Satch/Cat/Coldplay: What do the general populous think?

With a pending lawsuit already filed by Joe Satriani and Yusuf (the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens) waiting anxiously on the sidelines to see how that court case fleshes out, it’s as if everyone’s laying claim to Coldplay’s infectious “Viva la Vida.” Satch thinks the song sounds litigiously similar to “If I Could Fly,” and Yusuf believes the band used his 1973 tune “Foreigner Suite” for inspiration.

Below are the views of the general populous to grace the Rolling Stone website with their comments. I think you'd better sit down first: there are actually some Coldplay defenders out there!

Whenever I hear stuff like this it disgusts me. Musicians are such prima donnas. The sad part in all of this is that Coldplay probably considers Cat Stevens one of their heroes and he is just to them that it is all just smoke and mirrors. That is so stupid and we see that too much in music. [Anon.]

What a bunch of bullshit. Artists take elements from other artists all the time. The worst part of thiss is Yusuf saying he’s going to wait and see how Satch does to decide if he’ll sue-way to stand on your principles shithead. Maybe if you hadn’t exiled yourself all these years you wouldn’t need the money. And Satch-tell you what, we should see if the estate of Robert Johnson can sue Led Zep for stealing his life’s work. Or Muddy Waters estate can sue the Stones for the same reason. Or the Stones can sue the Black Crowes, etc. All these lawsuits are horseshit. If Satch and Yusuf need the money, go out and earn it. [big Daddy]

With all do respect to both artists these two songs do have the same exact piano part. Its at the 2:00 minute mark in Viva La Vida and the 15:50 mark in Foreigner Suite. I had never heard of the Cat Stevens song before this, but I actually did quite enjoy it. However, I do not think Coldplay pin-pointed this one specific part of a completely random twenty minute song on a record long lost in time… Viva La Vida is a great song, and with popular music these days we need to be more lenient on wht is considered plagiarism. Music, as literature and other art forms is a bunch of random influences compiled on top of each other over time. This is how art continues to evolve. Plus, most rappers these days don’t even bother righting their own hooks, or making their own beats. They are just re-used 80s synth rock and pop hits. [Anon.]

Goes to show how some very simple tunes can be copied, consciously and subconsciously, over the course of time. Most music plagiarism lawsuits are very tricky. Also, being a writer, I can’t help but think of how many contemporary writers use basic elements from older lit… with or without citing their influences. As artists, at what point do we stop worrying about lawsuits and focus on creating original works? How do we define “influence” versus “plagiarism”? Too harsh a verdict in a situation like this and we crucify artists who may be innocent… too lenient of a verdict and we risk embracing the copy-cats. [MZA]

Satriani and Cat must be musical geniuses because I can’t hear ANY obvious similarities between the 3 songs… How The Beatles [”Sexy Sadie”] never sued Radiohead [”Karma Police” chorus], I will never know. Now THERE’S a pretty obvious similarity. [h_e_n_r_y]

Radiohead should have their lawyers on speed-dial, just in case this suit holds up in court. After all, in 2000 Coldplay re-recorded Radiohead’s the Bends and released it as “Parachutes.” [Tom Wieler]

Does anyone else find it odd that in a time of music sampling and “excessive borrowing,” that the Sat-Coldplay lawsuit and Cat Stevens’ remarks are ironic? I know I heard the piano break of Supertramp’s “Crime of the Century” in a Gym Class Heroes song not too long ago. Does this mean that Green Day should pay royalties to The Clash, who then should pay The Ramones, who should pay The Stooges, who should pay The Who? Where doees it end? Unless it’s a direct ripoff beyond any shadow of a doubt, it’s awfully hard to show that someone ripped off a melody or musical sound. And how come no one but me though, in 1983, that the chorus of ZZ Top’s “Sharp Dressed Man” sounded pretty much identical to Eddie Cochrane’s “Summertime Blues”? Go listen to it again, and you’ll see what I mean. Strange, yes. Lawsuit-worthy, probably not …. [basser]