Coldplay Ask Joe Satriani To Bugger Off
No, that didn't happen. But they did issue a statement today acknowledging the guitar virtuoso's claim that "Viva La Vida" plagiarized his song "If I Could Fly. " Satriani's seeking a jury trial, damages and "any and all profits" attributable to the alleged copyright infringement. "I felt like a dagger went right through my heart," he told Music Radar of discovering the similarity. "I did everything I could to avoid a court case with this situation. But Coldplay 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." Here's Coldplay's response. They just want the whole thing to go away.
With the greatest possible respect to Joe Satriani, we have now unfortunately found it necessary to respond publicly to his allegations. If there are any similarities between our two pieces of music, they are entirely coincidental, and just as surprising to us as to him. Joe Satriani is a great musician, but he did not write or have any influence upon the song Viva La Vida. We respectfully ask him to accept our assurances of this and wish him well with all future endeavours.
(Via Coldplay.com.)
Meanwhile, Adam Ant called. He wants his jacket back.
Posted at 2:47 PM by Scott in Where's The Beef?
Tags: Coldplay | Joe Satriani
I'm sure that statement is all Satriani wanted, and now he'll go quietly into the night.
Score = 8
joe's a d-bag, get a life and come out with a song that doesn't sound like 80's glam rock, why doesn't joe work on the quality of his songs rather than moaning like a little B!t(#, ...id be mad too if i was a played out shredhead
Score = -2
moving on
Score = 5
you guys surprisingly didn't run the story where chris martin promised that coldplay was going to break up in 2009. hopefully that date comes soon. until then, i'm with who gives a shit: who gives a shit?
Score = -10
Apparently fuckstick gave enough of a shit to comment on the story.
Score = 20
apparently chad did too.
Score = -6
Radio Exile is having a contest to prove Joe Satriani’s current lawsuit is little more than a publicity stunt, similar to what Creaky Boards did, but sleazier. Find a song with the same melody as “If I Could Fly”, “Viva La Vida”, and “Song I Didn’t Write” but which predates all of them, and we will give you your choice of any 10 CDs we’re reviewed this year and Creaky Boards (who are awesome, btw) have thrown in some cool swag too.
http://radioexile.com/2008/12/09/satriani-vs-coldplay-vs-creaky-boards/
Also, Satriani is a douchebag: http://radioexile.com/2008/12/08/douchebag-alert-a-point-by-point-rebuttal-of-joe-satriani’s-interview-with-musicradar/
Score = 4
There are any number of reasons that Coldplay didn't initially respond to any of Satriani's complaints/threats, chiefly, perhaps: they are a mega-selling band that gets bombarded with all kinds of frivolous claims of plagiarism from anyone whoever hummed a melody into his cellphone all of the time. We've now heard of two this year, but those are just the ones the media gets a hold of. This kind of nuisance certainly comes with the territory. (The idea being, "You have money; I want some of it.") A band like Coldplay cannot break down and address every little claim that crops up. Most of them, gasp, just go away.
Joe Satriani perfectly timed the announcement of his lawsuit to coincide with the Grammy nominations. A plagiarism lawsuit now puts the pressure on Coldplay to settle with him since it would be less likely "Viva La Vida" would win Record and/or Song of the Year with such allegations hanging over the songwriters' collective heads. You heard correct, folks - Satriani wants to settle this thing. No doubt about it. He's now attempted to put Coldplay in the "give me money or lose your Grammys" predicament we all find ourselves in from time to time. What a sweetheart.
Finally, the video on YouTube that supposedly compares the two songs and "remarkably" points out their similarities is doctored to do just that. "Viva La Vida"'s tempo has been changed, and the tuning has been changed to better match Satriani's ode to his wife. A comparison of how both songs sound as recorded reveals only vaguely similar line from each melody and a similar/common chord progression.
Verdict: Like them or despise them, Coldplay haven't even borrowed from Satriani. Shame on him for trying to supplement his income with some heavy-handed blackmail.
Score = 20
A bit heavy on the conspiracy theorist side, but some good points nonetheless.
Score = -3
This is the lamest Coldplay plaigarism accusation yet. No, contrary to earlier assertions, nobody knew who Joe Satriani was. Now, about 500 more people in the world do know who he is.
Congrats Joe the Bitter Guitarist.
Score = 3
Check out http://www.combolandradio.com/ There are audio comparisons of the coldplay/Satriani tracks and better yet: Miley Cyrus ripping off punk legends Th' Cigaretz. Someone needs to start warming up their check writing hand. $. Unbelievable.
Score = -3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ofFw9DKu_I
This video has the Colplay and Sintriani songs playing over each other. To my ears, they are the exact same song. Same melody, same timing, same melody.
Satriani 1, Colplay 0
Score = -9
http://stereogum.com/archives/video/joe-satriani-accuses-coldplay-of-plagiarism_039871.html
Score = 5
jeff -1, satriani -2 (for being defended by late bird, oblivious jeff)
Score = 0
To me is more despicable the statement made in the "Adam Ant" article:
'We're the biggest band in the world' he finally declared.
That my friends is the reason Coldplay sucks! When bands starts buying their own hype, they are doomed. They've been buying this since the release of A Rush of Blood to the Head. I also have a little actress dating/bands start suckfest theory, but that's another story.
Satriani will never win this thing. He can't prove Coldplay knew of his song. This will forever hang like a black cloud over their heads though. And is juicy material for the haters.
Score = 0
I don't know if you're familiar with Chris Martin and his style of humor at all--but that's his idea of a joke. He's probably one of the most self-depreciating people alive.
For example, after Lost+ was played on Radio 1 for the first time a few weeks ago, Chris was in the studio and said, "Wow, that's the first time I ever enjoyed a Coldplay song." You have to get the guy and maybe you'd get his humor.
Oh, and one more thing. Fuck Satch. He's a gold-digging douche of a cocksucker.
Score = 2
All of the artists involved should be ashamed of themselves for writing that boring melody.
Score = 2
"That's what really hurts about this whole thing. That I spent so long writing the song, thinking about it, loving it, nursing it, and then finally recording it and standing on stages the world over playing it - and then somebody comes along and plays the exact same song and calls it their own."
Nursing it? What the fuck is this guy on. It's such a tiny bit of that song, Coldplay have hardly "come along" and played "the exact same song". The marjority of people who noticed it must be hardcore satch fans anyway so... case closed in my opinion.
Score = -1
#1 - The case will be closed when a judge says so. It appears that Satriani tried to resolve things peacefully on more than one occasion; however, the Coldplay team ignored the issue. He had no choice but to take them to court. It is the same reason why ANYone takes ANYone else to court. When all else has failed.
Anyone who believes it was timed should probably take a look at the date he FIRST started to bring this to Coldplay's attention.
Also, for all the Coldplay fans out there - Satriani has been nominated for NUMEROUS Grammy Awards (which don't mean jack snit anyway... 2 words MILLI VANILLI), so how could that possibly be a motivation for him to be angry. Also, all you Coldplay fans seem to have little or no music knowledge when you bad mouth Mr.Satriani. Maybe the fact that your tone deaf is the reason you like the Coldplay teams ridiculously irrelevant music.
And to the Satriani fans... he will have his day in court. Quit confusing all the Coldplay fans with theory... THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND IT.
I'm tired of reading the same things over and over... Coldplay fans know nothing about music theory and have terrible
Score = 2
who knew that coldplays' reaction would a cliche?
Score = 1
Who gives a crap about either of 'em? But yeah, you see the video, hear the tracks, I mean the tempo, the melody, the chords, it's identical. Coldplay unquestionably ripped of Joe. They should man up and pay him his due, then go collect their grammy.
Artists got no integrity these days. Fuckin' pissants.
Score = -1
I like Joe Satriani and I like coldplay I'm no expert but the songs sound similar in places but thats not reason to sue especially for "any and all profits" does he want the 28 million views coldplay recieved on youtube for it also? Coldplay and Satriani make entirely different music and as universal as music is I think its plausible that shits going to line up every once in a while. It's probably because we havent changed how we make music in a couple of centuries. I understand where he's coming from but Joe needs to lighten up.
Score = 1