Chris Martin Is A Thief, Or Maybe He Isn't
As you might have heard, Coldplay have a new record called Viva La Vida, Or Death And All His Friends and a song and iTunes commercial of almost the same name. It's pretty common for people to say this or that Coldplay song sounds like Radiohead or U2, but Creaky Boards? There's a Brooklyn band with that name whose vocalist and songwriter Andrew Hoepfner claims Chris Martin saw them perform "The Songs I Didn't Write" at CMJ 2007, then ripped it off in "Viva La Vida." Creaky Boards made a video to bring their claims to light and YouTube.
Thievery or coincidence? The Guardian's blog, where we first saw this story, leans toward the latter:
Coldplay have denied the allegation, saying that their track was written and demoed in March 2007, a full six months before Creaky Boards say Chris saw them play. In fact, it now transpires that Chris Martin might not have been at the gig at all. A Coldplay spokesperson said that Chris Martin was recording at Air Studios in London during 2007's CMJ, and so couldn't possibly have been in the crowd.
If you're still not sure, you can take a listen to "The Songs I Didn't Write" sans commentary at Creaky's MySpace.
Posted at 2:20 PM by brandon in Video
Tags: Coldplay | Creaky Boards
Wow, VERY similar. And stranger yet, the Creaky Boards song is a million times better.
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Dude - I'd be ashamed if Coldplay ripped me off and certainly wouldn't make a fuss about it. Do you actually want people to know that the brilliant musical mind that is Chris Martin liked your music enough to steal it? Please don't misunderstand, you guys sound really good. Your song is much better than the Coldplay one - but , maybe you shouldn't have gone public with this. Also, Chris Martin is a douche.
Tags: Not sayin, just sayin
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If Coldplay did really rip you off, you'd hardly be "ashamed." Don't kid yourself. Cause you're THAT much cooler than they are, you're unknown ass wouldn't want your due? Rolls eyes. Lame.
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not really.
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Okay, I can certainly hear at least one tone in each song similar to each other, but thats about it - then they turn into something completely different from each other.. Also, the Coldplay song is way better - don't see what the fuzz is all about honestly..
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Um, I think they're kidding about Chris Martin attending their gig (for those of you with no sense of sarcasm). I kinda doubt he was barhopping in queens during cmj ;-)
Still, I prefer the Creaky Boards version as well.
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Creaky Boards 1, Pitt penis-envy dude 0
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Then they are both thiefs...
...the first time I heard Coldplay's single "Viva La Vida" I IMMEDIATELY started singing different lyrics when it got to the chorus.
I kept thinking and thinking and FINALLY I recalled the whole song...it's TOTALLY Petula Clark's "My Love" No seriously!
Go here and listen to the Coldplay chorus (starts around 0:16)...go on...do it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3mYc1m3lsM
And then go here and listen to Petula:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-1_d6bbM1I
Yeah Coldplay's version slower and slightly altered, but c'mon...you can hear that melody!
I thought it was bad back when A Rush Of Blood came out and heard "Politik"...yes I love that song...but could it really have borrowed ANY more from Blur's "Sing"???
I'm just sayin'
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nice case you've put together.
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Sounds like a pretty generic melody to me. I wouldn't be surprised if there were other songs out there that sounded "eerily" like that.
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Please - that's not a very complex melody - it's easy to see how there could be similar melodies across the world of music. The songs as a whole are very different.
Anyway - all music is derivative of something else.
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Wake up and smell the generic melodies. Newly minted simple songs are inevitably going to sound like simple songs that already exist.
FUCKIN DUH.
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I agree with you chr and pffft...but when it's a blatant rip (as in the petula example above) it's just pretty sad.
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The case your making for Petula is a far stretch honey, I checked it out when you first mentioned it. Sorry but its not even remotely close enough for anyone to care, give it a rest.
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screw you guys.
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That dude from creaky boards should be worrying more about his lame fake ass looking facial hair than anything Coldplay is doing (because they suck). OMG though, the best part is the ultra-hipster getup and haircut employed by the guitarist / backup vocalist in the creaky boards live footage. What a douche! Anybody trying that hard is not cool.
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hahahhahahah that's stretching it so far.
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hahahhahahah that's stretching it so far.
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This ceaseless Chris Martin bashing is really starting to bore me. I've never been a massive fan of Coldplay's music, but i can totally understand why they have such a huge following. Being popular isn't inherently uncool and there's also nothing wrong with aping great artists. Vampire Weekend were applauded for their Graceland pastiche yet Chris Martin's blatantly Bends inspired songs (an era defining album) have earned him hipster disdain.
For christ's sake, the guy is insecure about about his wife's ex-boyfriend being Brad Pitt...that's fucking endearing. He's trying his best and he isn't hurting anyone.
On the topic of the apparent 'rip-off', that seems to be a pretty convincing alibi, and seeing as how Viva la Vida follows Chris Martins established song-writing formula maybe creaky boards have been 'ripping off' coldplay all along and this is the bizarre lashback.
Just to clarify, i don't like coldplay.
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Free press is the only reason he made that video. Way to give him what he wants.
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wow, little psych-pop band creaky boards from bushwick is suddenly getting a shit-ton of attention... for a song that doesn't really sound like the rest of their material. still, hopefully this gets them the attention they deserve. i've seen them dozens of times and always have a blast at their shows, whether chris martin is in attendance or not.
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this is retarded. there's only 4 chords used in Viva La Vida, so obviously its going to vaguely fucking sound like other people's songs. stop whining
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Well, that mustache will now be giving me nightmares.
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I get the feeling this happens more often then we hear about. I'm sure most of the time it's completely unintentional.
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Just the latest person/band boarding the "hate Coldplay" train. Who cares? News for Creaky Boards: you will never be as popular as Coldplay. Move on.
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Not Bushwick, Greenpoint.
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Not surprising at all many bands are biting the 50's and sixties for melodies. I always felt that Amy Winehouse sounded like a heroin chic Nancy Sinatra. Verse chorus verse is playing itself out for ideas and you are bound to hear similar styles and melodies. Indie rock is running out of ideas so you are going to see a lot of scavenging of older music and styles. The Creaky Boards were biting sixties songwriters for their melodies and then a bigger fish called Coldplay bit them.....thats life. Coldplay has better lawyers more money and are more marketable......they can 'steal' whatever they want. There is one way to combat this STOP BUYING CORPORATE MUSIC.
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as for the video of the Cranky band - is he is the closet.. . with sequins?
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cool
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What a classy response. He isn't calling out Coldplay so much as saying, "We wrote the same song as Coldplay and somehow they're popular as all hell while we're not. WTF?" The tip jar thing is awesome. At least Creaky Boards will get some much-deserved publicity with this
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Ughh. If Coldplay is stealing from this awful band (with an incredibly creepy singer), then I just feel sorry for them.
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coldplay must have written it. they have an ipod commercial.
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Haha...it all seems pretty coincidental to me....BUT there' also another song that has a similar intro to Viva La Vida here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceSxEjwXHcM
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wow, is that Alizee girl a huge star in France? she should come to America, we need a beautiful pop star with ass...oops, I mean class
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god i love the creaky boards.
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the biggest rip off can be heard between Coldplay's "In My Place" and Ride's "Dreams Burn Down" from 1991. like, dudes, it's blatant. same key. same progression minus a couple notes. considering Ride is a staple british band, and Coldplay thinks they should be too, i'm a little suspicious...
Coldplay has had some good tunes, don't get me wrong. I love Parachutes and Rush of Blood. that's about it.
hear for yourself:
Coldplay: http://youtube.com/watch?v=_XonuuQZSCE
Ride: http://youtube.com/watch?v=nMaJWlU2i54
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Wishful thinking all around -- shitty whatstheirname band ploying for publicity (which they're unfortunately getting, all over the place) and everyone else jumping at the chance to call Coldplay frauds (which they are, of course, but not in this case).
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so how are they frauds?
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i totally agree with Sam above. That Ride song and the coldplay one are very very similar. i don't necessarily think that they tried to copy it, but it's a strange coincidence. same with this. i could easily see how the creaky guy heard this song on tv and said, "this could be my big break." or chris martin could have stolen it. either way
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All music is theft people, it's all been done before.
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Melody overlap. After time simple melodies will always repeat. Frankly, as much as I'd hate to say this, I don't think coldplay ripped off of him.
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I thought this would be like a Dani California/Ice Box kind of ripping off. Something integral and inarguably copied. This is a waste of time. There's so much more to the song Viva La Vida than that vocal melody, and even then- they aren't that similar or distinctive. I listened to the Creaky song before watching the video and I was waiting for the "OMG RIP OFF" part to come.
Ugh.
Viva La Vida is a great album from a great band, by the way.
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If there was ever an argument *against* independent artists and their music, here it is.
This guy and his band are the ones selling out. All Coldplay ever did was get really popular. I hope Creaky Boards make millions of imaginary internet dollars.
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http://youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM
its all been done before.
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I'm drowning in Sterogums anti-coldplay coverage. how come we dont see any anti-radiohead stuff, or anti-Hold Steady, but every damn day with the anti-coldplay stuff? we get it, sterogum = indie, Coldplay = Mainstream. No need to constantly run every negative story you can find. you dont like them.
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Actually Stereogum does like them, they just don't want to admit it. Go read some of their Coldplay posts from 2 years ago when they treated them like just another good band.
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I know for a fact that Chris was at that show, because my friend took a picture of him standing in the back of the room. He had a brownish hat on at the time. I really enjoy Coldplay immensely, and I think Coldplay's version is better. This Creaky version lyrics seem kinda shallow.
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Are we all listening to the same songs here? Making the statement that he ripped this off is a more than a bit out of line. And besides ... who gives a good fuck?
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Good publicity for Creaky Boards to be sure. Lesson learned: sometimes songs sound similar (see: The Cult slapping their collective foreheads the first time they were asked if they were covering "Start Me Up").
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Honestly, if this were someone accusing Radiohead of lifting, say, the vocal melody from Jigsaws into Place it would be a non-issue. Everytime someone calls Radiohead hacks, it doesn't get it's own entry. I don't remember P4K or Stereogum reporting when their darling Timbaland was accused of stealing from Kingdom Hearts 2 (of all places).
Or even more recently, the scandal of Polow Da Don stealing the Make Love in this Club beat from Garage Band (of all other places).
Prove me wrong, someone, please. I'm honestly open to rebuttals. I love the music of all the artists mentioned in this post, btw.
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is it just me or are the Purple Bursts of clouds behind coldplay very similar to In Rainbows artwork....?
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It's not thievery and it's not coincidence. It's shameful. It's preposterous. It's maddening.
LEAVE COLDPLAY ALONE.
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THANK YOU!
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I can hear the similarity, but I've heard plenty of songs that sometimes sound a little bit like another song. It happens all the time. That guy from Creaky Boards should really spend more time shaving off that 70's porn star mustache.
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I agree...Coldplay sucks without any help from anyone.
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The melodies share less than a full measure of notes. This kind of thing happens all the time.
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The Creaky Boards are so hot right now.
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i wet the bed last night after listening to Creaky Boards. from this i conclude they are very alike to Coldplay with whom ive had many soggy nights.
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well. The new Dandy Warhols album is excellent.
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well. The new Dandy Warhols album is excellent.
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How sneaky of Chris Martin to wear a fake mustache.. It's like clark kent putting on glasses and expecting people not to recognize him as superman (not that chris martin is in any way superman).
If you're going to wear a fake mustache to escape your Chris Martin-ness, you could at least not still suck like Chris Martin..
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my sweet lord..
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZLCR_PwxRQ
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This isn't the first time Coldplay ripped off an unknown band; this sounds so similar to "Brothers & Sisters":
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Yu_moia-oVI
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Well, Coldplay blatantly borrowed or stole from Kraftwerk's song Computer Love for the Coldplay song Talk. I'm not sure if Kraftwerk was down for that one or not but it is clear that Coldplay/ Chris Martin has no compunction about borrowing from other sources. Why is it then such a stretch to imagine he heard a Creaky Boards song and borrowed from it? Chris Martin is good at something: borrowing, polishing and reselling.
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Coldplay actually got permission from Kraftwerk to use that melody. I think it's hilariously telling that the best hook on X&Y was on the one where they borrowed the hook from Kraftwerk.
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Please, Chris Martin is amazing and I dont believe he stole anything. That is my opinion.
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The first song that came in my mind, when I saw the commercial was the refrain of Pet Shop Boyss "New York City Boy"...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VivCPcELkdA
Sounds much more like Viva La Vida.
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I dreamt last night that I was in a mall in South Africa and watched Chris Martin give a lecture on film theory. Now lying. How the fuck could I make that up? But I did steal the dream from the Creaky Boards.
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thats like saying every jazz musician steals from other jazz musicians....they all are simple songs and have maybe one or to things similar....its one piece of a songs that are the same...how much music has been created by taking a simple riff and changing everything else around it...listen to In Bloom, by Nirvana...and then listen to my hero by foo fighters...the begining riff is very similar...it happens all the time
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This is just too close to be a coincidence - Chris Martin must have taken this melody from them... now it's possible he didn't do it on purpose but .... the similarity is just too striking to be a coincidence.
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wrong as shit lol
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