Talent borrows, genius steals, they say. On the evidence given when Coldplay were accused of plagiarism this week, we can conclude that the band are neither talented nor geniuses (but we know they are both).
The unknown Brooklyn singer Andrew Hoepfner and his band Creaky Boards have posted a video online claiming similarities between their track The Songs I Didn't Write and Coldplay's Viva La Vida (watch the two videos here). Hoepfner suggests Chris Martin was in the audience of a show he performed in New York last October (which the band strongly deny) and plays poor impoverished David to their corporate Goliaths, saying: "If they ever want to collaborate, I've got some microphones we could use in my bedroom."
Listening to his tune and to Coldplay's, you can hear a slight similarity between the stretched-out vowel in the middle of each line. Aside from that, any connection is tenuous at best. Oasis have got away with far worse.
This kind of thing does happen accidentally, however. Liam Fray from Manchester indie stars The Courteeners recently told me about their song, Smiths Disco, a recent B-side. It's an exact copy of the melody from Stephen Fretwell's song Scar - and Fray wrote it shortly after attending a Fretwell gig while very drunk and absorbing the tune in his subconscious. The two are mates, though, so legal action wasn't needed.
The case of Creaky Boards looks far creakier, but at least Hoepfner is getting a lot of publicity out of it. And even more fortunately, at least Coldplay haven't copied his moustache.
More on the plagiarism row here
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