So, you know that terribly-titled Coldplay song "Viva la Vida?"* Well, apparently some stupidly-named band called Creaky Boards claimed that their ironically-monikered song "The Songs I Didn't Write" was the basis for it. (Most honest line: "when you heard the notes that would have vaulted from my throat, there is a meaning past the awfulness.") I'm not sure if they actually sued or what, but shortly after Creaky Boards started making this claim, Joe Satriani stepped up to claim that Viva la Vida was actually a ripoff of his song "If I Could Fly" from the abysmally-titled album "Is There Love In Space?". (Best line: "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANK.") Coldplay did what anyone would when faced with allegations of listening to Joe Satriani and claimed that those CDs were their brother's and they have no idea how that shit got in their car.
Regardless, Satriani is suing Coldplay. Creaky Boards -- perhaps afraid of being called to testify and potentially having to listen to that Satriani song at deposition -- rescinded their claim and speculated that perhaps everybody was actually inspired by a song from Legend of Zelda. The obvious question at this point is which Legend of Zelda song sounds like Viva la Vida, but apparently I'm the only one who cares and I can't find anything even remotely like it online.
Anyway. Then, my personal hero Cat Stevens (a.k.a. Yusuf "Radical" Islam) stepped in to bring a dose of sanity into the proceedings by pointing out that actually all three songs sound quite a bit like part of his "Foreigner Suite." (Best/worst line: "Heaven must have programmed you." Cylon reference?) He's not suing -- unlike when he settled with The Flaming Lips over similarities between their "Fight Test" and his "Father and Son." (Speaking of which, Wayne Coyne from The Flaming Lips looks a lot like Cat Stevens, don't you think?)
The best thing to come out of this whole mess is easily this video by someone named Michael. It is definitely the best song yet recorded with the phrase "ride the bone roller coaster" in it.
All that to say: I am not a Coldplay fan but I can't really hate them after seeing Chris Martin on Extras. Also, he's married to Margot Tenenbaum. What, where did you think this was going?
Yuscat Stevslam was right about the Fight Test thing, but I don't really here Foreigner Suite in there.
ReplyDeleteFunny story about Fight Test. A friend of mine and I got asked to play music for some church event a couple of years ago, so we decided to play Fight Test, Yoshimi, and an Elvis Costello tune to see if anyone was paying attention. Turns out they were not, insofar as no one commented on their vestry dinner party containing references to giant man-eating robots.
I guess that the last 1/4 of the Foreigner Suite sounds like the songs in question.
ReplyDeleteMatt Coyne is a much more handsome than Cat Stevens.