Guitarist Joe Satriani rips Coldplay on plagiarism

Although accusations of plagiarisms by people against each other have been around for quite a long time, plagiarism in this day and age of the internet have become so easy and rampant (not only in the music industry, mind you!) that any dickhead can copy certain materials and post them in a website and without even batting an eyelash claim the said body of works as theirs. .

I personally know some people who shamelessly pass themselves off as writers when in fact all their materials were culled from various sources online. It’s really funny on what extent some phony people would do to earn some unearned glory and undeserved recognition. What gives? Just to soothe one’s ego and make one look cool to the people around you? It’s laughable if you ask me. But in this particular blog entry we will just zero- in on this particular incident.

The latest case of guitarist Joe Satriani accusing Coldplay of plagiarism is just another footnote in the long history of allegations that is quite inherent in the music business.

The guitar virtuoso is claiming that the British band stole his music from his 2004 instrumental “If I Could Fly” by incorporating it to their hit, “Viva La Vida“ the carrier of their chart- topping album “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends” which earned them recently seven Grammy Nominations including record and song of the year.

Joe Satriani, according to reports is taking the British band to task and taking them to court “seeking a jury trial, damages and “any and all profits” attributable to the alleged copyright infringement.”

Funny but this is not the first time that Coldplay is accused of plagiarism for the same song. Earlier in the year, Creaky Boards, an obscure band from New York also accused them of plagiarizing their song, “The Songs I Didn’t Write.”


Sometime ago there were even claims that they plagiarized one of Ashlee Simpson’s’ songs. Actually it's the other way around. Anyway, who cares, huh? Ha-ha-ha.

The merits of Mr. Satriani’s law suit against Coldplay are still to be determined by the courts. But in many cases, the result often varies; some were successful while others simply fail to take off while some, the concerned artists simply shrugged them off.

The list of people being accused/guilty of plagiarism is actually quite long and endless in the music industry; from Madonna to Britney Spears to Timbaland to Avril Lavigne to Bruce Springsteen to Nirvana to every Tom, Dick and Harry in the business and so on and so forth…

Here are just some of the few famous cases of plagiarism that were eventually settled in and out of courts; George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord,” the Bee Gees’ “How Deep Is Your Love” and Red Hot Chili Pepper’s “Dani California.”

Another example is Vanilla Ice’s hit “Ice Ice Baby” whose riff were stolen from the David Bowie/Queen collaboration “Under Pressure.”

Also add the opening of Scorpions’ classic “Always Somewhere” vis-à-vis Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man.”

People can always deny the accusations and refute the allegations by citing all kinds of excuses and justifications. They may even win the court battles for the real truth does not emerge from litigation in most cases.

Still, common sense and decency dictates that if you take something from somebody somewhere, it’s only right to credit the source of your material. And it is never wrong to apologize for one’s transgressions whether it is by omission or intention.

Lastly, the moral of the story is, if it doesn’t belong to you, don’t pass it off as yours. And don't be afraid to tell the truth, for the truth will set you free.