Viva la vida

As previously reported, guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani revealed that he is planning to sue the band Coldplay on charges of plagiarism. Satriani claims that Coldplay’s song "Viva La Vida" sounds a bit too much like his own song "If I Could Fly". (ultimate-guitar.com)

"Everybody assumes I'm trying to go after these guys in Coldplay, as if I'm doing this with malice, that's the furthest thing from my mind. I'm just doing what I need to do as an artist, to protect what's mine, to protect those feelings I put down in song,"

"I did everything I could to avoid a court case with this situation. But oldplay didn't want to talk about it. They just wanted this whole thing to go away. Maybe they figured this little guitar player guy will leave them alone after a while, I don't know. But we're talking about a piece of art that I created, and that's something I feel is important. I think everybody should feel that way." 

 Satriani 

I heard both songs on youtube before reading this, so what do you think?

Stolen exactly. Coldplay, pay the man his money. He's much better than them i think.

coldplay sucks. i hope satch wins just b.c of that,

I can't stand Coldplay, but they are very popular over here.

Dey suck the proverbial balls of the monkey. Hope Satch shreds their ass like a chromatic lick.

haha agreed, ive never heard either songs, nor do i like joe that much. but hes better than coldplay!

Music isn't original anymore. Any chord progression we make has already been written. Anything new we discover has already been discovered. It was bound to happen by accident.

Satriani is right to sue, he got there first. They didn't care to talk. I would do the same thing if I felt something of mine was copied.

A drummer from a band, I think it was slipknot, tried to sue another group because they used the same CHORD. That's when it goes over the top, and the ignorant are laughed at.

wait, is satch suing over the chords used? b/c thats just useing a key, or the progression they go in, and the vocal melody follows his lead?

what is fun in flaming on youtube...lol i love seeing idiot comments like "theres 7 chords, c d e f g a b, now lets make music."

or

"just because they sound the same, and hve the same chords doesnt mean its copied"

or

"its not copied, satrianis doesnt have lyrics"

what idiots.

@ EMB

I've seen it on youtube and the vocal line is the exact melody of the guitar, same prgression....even tempo.

So i dunno. Jazz Maverick is so right though, its all pretty much been done.

I think the bigger problem is that people veiw music as property or as a consumable product that needs to be copryrighted and packaged. That mentality is why Kanye west, being the ass clown he is, is top of the charts.

This is all the problem about...for me...pretty similars to be just accident...despite that...i like them played toghetherXD

What's wrong with Kanye West? :P

I also disagree with you Jazz, I don't think it has all been done. Just because we have all the colors doesn't mean we've painted all the pictures.

I quite like the two songs merged together.

I personally feel it is because there's pretty much no new genre we can make, the chords have all been discovered, harmonies will be slightly different but still the same. Sharing similar progressions and tempos.

Personally why I try so hard to make something different, but soon after I've possibly created something new, another will create something similar and then it will no longer be new. It's bound to happen.

I agree with jazz...but in this particular case seems like coldplay really copied the same song from satriani coz all the song is the same...in all it's parts if they'd have changed slightlty part b or c or chorus mayb wouldnt be the same and it would just be an accident...but i mean...all the song seems exactly like satriani's one...i dont think it was an accident

Music is a gorwing and thriving thing. Originality is in presentation, style and attitude. watch this:




Thats intensity. But its not cartoonish like death metal. Music is alive and well. Just look hard.

Exactly, music has grown so much in the past 100 years. What makes you think it's done?

yeah, it really seems like everything has been done, i cant really think of anything that would be COMPLETELY different than modern music but im positive Beethoven could never have imagined modern music

Heh, exactly. It's hard to predict what's around the corner unless you're one of the people on the leading edge. This "it's all been done" mentality is more like a "I can't think about what else music could be" mentality.

Bare Naked Ladies




I couldn't agree with you more. I heard some interview with one of the hair metal bands (i think it was Brett Michaels) complaining about the mainstreaming of grunge (where it came from...why people like it). The guy was still dumbfounded 10 years later.

Every now and then, someone tweak a bit here or there till you are left with a product that doesn't resemble the origional.

I'm still trying to make something entirely different, usually something "visual" that you can create in your mind.

so western music has 12 notes, and hundreds of chords and at some point the originaly is going to repeat won't it?

I admit i like some of coldplay's suff (better that Satriani)

wasn't it some hip-hop producer who tried to copy wring the A chord and was expecting a paycheck every time someone used it.

at some point it get's silly

He also Stole Queens bassline from Under Pressure.

****ing douchebag!

Disgusting. Pop artists who have no creative ability so they rip off other people.

Kid Rock in a nutshell really

ok so I can't say Porcupine Tree suck, but all of you can say Coldplay suck!!! Where's Doz???!!!!

Sounds like a rip to me. But honestly, when you're Joe Satri freakin ani, does it really matter if one of Coldplay's songs sounds like yours?

And who stretched the freakin page?

They very much stole it i hope satch wins this case

Don't fear, Nightmare. Everyone who is saying that Joe Satriani is better than Coldplay so that's the reason he should win are pretty stupid. Even if you don't like Coldplay, they're probably into what they're doing so you shouldn't shun an artist because of it. You should never shun an artist.

I'm not a Coldplay fan myself, and the song does sound suspicious - but nobody here can be the judge. Sure, discuss it - but why do we have to spread hate about an artist just because we're not into them? It's pretty sad, it's like going to an art gallery and standing in front of one picture saying "this is crap, I hope the the artist would just stop painting". Is it because you're all musicians and you think you're better than everyone else? Because you're not.

Nicely said Doz!!!

And to all you cold play haters ya' should give a listen to their "Live at Austin City Limits" I never liked them until i watched this on PBS. I learned to respect them off of this and would say that recording in own in my top 10.

Doz, you're awesome, seriously. Your as wise as a well experienced man, my Karma I gave you doesn't even explain how much respect I hold for you.

Thanks, it's nice to hear people are on the same wavelength. Sometimes I lose faith in musicians integrity, and feel that a large group of modern musicians give musicians a bad name in general, by being elitist. Take, for example, a band like Fall Out Boy, constantly critisized for making art and being popular with something that has worked for them - you get musical elitists wishing they would just stop! How disgusting is that? You just can't disrespect other artists like that.

I've heard it all, for so long, about various bands and artists and it annoys me when people can't just either open their mind, or just stay away from something that shouldn't concern them.

I agree, my entire music class was like that, and they were completely ignorant to the fact that not everything will satisfy one person. They delude themselves into thinking they're better than the one's who've actually made it in the music industry, the one’s who actually have real fans.

*** Coldplay!!! Satch is so much more talented!!!!

I swear I have pointed this out to this forum already.



This is a song by Cat Stevens back in the '70's if I remember correctly.

I'm pretty sure Satch didn't write his song back in the 70's, so you can hear the similarities and the influences coming. I feel this is the same thing going to Coldplay. However, Coldplay is a horrible choice to base all other music plagiarism cases, because I'm pretty sure I've heard them make fun of themselves by saying "we are a pretty good cover band."

:-P

I think coldplay is awesome but i think they stole Satch's meledy, and if i were u listen to coldplays older songs there better