13 Songs That Sound Suspiciously Like Other Songs

I mean, apart from the fact that most pop songs kind of sound the same. But these are all cases where one or other of the parties ended up having to face the consequences somehow (often in court). The good news is that a bunch of these are pretty fantastic songs, so the whole process here shouldn't be too unpleasant.

• George Harrison Vs. The Chiffons

  Harrison was eventually found by a court to have "subconsciously copied" the Chiffons' song. The Chiffons received all the royalties for the hit, and later recorded their own version of it to capitalize on the publicity.

• > My Sweet Lord

• > He's So Fine

• Coldplay Vs. Joe Satriani

  This was a big mess for a while. The Internet wouldn't stop talking about it, then Satriani sued Coldplay for thievery. The case was eventually dismissed after Chris Martin and co. agreed to pay a financial settlement.

• > Viva La Vida

• > If I Could Fly

• >> Mashup: Viva La Vida/If I Could Fly

• Timbaland And Nelly Furtado Vs. Janne Suni

  Random Finnish composer Janne Suni was pretty sure that Timbaland and Nelly Furtado stole the "original and central identifying melodic, harmonic and rhythmic components" of his song "Acidjazzed Evening" for their track "Do It." The courts did not agree, and the case was thrown out.

• > Do It

• > Acidjazzed Evening

  This song would make an awesome soundtrack for a Megaman villain.

• >> Mashup: Do It/Acidjazzed Evening

• Radiohead Vs. The Hollies

  After Radiohead was informed that "Creep" appeared to borrow a melodic line from The Hollies' 1974 hit "The Air That I Breathe", they dutifully added a cowriting credit for Hollies members Albert Hammond and Mike Hazelwood to the liner notes of Pablo Honey.

• > Creep

• > The Air That I Breathe

• Black Eyed Peas Vs. Bryan Pringle

  Some dude named Bryan Pringle sued The Black Eyed Peas for stealing the chord progression from his dumb song "Take A Dive" for their dumb song "I Gotta Feeling". Hopefully we can resolve this one by promising never to listen to either of these songs ever again.

• > I Gotta Feeling

• > Take A Dive

• The Verve Vs. The Rolling Stones

  The Verve had actually asked and obtained permission to use a sample of the Andrew Oldham Orchestra's recording of the Rolling Stones' song "The Last Time" in the chorus of "Bittersweet Symphony", but a court decided that they had somehow used too much of it, so they never saw a dime from their single.

• Singer Richard Ashcroft later quipped that "Bittersweet Symphony" was "the best song Jagger and Richards have written in 20 years". Which was pretty winning of him.

• > Bittersweet Symphony

• > The Last Time (Andrew Oldham Orchestra)

• > The Last Time (Rolling Stones)

• R.E.M. Vs. Leonard Cohen

  After R.E.M. recorded the (shockingly underrated) "Hope" for their 11th album, Up, they all suddenly realized that it sounded uncannily like Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne". They called him up and gave him cowriting credits just to be safe.

• > Hope

• > Suzanne

• Avril Lavigne Vs. Peaches

  This one never went to court, but the Internet got really pissed on Peaches' behalf when Avril's godawful "I Don't Have To Try" reminded some folks of Peaches' track "I'm The Kinda".

• > I Don't Have To Try

• > I'm The Kinda

• >> Mashup: I Don't Have To Try/I'm The Kinda

• Ke$ha Vs. Chrissy

  Another Internet-driven controversy. Someone called Chrissy wrote a song called "My Slushy" for some reason known only to her. Ke$ha's Tik Tok totally sounds like it, but that's not really a compliment for either artist.

• > Tik Tok

• > My Slushy

• >> Mashup: Tik Tok/My Slushy

• Gretchen Wilson Vs. The Black Crowes

  The Black Crowes filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Gretchen Wilson due to the unavoidable fact that her "Work Hard Play Harder" sounded exactly like their "Jealous Again".

• > Work Hard Play Harder

• > Jealous Again

• Miley Cyrus Vs. Lustra

  Lustra dropped the legal aspect of their accusation that Miley Cyrus had stolen parts of their "Scotty Doesn't Know" for her song "Rockstar" and challenged her to a live song-off instead.

• > Rockstar

• > Scotty Doesn't Know

• Rascall Flats Vs. Pat Benatar

  D.L. Byron, the songwriter behind Pat Benatar's "Shadows Of The Night", was pissed when he heard Rascall Flatts' "No Reins". Legal shenanigans ensued.

• > No Reins

• > Shadows Of The Night

• Justin Bieber Vs. Raaaaaaaandy

  And finally, this cynical piece of thievery happened. Et tu, Bieber?