W.O.C.K On Vinyl - Haven't I Heard That Riff Before? #2

Before things get too serious here at Rock On Vinyl, I thought it might be fun to post a song or album at the end of each month, that could be categorized as being either Weird, Obscure, Crazy or just plain Korny.

For this WOCK on vinyl post, I thought I might revisit some of the 'Riff Ripoffs' that have occurred in the music industry, which probably makes it a ROCK on Vinyl post after all!

Firstly, the correct term for Rip Off is of course Plagiarism. Plagiarism is the act of copying someone else's written work and claiming it as your own. While the act can be illegal, as well as unethical, the term plagiarism is not used in law. Legally, it is one form of copyright infringement, so it enters into the arcane world of Intellectual Property law. When a musical composition is plagiarized, it's the copyright on the written musical score or arrangement that is being violated.

While accusations of music usurping show up in the news quite often, less than 100 cases have actually gone through the federal courts in the United States since the 1850s, according to the UCLA Copyright Infringement Project. As a plaintiff, you have to prove the other person copied a "substantial part" of your original work and you need to show a "substantial similarity" between the two works.

Consequently, I will let you be the judge for the following 3 ripoff cases:

"You Need Loving" (Small Faces, 1969) V's "Whole Lotta Love" (Led Zeppelin, 1969)

“Whole Lotta Love” is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin. It is featured as the opening track on the band’s second album, Led Zeppelin II, and was released in the US and Japan as a single.

Most people think it is a Led Zeppelin original but they actually nicked two versions of two songs to make “Whole Lotta Love”.  Here’s the breakdown…

In 1962, Muddy Waters recorded a blues vocal, "You Need Love", for Chess Records. As he had done with "You Shook Me", Waters overdubbed vocals on an instrumental track previously recorded by blues guitarist Earl Hooker and his band. Willie Dixon wrote the lyrics, which Dixon biographer Mitsutoshi Inaba describes as being "about the necessity of love":

You've got yearnin' and I got burnin'

Baby you look so ho sweet and cunnin'

Baby way down inside, woman you need love

Woman you need love, you've got to have some love

I'm gon' give you some love, I know you need love

In 1966, British band the Small Faces recorded the song as "You Need Loving" for their eponymous debut Decca album. According to Steve Marriott, the group's vocalist and guitarist, Page and Plant attended several Small Faces gigs, where they expressed their interest in the song. Plant's phrasing is particularly similar to that of Marriott's, who added "he [Plant] sang it the same, phrased it the same, even the stops at the end were the same". Similarities with "You Need Love" led to a lawsuit against Led Zeppelin in 1985, settled out of court in favour of Dixon for an undisclosed amount. On subsequent releases, Dixon's name is included on the credits for "Whole Lotta Love". Plant explained in an interview with Musician magazine:

Page's riff was Page's riff. It was there before anything else. I just thought, 'well, what am I going to sing?' That was it, a nick. Now happily paid for. At the time, there was a lot of conversation about what to do. It was decided that it was so far away in time and influence that ... well, you only get caught when you're successful. That's the game. [Robert Plant]

"Little Games" (Yardbirds, 1967)  V's  "Seven Stars" (Uriah Heep, 1973)

""Little Games" was a single released by the Yardbirds in 1967, and also appeared on their album of same name. It was their first album recorded after becoming a quartet with Jimmy Page as the sole guitarist and Chris Dreja switching to bass. It was also the only Yardbirds album produced by Mickie Most. The first Mickie Most-involved recordings took place at Olympic Studios in London on 5 March 1967. This session produced the single "Little Games" backed with "Puzzles".  Although Dreja and drummer Jim McCarty were present to record "Little Games", Most used studio musicians John Paul Jones (bass and cello arrangement) and Dougie Wright (drums) for their parts to cut down on studio time.

Step forward six years, and popular UK band Uriah Heep were working on their sixth studio album entitled 'Sweet Freedom', released on 3rd September, 1973. I distinctly remember the time when I bought this album, as I had only just discovered this band after listening to their 'Demons and Wizards' and 'Magician's Birthday' albums.  I couldn't wait to get the copy onto my turntable, and it was everything I'd hoped for. Every track on the album had its unique riff and sound, but one track in particular stood out for me - and that track was "Seven Stars".  Starting with its first 5secs of high pitched screeching and then its distinct 'galloping guitar riff' and Hammond organ interludes accompanying David Byron's vocals, this track had me hooked immediately.

My obsession with the band eventually faded once Byron and Hensley had left the band, but it was only recently that I stumbled upon the Yardbirds track "Little Games", and my heart sank even further. That magical riff in Seven Stars was the same as the one in "Little Games".

Ironically, the most popular track on Uriah Heep's 'Sweet Freedom' album was 'Stealin' which was also written by Ken Hensley! Hmmm.......Anyhow, have a listen....am I wrong or right?

Lady Of Light (Autumn, 1971) V's  Ventura Highway (America, 1972)

Finally, I'd like to share the similarity between an earlier release by Australian band Autumn entitled "Lady Of Light" and the later hit "Ventura Highway" by popular duo America. Although the tracks differ in their sound (keyboard v's acoustic guitar) and speed, the general beat and riff along with vocal phrasing are too similar in my opinion.  Autumn's track is heavier and more labored than America's song I admit, but I find myself hearing the more popular Ventura Highway when listening to their track.

As the Autumn track was released more than 12months early than America's mega hit, it makes we wonder whether Dewey Bunell had heard this song, which inspired his writing of Ventura Highway. 

 

"Ventura Highway" was lifted from Homecoming, their second studio album which was released on November 15, 1972 through Warner Bros. Records. Acoustic guitar-based, with a more pronounced electric guitar and keyboard section than their first album.  Homecoming peaked at number 9 on Billboard's Pop Albums Chart and was certified platinum by the RIAA. It produced three hit singles, one of which was "Ventura Highway", which peaked at number 8 on the Billboard singles chart.

Well, there you have it - more 'ripoffs' that have occurred in the music industry, and of course I'm sure there are many more. If you have some examples that you would like to share with other visitors at Rock On Vinyl, then feel free to list them in the Comments.

I have included all of the tracks mentioned above as MP3 (320kps) in the download, so you can make your own judgment about each Rip Off.  If you found this post interesting, then you'll probably enjoy my first Rip Off post back in 2010.

Rip Off #2 Link (49Mb) New Link 13/11/2024

Led Zeppelin - You Shock Me (1990) Bootleg

(U.K 1968 - 1980)
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With Led Zeppelin's career-long tradition of creative independence, it was inevitable that the band and Peter Grant would eventually form their own record label. The band had always fought for total creative control in the studio and the concert stage: their new records were delivered in the form of finished masters and jacket artwork, and the distributor had only to press the discs, print the jackets, promote the product and ship large quantities of every release to record stores in every corner of the globe. The circumstances were ideal for Led Zeppelin to own and operate their own label, but they would undertake the task with characteristic differences.

After taking a fairly long break over the winter of 1973 to 1974, initial steps were begun in the spring for the launching of the Led Zeppelin record label. As soon as the rumours started creaking out in the media, Robert Plant endeavoured to make it clear that the new label would be a legitimate and dedicated rock and roll exercise, with the accent on talent. It wouldn't, he insisted, be some sort of rock star plaything or ego exercise. The label obviously isn't going to be like the "Yeah, we'll have a label, far out heavy trip, man" and just putting yourself on it sort of trip. This label won't be just Led Zeppelin, that's for sure. (Note: The first band to be signed to their new label was Maggie Bell with Bad Company coming in close second).
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It's too much effort to do as an ego trip and a waste of time really. I haven't got to build myself up on my own label for Christ sake! "We're going to work with people we've known and liked, and people we will know and will like. It's an outlet for people we admire and want to help. There are so many possible things that we can play around with, people we can help that we haven't been able to help before. People like Roy Harper, who's so good and whose records haven't even been put out in America. People there have yet to discover the genius of the man who set fire to the pavilion at die Blackpool Cricket Ground. 'In trying to come up with a name for the label, we went through the usual ones like Slut and Slag, the ones that twist off your tongue right away - all the names one would normally associate with us on tour in America. But that's not really how we want to be remembered. Better to have something really nice.' Other names that surfaced in creative discussions included Stairway, DeLuxe, Eclipse, Zeppelin and finally, Swan Song, which was arrived at by accident, or an uncommon, for some, twist of fate.
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Jimmy Page duly informed New York pro-Led Zeppelin scribe, Lisa Robinson, 'I had a long acoustic guitar instrumental with just sparse vocal sections - die song was about twenty minutes long and the vocal was about six minutes. The whole thing was quite epic really - almost semi-classical I suppose. I'd worked on bits of it and we were recording with the mobile truck and there was no title for it. Someone shouted out, "Swan Song"! The whole thing stopped and we said what a great name for an LP. All the vibes started and suddenly it was out of the LP and on to the record label name.
'I think that Swan Song is a good name for a record label because if you don't have success on Swan Song - well, then, you shouldn't have signed up with them. I'm not personally involved with the business side of it because I'm so involved with the production of the records that I don't have time to worry about it or even take a look at it.'
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The actual Swan Song logo was inspired by a painting called 'Evening, Fall of Day' by William Rimner, which is in the Boston Museum of Fine Art. Robert Plant summed it all up, The name "Led Zeppelin" means failure, and "Swan Song" means a last gasp - so why not name our record label that?'
Never one to downplay the chart potential of proven big names, Atlantic's Phil Carson was super-positive right from die start. 'Obviously it will be a winning label,' he smirked. And he was right. [extract from Led Zeppelin - The Definitive Biography, by Richie York. Virgin Books 1993, p 173-4)

Note: The company logo was based on‘Evening’also called The Fall of Day (1869) by painter William Rimmer, featuring a picture of the Greek God 'Apollo'
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The Bootleg was ripped to MP3 (320kps) from CD and includes full album artwork along with all photos displayed above. These live recordings are excellent and come from three separate concerts and time periods in Led Zeppelin's career. Recordings originate from Soundboard and professional radio station broadcasts made in 1969, 71 and 75.  It is hard to find good bootleg recordings of Led Zeppelin and this is one of the best I've come across. I have also included an outtake track called "Swan Song" as a bonus track to compliment the cover story above.
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Track Listing

01  Rock 'N' Roll / Sick Again  9:28 *
02  Over The Hill And Far Away  6:53 *
03  In My Time Of Dying  11:17 *
04  The Song Remains The Same  5:26 *
05  What Is And What Should Never Be  4:33 **
06  Stairway To Heaven  8:43 **
07  You Shook Me  10:09 ***
08  Whole Lotta Love medley incl. Boogie Chillun, That's Alright Mama, For What It's Worth, Minnesota Blues  10:17 ***
09  Immigrant Song  3:36  ***
10  Swan Song (Bonus Instrumental) 3:33

Sources: 
(*) Dallas Memorial Auditorium, Dallas, Texas Mar. 4 '75 (Superb stereo soundboard)
(**) In Concert, Paris Theatre, London, England Apr. 1 '71 (Superb stereo radio recording)
(***) One Night Stand, Playhouse Theatre, Westminster, London, June 27 '69 (Superb mono radio broadcast) 



Led Zeppelin were:
Robert Plant (Vocals)
Jimmy Page (Guitar)
John Paul Jones (Bass)
John Bohman (Drums)
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Led Zeppelin Link (166Mb)
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W.O.C.K on Vinyl - Haven't I Heard That Riff Before?

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Before things get too serious at Rock On Vinyl, I thought it might be fun to post a song at the end of each month, that could be considered to be either Weird, Obscure, Crazy or just plain Korny.....

For this WOCK on vinyl post, I thought I might cover some of the 'Riff Ripoffs' that have occurred in the music industry, which probably makes it a ROCK on Vinyl post after all!
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Firstly, the correct term for Rip Off is of course Plagiarism. Plagiarism is the act of copying someone else's written work and claiming it as your own. While the act can be illegal, as well as unethical, the term plagiarism is not used in law. Legally, it is one form of copyright infringement, so it enters into the arcane world of Intellectual Property law. When a musical composition is plagiarized, it's the copyright on the written musical score or arrangement that is being violated.
While accusations of music usurping show up in the news quite often, less than 100 cases have actually gone through the federal courts in the United States since the 1850s, according to the UCLA Copyright Infringement Project. As a plaintiff, you have to prove the other person copied a "substantial part" of your original work and you need to show a "substantial similarity" between the two works.
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The most widely known case of plagiarism in the music industry is of course "My Sweet Lord", which hit the charts on January 23, 1971 as George Harrison’s first solo single. It was released under the Apple label and enjoyed the number one spot originally for five weeks. It remained on the charts for a total of twenty-seven weeks. All of this is the good news. The not so good news involves a song called “He’s So Fine” recorded by the Chiffons in 1962 and then moved under the Bright Tunes Music Corp label in 1971. The Chiffon’s song did well in the United States and received a luke warm reception in the UK.
On February 10th, 1971, Bright Tunes filed a suit against George Harrison inclusive of his English and American companies. The suite also included Apple Records, BMI and Hansen Publications. Though an out of court settlement was approached, including an offer of $148,000, but it never reached fruition before the court case proceeded, as the attorneys for Bright Tunes Music Corp. wanted seventy-five percent of the royalties and the surrendering of the copyright for My Sweet Lord.
The case waited to be heard for five years, during which time George Harrison’s attorneys continued to try to settle out of court. The case was heard in court for the first time, in February of 1976, George Harrison’s attorneys tried to prove out the difference between the two songs, but with little success. The judge found that though he didn’t believe George Harrison purposefully plagiarized the song, the two songs were essentially the same, only displaying minor differences to note and chord. George Harrison was found guilty of ‘subconscious plagiarism’ and a judgment was filed against him in the amount of $587,000 of which the full amount was paid and the judgment dismissed in 1981.

.Another 'rip off' that is not so well known, is 'Black Knight' (1970) by Deep Purple which sounds very much like 'We Ain't Got Nothing Yet' by The Blues Magoos. I was personally mortified when I learned this fact many years after hearing Black Knight back in the 70's and my respect for Richie Blackmore diminished greatly thereafter. Actually, Wikipedia says: "The riff to Deep Purple's 1970 'Black Night' single was closely based off the riff to Ricky Nelson's 1962 'Summertime' (Deep Purple have said this themselves). In fact, the riff is a popular one to borrow. In 1966/67 the Blue Magoos had 'We Ain't Got Nothing Yet' around the same time that Status Quo had their own version. But the riff seems to stem back to Ricky Nelson's 1962 rock version re-working of the old George Gershwin standard 'Summertime'".
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Also not so well known is the case of Led Zeppelin lifting a riff from 'Taurus' by Spirit for their best-known song, 'Stairway to Heaven'. Spirit went on tour in 1968 with Led Zeppelin, who were their support band at the time and were heavily influenced by Spirit while they toured together. Spirit's guitarist Randy California was reportedly just happy to let Zeppelin use his riff! Led Zeppelin have also been accused of using old blues songs, uncredited as the basis of their own tracks. "Taurus" is from the band's first album in 1968 and Stairway to Heaven was released by Led Zeppelin on their famous 1972 album 'Led Zeppelin IV'.
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Finally, one of the more recent cases of Plagiarism to hit the headlines, are Australian rockers Men At Work who are facing hefty legal bills after a judge ruled they illegally used a popular children's tune in their 1980s hit "Down Under". Bosses at Larrikin music publishers in Sydney filed suit, claiming the flute solo on the track sampled parts of the "Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree", a song written by an Australian music teacher for the Girl Guides in 1934. Men At Work stand to lose up to 60 per cent of the income gained from their 1983 hit "Down Under"
However, in a statement, songwriter Colin Hay has denied any wrongdoing. He admitted two bars of 'Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree' are part of the "arrangement" of 'Down Under', but not of the "composition" itself.
"It is indeed true, that Greg Ham (not a writer of the song) unconsciously referenced two bars of 'Kookaburra…' on the flute, during live shows after he joined the band in 1979, and it did end up in the Men At Work recording.
What's interesting, is that Mr Lurie is making a claim to share in the copyright of a song, namely 'Down Under', which was created and existed for at least a year before Men At Work recorded it. I stand by my claim that the two appropriated bars of 'Kookaburra' were always part of the Men At Work "arrangement", of the already existing work and not the "composition".
Stop Press: It would seem that EMI has lost their appeal to dismiss the claim and will be obliged to pay out some hefty royalties (see article in The Australian)
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Well, there you have it - some of the more 'famous ripoffs' that have occurred in the music industry, and of course there are many more. If you have some examples that you would like to share with other visitors at Rock On Vinyl, then feel free to list them in the Comments.
I have included all of the tracks mentioned above as mp3 in the download, so you can make your own judgment about each Rip Off - with the exception of Men At Work V's Larrikin Music where I have provided a comparative news report (avi) video clip instead.
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Rip Off Link (32 Mb) New Link 12/11/2024