UB40 Vs. Paris Hilton
Paris goes to jail today. Days ago, Warner Bros. came to their senses and dropped her from their label. Last night, Sarah Silverman showed no monologue mercy in the only redeeming moment of the MTV Movie Awards telecast ("to make her feel more comfortable in prison, the guards are going to paint the bars to look like penises ... I just worry that she's going to break her teeth on those things") -- replete with the heiress's reaction (not happy).
So of course it's time to tarnish the least low low-point of her career (it's a career, right?): Turns out "Stars Are Blind" sounds a bit too much like UB40's "Kingston Town" for the latter's liking. Via Contact:
V2 Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music and Hilton's songwriter/producer Fernando Garibay are being sued by Sparta Florida Music Group, who allege parts of the track are lifted from UB40 classic Kingston Town. The £250,000 ($500,000) writ, filed in London's High Court, claims breach of copyright. Sparta Florida intends to draw on evidence from a musicologist and on internet articles to prove their case.Conduct your forensic analysis after the jump.
Exhibit A: UB40 - "Kingston Town"
Exhibit STD: Paris Hilton - "Stars Are Blind"
Seems pretty blatant. (Not that Paris had any input in writing the song.) She issued this statement on her way into the can (via TMZ):
I am ready to face the consequences of violating probation. During the past few weeks, I have had a lot of time to think and have come to realize I made some mistakes. ... This is an important point in my life and I need to take responsibility for my actions. In the future, I plan on taking more of an active role in the decisions I make. I want to thank my family, friends and fans for their continued support. Although I am scared, I am ready to begin my jail sentence.We're ready for it to begin, too, Paris! Enjoy it. Actively.
Posted at 12:50 PM in Video
Tags: Paris Hilton | UB40
OK, first off Paris, how do you not actively participate in your own fucking decisions? That's a mystery even for Stephen Hawking!
Two, I know that you don't write your own music, and that you'd probably think UB40 was a rust remover, so I won't tear into you for that. Your songwriters however, knew exactly what they were doing and thought that they'd never get caught.
Thirdly, while you were trying to garner a pardon from the governor, you should have consulted R. Kelly, because he is a master at avoiding jail time for a crime he obviously committed!
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It seemed pretty obvious to me that no matter how much they hyped up the whole 'Oooh, Sarah Silverman, she's a real livewire, who knows what she might say!' that she was still on a short leash. Awesome she got to nail Paris, though at this point who hasn't?
The song rip is VERY blatant. Why not just get permission to use the sample? Or did they figure UB40 were all dead (an easy assumption)?
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I honestly just thought "how the fuck did I end up at perezhilton.com?"
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The trouble with most forms of pop music, including UB40's brand of pleasant soft-rock/reggae is that they're quite limited, musically. Is "Stars Are Blind" copping "Kingston Town"? Yeah, probably. But it's a pretty ordinary chord progression, and the particular reggae sound of both tracks are rather generic. If you want to go after every song that has a similar chord progression and rhythmic sound, then you're going to see damn near everything on the pop charts sued out of existence.
Which, I suppose, wouldn't be that great a loss. But still...
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Yeah, i kind of agree with Joey Headset on this one. Can UB40 really argue the originality of their track? This is just watered down reggae pop imitating watered down reggae pop.
Paris can still go fuck herself though.
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It was the MTV Movie Awards, not VMA's.
There is (or was) another clip on YouTube of sections of these two videos spliced together.
Bitch got a two-person cell in an overcrowded facility all to herself.
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> It was the MTV Movie Awards, not VMA's.
i kept saying "VMAs" on the phone last night too, while i was calling people to ask them why in the name of gob i was still watching. fixed!
(yes gob, as in gob bluth. i worship.)
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It's interesting that a Lord Creator tune that predates UB40 by quite a few years is now a "UB40 classic." Lord Creator's version is from circa 1970, but I'm not even positive that he wrote it. Sounds vaguely similar, but it sounds even more like someone needs a little cash, but I doubt UB40 will see any of it.
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In the future, I plan on taking more of an active role in the decisions I make too. But as for now, I just ordered 2 large pizzas with everything on them, and I'm allergic to cheese. darn.
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Mmm...sorry, but I quite like UB40. I think the music they make is much more than just "watered down reggae pop".
Anyway, "Kingston Town" came from Labour of Love II, the second in a series of albums of UB40 covering reggae songs ("Red, Red Wine" came from Labour of Love I and was a cover of Tony Tribe's cover of the Neil Diamond song). But UB40 made that clear in the liner notes. Paris didn't. But the outcome of the lawsuit probably only matters to UB40 and Paris Hilton (and their various business associates). But I think shanester is right.
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They're going to use internet articles as evidence? Oh sure, wikipedia will really hold up as viable evidence in court.
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I would say there's a fair helping of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4_ghOG9JQM&mode=related&search= in the provenance too.
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