Long story short, Coldplay seems to have written the song "Viva la Vida" by simply copying the Joe Satriani song "If I Could Fly." Originally Joe Satriani planned to serve Coldplay with a copyright infringement lawsuit at the Grammys by hiring a bunch of servers to scour the venue. In the end, Satriani's lawyer was contacted by a lawyer representing the band who said he would accept the papers without the drama of a Grammy-night hunt for the band.
Here's a YouTube video that plays relevant sections of both Coldplay's "Viva la Vida" and Joe Satriani's "If I Could Fly." Satriani's song is from his 2004 album Is There Love In Space?, while Coldplay's is from their 2008 album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends.
For reference: the complete Coldplay song; the complete Satriani song.
For those of you interested in the music theory behind this claim here are two videos in which a guy from Creative Guitar Studios in California analyzes the theoretical similarities between the two songs. Video 1. Video 2.
Satriani is suing for any and all profits related to the copyright infringement, and considering the popularity of "Viva la Vida" he stands to gain quite nicely from this (especially when one considers the bump in name recognition for Satriani).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
So is Coldplay a plural noun? I would have thought "coldplay steals the show," but if it's plural, you're right...just curious. Interesting post, anyway.
ReplyDeleteI have had the same thought before, but I am basing my usage of Coldplay as a plural noun on Pitchfork Media's standard. Examples from today include, "Grizzly Bear Reveal Album Title," and, "Fischerspooner Return With Self-Released Album."
ReplyDeleteConsidering I am basing it on only one source my rule may be completely wrong, though.
huh...I would trust Pitchfork too, interesting.
ReplyDeleteok I stopped being a grammar asshole for a minute and actually watched the music theory guy's video's...very interesting. Given that I know laughably little about music, I have no idea how sound the "science" behind his ideas was (I suppose he could have had an agenda), but I found it fascinating and sort of fell in love that guy...I loved all of his running commentary about his kids and everyday life...
ReplyDelete