who were both HEAVILY influenced by James Brown. However, you don't just hear JB when you listen to their music...they both crafted a distinct sound, and have a special genius unique unto themselves.
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Who the fuck cars about a distinct sound that is a load of horseshit. The problem is that people like kid rock directly lifted parts for all of his biggest sounds. The guy hasn't produced anything that isn't a blatant lift from somewhere else.
Than you have bands like sum41 who were blatant of there cheap tricks, but i don't think they directly ripped off anything.
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Who the fuck cars about a distinct sound that is a load of horseshit.
"Horseshit"? ???
I think most serious music fans admire really talented artists who don't sound just like everybody else. I certainly do. If you do not, well, that is your prerogative.
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"Horseshit"? ???
I think most serious music fans admire really talented artists who don't sound just like everybody else. I certainly do. If you do not, well, that is your prerogative.
Absolutely!
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"Horseshit"? ???
I think most serious music fans admire really talented artists who don't sound just like everybody else. I certainly do. If you do not, well, that is your prerogative.
This.
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Great ones may steal, but add to it in a way that puts a unique spin on the sound. ;) Sure, all artists have influences. You can't help but be inspired by those who came before you. However, its lame when you are blatantly imitating the musicians you idolize in a way that everyone can hear straight away.
Prince and Micheal Jackson, two guys that were often compared and pitted against one another by fans, are an example of artists who were both HEAVILY influenced by James Brown. However, you don't just hear JB when you listen to their music...they both crafted a distinct sound, and have a special genius unique unto themselves.
that's why I said unique sound...
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LOL
Dude, you already outed yourself as a guy who likes to masturbate to Black men screwing white women. ;D
There's a name for racist white guys like that...hmmm...let me think... :-X
You played yourself, son! "polychronopolous"...hahaha! Oh, brother! ::) ::)
I can't wait for that new one where Mitt Romney puts an epic fucking on Obama come November! :)
That's gonna be some cum dripping good stuff! 8) :D
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Eminem = a white guy making a living stealing black people's music
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Stupid list. All the supposed originals ripped off whoever came before them but people today don't know back that far.
A few years ago someone gave U2 a hard time saying they had ripped them off. Bono said you must have ripped off Bo Diddley too because that is who we stole from for this particular song.
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Stupid list. All the supposed originals ripped off whoever came before them but people today don't know back that far.
A few years ago someone gave U2 a hard time saying they had ripped them off. Bono said you must have ripped off Bo Diddley too because that is who we stole from for this particular song.
this
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How is that Gaga slag not on there? Cos she's new and 'hip' and too cool to be featured on this kind of list? Every one of her god awful songs I hear on the radio is a copy of something else. 'Bad Romance' was a 100% rip off of ELO's 'Don't Bring Me Down', and there was another one which was a copy of a Madonna track.
And she looks like a squirrel.
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Don't forget Led Zeppelin
is this the mythical song that Jimmy Page "stole the entire beginning of Stairway to heaven" from ?
Sorry, but there are some familiar notes, but it's nowhere near a total rip job, as legend has it. He may have heard that song and got inspired, but Stairway goes in a total different direction and has a completely different feel
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funny op copied his post from somewhere else. The irony.
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funny op copied his post from somewhere else. The irony.
Probably written by a white guy too. ::)
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is this the mythical song that Jimmy Page "stole the entire beginning of Stairway to heaven" from ?
Sorry, but there are some familiar notes, but it's nowhere near a total rip job, as legend has it. He may have heard that song and got inspired, but Stairway goes in a total different direction and has a completely different feel
stairway was written 400 years ago by some guy in spain.
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stairway was written 400 years ago by some guy in spain.
for real ?
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for real ?
something like that
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Great ones may steal, but add to it in a way that puts a unique spin on the sound. ;) Sure, all artists have influences. You can't help but be inspired by those who came before you. However, its lame when you are blatantly imitating the musicians you idolize in a way that everyone can hear straight away.
Prince and Micheal Jackson, two guys that were often compared and pitted against one another by fans, are an example of artists who were both HEAVILY influenced by James Brown. However, you don't just hear JB when you listen to their music...they both crafted a distinct sound, and have a special genius unique unto themselves.
Oh, my, well stated.
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Top 10 Musicians Who Make Their Living Ripping Off Other Musicians
It’s tough to be completely original in music; we get that. There are so many bands and so many styles that virtually everybody is going to end up sounding like somebody else at one point or another.
Some people though, take that excuse to the extreme, and basically make their fortune off other people’s sounds. The “best” of the bunch rip off several bands in the span of one damn album, and sometimes within the same song.
10. Skillet
(http://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Album-Cover-skillet-awake.jpg)
A fairly new band to the mainstream crowd, these guys come roaring out of the gate quickly with two singles that are basically somebody else’s. It probably took the average radio fan several listens before realizing Monster wasn’t just Three Days Grace writing a sequel to Animal I Have Become. But since they’re almost exactly the same song, from the beat to the heavy sound to the theme to the way the guy sings, then the listener can be forgiven.
Things got even more confusing when they released their next single, Awake And Alive, featuring synths, violins, and pretty female vocals designed to make us forget about the ugly male vocals immediately preceding them. And yet we were supposed to be shocked when we found out it wasn’t Evanescence.
We were shocked however, to find out they are a Christian band. Pretty sure shamelessly aping several bands in one shot falls under the “thou shalt not covet” thing that God was so against.
9. Union Underground
(http://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/union-underground.jpg)
This early 2000’s metal band had a couple radio singles get frequent play, though you’d swear it was two other, better, bands if you didn’t catch the DJ beforehand. Their first single, Turn Me On Mr. Deadman, was little more than a Powerman 5000 outtake, right down to the creepy spoken-word verses and screaming choruses. Their next single, Killing The Fly, slowed things down and added oddly-familiar harmonic vocals. Coincidentally, it couldn’t have been more Alice In Chains if Layne Staley himself had written the damn thing.
In addition, they loved The Beatles and wanted to let you know it. “Mr. Deadman” was supposedly a saying that was revealed by playing the Beatles song Revolution 9 backwards, and another song of theirs, Revolution Man, was about Lennon himself. The only thing they didn’t do in tribute to Lennon was create original and interesting songs.
8. Natalie Imbruglia
(http://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/natalie_imbruglia-torn.jpg)
You hate to bag on someone as adorable as Natalie, but she sadly doesn’t have an original musical bone in her body. Her biggest hit, Torn, was a watered-down cover of an Ednaswap song, and the rest of her debut album alternated between being an Alanis Morrisette tribute and a beginners guide to Portishead-style trip-hop.
Her Alanis phase was never more prevalent than in the song Intuition, which features a chorus that sounds EXACTLY like the chorus to Alanis’s Hand In My Pocket. Though she came close to topping that with another song, Big Mistake, which combined slow trip-hop verses with an angsty-rock-chick chorus, complete with Alanis-style yelps to end each line. Natalie had a few more hits, but never came close her initial success ever again; perhaps her approach was a Big Mistake after all.
7. Jet
(http://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Jet.jpg)
Approximately 25,381,726,349,738,482,374 bands rip off AC/DC; few get a multi-record deal and make millions while doing it. Jet is one of those bands, shamelessly aping AC/DC’s guitar sound, riffs, even their knack for NOT playing their instruments for several bars, just to make us wet in anticipation for the next riff. We’re looking at YOU, Cold Hard Bitch.
Adding to their Angus Young fetish is their love for the White Stripes or, more accurately, how Jack White sings the typical White Stripes song. Listen to Are You Gonna Be My Girl and try to tell yourself that isn’t exactly how Jack sings 95% of his songs. You can’t.
6. Puddle Of Mudd
(http://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/puddle-of-mudd.jpg)
Bands like this could easily be re-named “Intro To Grunge 101,” as they basically ape anything that made the genre great, only they do it less great.
From Alice In Chains’ slow grind, to Pearls Jam’s vocal growl, to Creed’s far-inferior version of Pearl Jam’s vocal growl, Puddle Of Mudd specializes in taking the best of grunge angst and summarizing it all up as “Ah love the way you smack my aaaaaaaaasssssssssssss”.
But lest you think all they do is rip off the grunge they so love, fear not: they also love to rip off the musicals they so love! The verse in their hit single She Hates Me features a bouncy guitar and lyrics sung in almost the exact same way as Grease’s Summer Lovin’. Unlike the original, however, he doesn’t have to tell us more, tell us more: since the girl in Mudd’s song f’ing hates him after only a week of dating, we can only assume he didn’t “get very far”.
5. Godsmack
(http://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/godsmack.jpg)
Lead vocalist Sully has one Hell of a Boston accent, but he sadly has not put it to use during his songs, preferring instead to take the path traveled by every band he liked growing up. For the most part, Godsmack sounds like Alice In Chains, complete with the occasional dual vocal harmony, mixed with Metallica’s power and overall guitar sound. Hell, even their name is a rip-off, as God Smack is an obscure AiC tune from 1992.
But wait, there’s more! Sully is a Wiccan who’s very much into spiritual spookiness, so the band occasionally channels Tool and other mystical rock bands, with tunes like Voodoo, Spiral, and Sully’s entire solo album. But the Voodoo video did have a naked tribal woman in it, so they have that much going for them at least.
4. Wolfmother
(http://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/wolfmother.jpg)
Tons of garage bands out there take the sounds of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, among others, and make them their own. Luckily, nobody hears them unless they literally walk past the garage at the wrong time. Not so with Wolfmother, who have taken their fascination with the heavier side of classic rock to the umpteenth degree.
Literally every note out of their repertoire is lifted from a classic 70’s band, whether it be Led Zeppelin’s wailing vocals, Black Sabbath’s fascination with fantasy and the occult, or Deep Purple’s simple, yet irresistibly catchy lyrics. Even their look (gigantic afros, psychedelic videos, trippy concert posters), is copied straight from bands that did it better thirty years ago.
Listening to Wolfmother’s Woman or New Moon Rising is only useful if you want to immerse yourself in the greatest bands of the ‘70s, but just don’t have the time to listen to them all.
3. Sum 41
(http://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/sum-41.jpg)
Sum 41 is just amazing. In just a few short years, they have managed to rip off not one, not two, but THREE completely different genres of music. If that weren’t pathetic, they’d probably deserve some kind of medal.
When they first appeared, they gave us songs like Fat Lip and In Too Deep. Here, they either copied the frat boy hip-hop of early Beastie Boys, or somehow managed to water down Blink 182’s pop-punk even more so than it already was. Later on, they took a line from Fat Lip that mentioned how much they love bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, and decided to rip off 80’s metal as well. Each successive album got slightly more metal, and when the band tours, they are known to open up for themselves as an 80’s metal band called “Pain For Pleasure.” They even “let” PFP record songs on Sum 41 records, which just goes to prove a point: if you’re going to rip off multiple bands over multiple genres, you might as well be clever and meta about the whole thing.
2. Lenny Kravitz
(http://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/lenny-kravitz.jpg)
When you think “shameless rip-off artist,” one of the first names that come to mind is Lenny Kravitz. From his debut in the late 80’s to, well, today, Kravitz has made a name for himself by doing basically what Jimi Hendrix did, only on a much, much smaller and far less interesting scale. So naturally, Jimi checked out after four years, and Lenny has hung around for over twenty.
When he’s not creating entire songs like Are You Gonna Go My Way or Fly Away, which are entirely based on one slightly Hendrix-y riff that Hendrix would have almost certainly tossed out for being too boring, Lenny is also ripping off the very essence of Prince. But no matter how many instruments Lenny plays by himself, or how often he attempts to create Prince-style sexy slow jams like You Belong To Me, and no matter how many girly shirts he wears even though they’re two sizes too tight, Lenny Kravitz is very not Prince. Now, if he starts using more U’s, UR’s, and 2’s in his song titles, then he might have an argument.
1. Kid Rock
(http://www.toptenz.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/kid-rock.jpg)
The ultimate rip-off artist, Kid Rock has been pretending to be every genre ever heard of since the late-90’s. He alternates between being a poor man’s Bob Seger, a poor man’s Lynyrd Skynyrd, a poor man’s Johnny Cash, a poor man’s Metallica, and a poor man’s Grandmaster Flash, among countless others. Bottom line, if you are a classic rock, southern rock, hard rock, or old-school hip-hop artist, Kid Rock probably sounded like you at one point or another.
Kid Rock’s magnum opus when it comes to ripping off artists more original than he would have to be 2008’s All Summer Long, where he sings about listening to Sweet Home Alabama, just in case we’ve forgotten what a good song sounds like. He does this by ripping off that EXACT song in the chorus, while producing a completely Xeroxed copy of Warren Zevon’s Werewolves Of London and passing that off as his own.
For his crimes and outright plagiarism, Kid Rock received the ultimate punishment: one of the biggest hits of the year and millions of dollars in his bank account. Life isn’t fair at all.
Hmmm I don'tlike kid rock, but the whole point of his music is it IS stolen. You might as well add ALL HIPHOP to the list, because samples = stolen.
A cleverer list would have shown some awareness that Led Zepelin stole all their music from proper blues guys in the first place.
Jet do steal, but 'Lust for Life' by Iggy pop was their main focus on Are You Gonna Be My Girl. Or a Town Called Malice, but then they all stole from Motown anyway. Sooooo........everything is stolen, there's only a handful of beats and chord sequences, it's what you do with them and how much feeling you get out of them that counts. I mean The Shins ARE the Beach Boys (Beach Boys got sued for plagiarising Chuck Berry right?), Oasis basically ARE The Beatles, Lady Gaga steals Ace of Bass and Madonna, D'Angelo is basically Prince - who wanted to be James Brown anyway. John Mayer is SRV - who was dubbed Hendrix II his whole career. An aware musician kind of gives this credit then lets it slide, because they would all happily admit this! It's idol worship, influences on sleeves, flattery in many cases.
How many songs did Frank Sinatra actually write? More than Natalie Imbruglia? Er, no. How many classical musicians write anything they play? Is that Leanne Rhymes song actually Barbie Girl by Aqua? I've tried to care, but at the end of the day nobody cares, and as Lady gaga says, if you can get away with it then you are smart haha.
There's infinites examples of this. I like Led Zep, but whereas Wolfmother are a joky loveable pastiche fun band, Led Zep were completely serious when they claimed all these songs as their own in the first place, funny eh?
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This is a terrible list. There is a difference between ripping people off and properly crediting sources, which Kid Rock does. I love KR because his musical influences are exactly what I listen to. Some days it's classical, country, rock, heavy metal, grunge, pop, easy listening, I really like them all to some degree. Again, a very ignorant list.
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'Musicians' with a lack of creativity plagiarize directly. The odd cover tune notwithstanding. Creative musicians can recreate a musical piece and make it their own.
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How many number one songs are played with the same three chords? One thing for sure is that Lady Gaga directly ripped off a Madonna hit. I don't fault Lenny Karvitz for being influenced by his heros when he was learning the guitar and using those scales. How many major bands from the sixties were influenced by the Beatles and the Beach boys. Most of them were.
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You would have to be deaf to be totally original and not be influenced by somethig you heard!
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I can definitely hear a little Stevie Wonder in this piece.
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Weird Al Yankovic? The guy technically gets permission to rip off as a courtesy but besides this, he uses the exact same music ... and then comes up with sometimes funny lyrics that follow a similar rythym as the original. How's that for making a living?
that was my thought also right when i clicked on this thread. al had one hell of a body too. {TIC}
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You guys are to young to know about the biggest rip off of them all. It's Pat Boone. He would see what hits were rising the charts by black artists like Little Richard and he would record their song. Since many radio stations across the country at the time wouldn't play black artists his version would rise in the charts to the top ten. His version always stunk but it was new music to the masses. Little Richard would scream about how he was ripped off and rightfully so.
His daughter Debbie Boone took a page right out of her father's method of ripping off other artists. "You light up my life" was rising in the charts by an unknown artist. His daughter recorded the song and it sounded almost identical to the original. Her version went to number one. The other artist nobody ever heard from again.
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weird al.
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What about all the bands that have been ripping off Def Leppard's sound for the past 30+ years.
I'm talking about the likes of:
Bon Jovi
Bryan Adams
Winger
Warrant
Poison
Ratt
Autograph
Motley Crue
Cinderella
Firehouse
Europe
White Lion
Harem Scarem
Danger Danger
BB Steal
Pretty Boy Floyd
Pretty Maids
And the list goes on, but none sound as good as the real thing.
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Eminem = a white guy making a living stealing black people's music
Well usually it's black rappers stealing white people's music and rapping on top of it, so it's good someone's letting them taste their own medicine.
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Well usually it's black rappers stealing white people's music and rapping on top of it, so it's good someone's letting them taste their own medicine.
Hmmmm I think you've completely missed the point, and have no awareness of musical history.
The only decent "white music" that isn't stolen from "black music" is folk and classical and shit. Beach Boys stole Chuck Berry, Beatles early rhythm and blues is lifted off black r&b, Led Zepelin 100% thieves of all the old blues masters.
So for instance Run DMC steal Aerosmith that time, but Aerosmith owe the entire blues construction of that song to "black music" popularised by white boys who stole it in the 60s. Sooooo.....your post is the least informed garbage I have ever read.
Eminem does however acknowledge that he is a modern Elvis stealing black music etc, and his lyrics are all his own, he doesn't just cover songs or alter one note or word and claim authorship like Jimmy Page!!
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What about all the bands that have been ripping off Def Leppard's sound for the past 30+ years.
I'm talking about the likes of:
Bon Jovi
Bryan Adams
Winger
Warrant
Poison
Ratt
Autograph
Motley Crue
Cinderella
Firehouse
Europe
White Lion
Harem Scarem
Danger Danger
BB Steal
Pretty Boy Floyd
Pretty Maids
And the list goes on, but none sound as good as the real thing.
Def Lepard garner less respect than any band I can think of in the modern age.
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Def Lepard garner less respect than any band I can think of in the modern age.
I was waiting for that kind of response. It just proves how little you know about music.
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Def Lepard garner less respect than any band I can think of in the modern age.
ditto...
Nothing special about that band at all.
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ditto...
Nothing special about that band at all.
That's why so many American bands try to sound like them.
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That's why so many American bands try to sound like them.
It's been 25 years since Hysteria and that album sucked. Pyromania was their only half way decent album.
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It's been 25 years since Hysteria and that album sucked. Pyromania was their only half way decent album.
Over 100million records sold worldwide.
Two of the biggest selling albums in history.
One of only five rock bands to have two consecutive 10million plus selling albums in the U.S. The others are The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Van Halen.
Two RIAA Diamond Awards.
Inaugural inductees of "VH1 Rock Honors".
The band were ranked #31 in VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock" and ranked #70 in "100 Greatest Artists Of All Time".
Headlined Donington/Download Festival three times.
Guinness World Record for playing three continents in 24 hours.
"Hysteria - The Def Leppard Story" movie released in 2001.
"Rock Of Ages" movie featuring Def Leppard's music performed by Tom Cruise released in 2012.
Still together and still rockin' after 34 years.
;D
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kid rock is awesome
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Rock chick Lady Gaga is going Def:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/4068841/Rock-chick-Lady-Gaga-is-going-Def.html (http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/4068841/Rock-chick-Lady-Gaga-is-going-Def.html)
;D
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Who the fuck cars about a distinct sound that is a load of horseshit. The problem is that people like kid rock directly lifted parts for all of his biggest sounds. The guy hasn't produced anything that isn't a blatant lift from somewhere else.
Than you have bands like sum41 who were blatant of there cheap tricks, but i don't think they directly ripped off anything.
He also lies about his upbringing. Much like "the Rock" does.
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Not a huge DL fan, but this tune has a cool vibe to it.