Josh Homme: “Copyright Law Is Really Fucked Up Right Now Because Of That Dumb Shit Robin Thicke”
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Two years ago, the family of Marvin Gaye won a lawsuit against Robin Thicke over his massive hit “Blurred Lines.” “Blurred Lines” hadn’t taken any specific lyrics or melodies from any of Gaye’s songs, but a jury decided that Thicke had infringed on Gaye’s copyright anyway. Thicke did a notoriously shitty job testifying on his own behalf, and apparently the jury thought that the song’s general vibe and groove were similar enough to Gaye’s “Got To Give It Up” that Gaye’s family deserved royalties. Needless to say, this makes things pretty fucking difficult for any musician in 2017. And Queens Of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme blames Thicke himself.
In a new Rolling Stone profile, Homme says a few things about the state of music today, and the thing that bothers him the most seems to be that “Blurred Lines” lawsuit:
It used to be, if anything had any hint of anybody else, I wouldn’t play it. Now, I don’t worry about things, even though copyright law is really fucked up right now because of that dumb shit Robin Thicke. What a douchebag. Talk about thick. Now the copyright law is like, “If it tastes like chicken, I guess you stole it.” Thanks, asshole.
Homme, who is really good at giving interviews, also has a great bit about the advice that he gives his kids:
Find your center of self, and chase it with reckless abandon. Essentially, find a life and don’t let anyone take it away. There’s a whole list of “don’t”s — they’re still writing them, putting it on top of the old list. Follow those only if someone’s watching. And then get back to living as hard as you can. I don’t think people should tell you what the truth is — “My face is making noise, do what I say.”… I’m gonna give birth to monsters who will terrorize normalcy.
You can read the whole story here. Also, the new Queens Of The Stone Age album Villains is out tomorrow on Matador.