Coldplay vs. Creaky Boards vs. Cat Stevens?

The "Viva la Vida" plagiarism accusations continue. First it was Joe Satriani, then Marty Balin and now it's Creaky Boards and Cat Stevens (you can read our previous coverage here and here). We get the idea, "Viva la Vida" sounds like a lot of other songs - apparently not as original as Chris and the boys thought it was.

First things first, you're wondering who the heck Creaky Boards is (at least, I was). They don't have a presence on wikipedia yet, but their official website says they're a four member folk-punk group from NYC (though confusingly, most of their photos show five people). The band leader, Andrew Hoepfner claimed Chris Martin stole the melody for "Viva la Vida" after hearing them perform the ironically titled "The Songs I Didn't Write". After Coldplay proved they had written the song before the alleged theft, Creaky Boards retracted the accusations and suggested that both songs were inspired by the video game, The Legend of Zelda. You can watch the youtube video comparison here.

Then there's the British singer-songwriter Yusuf Islam (aka Cat Stevens from the 70s - he changed his name when he converted to Islam) who's compared "Viva la Vida" to his nearly 20 minute song "Foreigner Suite". You can see the important parts on youtube here. Yusuf isn't suing Coldplay for plagiarism... yet, saying "it depends on how well Satriani does".

The final verdict: same as before. Not substantial portions. Chord changes aren't enough. As we've discovered, they're all Canon in D in disguise anyway...

Really, Dell? Really?

I follow Ingrid Michaelson on Twitter, and today I noticed she put up an interesting tweet: "wow...someone ripped off my song "BE OK"... wow ... http://tinyurl.com/chtuxv."

In case you haven't actually heard the real version of "Be OK," here's the video:

Be OK - Ingrid Michaelson

Hmm...sound similar? I'd say so.

A couple hours after her first tweet, Ingrid wrote, "i am not opposed to putting songs in commercials. but the artist should be able to say yes or no. blatantly copying a song is wrong." Doesn't sound like too much to ask to me.

Twitter, Twitterer, Tweet?

I signed up for a Twitter account a month or two ago and let it sit idle. Honestly, I was scared of it. I didn't know what to do with it. My understanding of Twitter was that it was like Facebook updates on speed. Finally, a program that lets me tell all my friends exactly what I'm doing every second of the day!

Personally, I found that a little narcissistic.

However, in the last couple weeks I've decided to give Twitter another shot. I've discovered that it has many uses beyond the one above. Because I'm into the publishing industry, I can follow Publisher's Weekly and Publisher's Lunch on Twitter. I can follow NPR and CNN and stay caught up on the headlines. And, best of all (and most applicable to this blog), I can find new music on Twitter. In addition to being able to follow the big music folk (MTV, CMA, etc), there is this great program called twtfm.

Twtfm is a great way to find new (and old music). It's basically just a venue for sharing music. It allows you to post streaming audio of your current musical obsession and lets you hear streaming audio of your friends' current musical obsessions. If you go to http://twt.fm/tracks, you can view a list of the most recently tweeted (I still can't really handle that it's calling tweeting...) songs. Check it out. Find some new music. Then join the Twitter bandwagon.

P.S. Even if I do use Twitter for legitimate things, I might still be guilty of a slightly narcissistic post now and again.

Coldplay vs. Joe Satriani vs. Marty Balin (?)

The Coldplay vs. Satriani affair has unearthed a 1980s single by Marty Balin (of Jefferson Airplane) called Hearts that some believe sounds like "Viva La Vida" and "If I Could Fly". Check out the steamy music video here:



I tell you what, if I had the software and the technical finesse I would splice these three songs together and make one heck of a music video.

Coldplay vs. Joe Satriani

Thanks to Katie for bringing this to my attention: the story is, 52-year-old rock guitarist Joe Satriani is suing British rock band Coldplay for plagiarism. Satriani's copyright infringement suit, filed on December 4th in Los Angeles federal court, claims the Coldplay song "Viva La Vida" incorporates "substantial original portions" of his 2004 instrumental "If I Could Fly." Satriani is seeking a jury trial, damages and "any and all profits" attributable to the alleged copyright infringement.

My verdict: not "substantial portions" and good luck finding a jury without any Coldplay fans. I think there might be one melody line in question that's used throughout Viva la Vida: "I used to rule the world, seas would rise when I gave the word..." (the riff is about 55 seconds into Satriani's song). Not substantial by my books. Actually, I like the song "If I Could Fly". I listened to it a couple times on youtube and then downloaded it on iTunes (the guy can shred) - which made me think, this is probably all Joe wanted - people who hadn't heard of him before to download his music.

Well, judge for yourself:

Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Singers of All Time

Rolling Stone just released their top 100 Greatest Singers of All Time; a list compiled by "industry insiders" such as Bruce Springsteen and Alicia Keys. They asked them to list their favorite singers from the rock era (which kind of contradicts "of All Time" in my opinion), but here is their list - who would you add/remove?:

1 Aretha Franklin
2 Ray Charles
3 Elvis Presley
4 Sam Cooke
5 John Lennon
6 Marvin Gaye
7 Bob Dylan
8 Otis Redding
9 Stevie Wonder
10 James Brown
11 Paul McCartney
12 Little Richard
13 Roy Orbison
14 Al Green
15 Robert Plant
16 Mick Jagger
17 Tina Turner
18 Freddie Mercury
19 Bob Marley
20 Smokey Robinson
21 Johnny Cash
22 Etta James
23 David Bowie
24 Van Morrison
25 Michael Jackson
26 Jackie Wilson
27 Hank Williams
28 Janis Joplin
29 Nina Simone
30 Prince
31 Howlin' Wolf
32 Bono
33 Steve Winwood
34 Whitney Houston
35 Dusty Springfield
36 Bruce Springsteen
37 Neil Young
38 Elton John
39 Jeff Buckley
40 Curtis Mayfield
41 Chuck Berry
42 Joni Mitchell
43 George Jones
44 Bobby "Blue" Bland
45 Kurt Cobain
46 Patsy Cline
47 Jim Morrison
48 Buddy Holly
49 Donny Hathaway
50 Bonnie Raitt
51 Gladys Knight
52 Brian Wilson
53 Muddy Waters
54 Luther Vandross
55 Paul Rodgers
56 Mavis Staples
57 Eric Burdon
58 Christina Aguilera
59 Rod Stewart
60 Björk
61 Roger Daltrey
62 Lou Reed
63 Dion
64 Axl Rose
65 David Ruffin
66 Thom Yorke
67 Jerry Lee Lewis
68 Wilson Pickett
69 Ronnie Spector
70 Gregg Allman
71 Toots Hibbert
72 John Fogerty
73 Dolly Parton
74 James Taylor
75 Iggy Pop
76 Steve Perry
77 Merle Haggard
78 Sly Stone
79 Mariah Carey
80 Frankie Valli
81 John Lee Hooker
82 Tom Waits
83 Patti Smith
84 Darlene Love
85 Sam Moore
86 Art Garfunkel
87 Don Henley
88 Willie Nelson
89 Solomon Burke
90 The Everly Brothers
91 Levon Helm
92 Morrissey
93 Annie Lennox
94 Karen Carpenter
95 Patti LaBelle
96 B.B. King
97 Joe Cocker
98 Stevie Nicks
99 Steven Tyler
100 Mary J. Blige

You can view the list with links to snippets about each singer here (they even have a playlist for each artist with a couple songs powered by Rhapsody): http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/24161972/page/103.

It raises the question of what makes a singer good? Pitch? Control? Range? Finesse? I'm more of the traditional school of thought that says pitch, control and range are more important than finesse; or in other words, substance over style - when it comes to vocals. I agree that Freddie Mercury is one of the greatest vocalists ever, but Bob Dylan? I think he's a great musician but I wouldn't have pegged him as "top ten greatest singers of all time". Some other noteable, curious ommissions: Frank Sinatra, the Beach Boys, Brad Delp, Pat Benatar, Diana Ross, Billy Joel, Sting...

My Top 10 Greatest Singers of All Time would be:

1. Brad Delp (of Boston)
2. Freddie Mercury
3. Stevie Wonder
4. The Beach Boys
5. Frank Sinatra
6. Don Henley (of The Eagles)
7. Frankie Valli
8. Michael Jackson
9. Elton John
10. Aretha Franklin

And some newbies: Sara Bareilles, Tom Chaplin (of Keane) and Anthony Kiedis (of Red Hot Chili Peppers)

Music Makes Hearts Happy

If you are a music lover, you probably already know that listening to music you love makes you feel happy, but a new study presented at this week's meeting of the American Heart Association proves that listening to joyful music can dilate your blood vessels and make it easier for blood to flow through them. NPR's Talk of the Nation host Ira Flatow interviewed Dr. Miller of the University of Maryland Medical Center about the study on yesterday's "Science Friday" broadcast. You can listen to the audio here.

Just as music you love can help your heart health, listening to music you hate can make your blood vessels constrict. Dr. Miller also says that for "happy" music to have these positive effects on your health, it's important not to over expose. He recommends listening to a variety of music you enjoy or putting a two week break between listening to the same music, so that you don't become de-sensitized. So, if you're feeling stressed, do your heart a favor and go put on that album you love, right now.