Top 10 Songs Involved in Lawsuits
Chuck Berry's publisher sued after John Lennon lifted the opening phrase "Here come old flat-top" from Chuck Berry's "You Can't Catch Me." Part of the settlement was that Lennon would record three of their songs, including "You Can't Catch Me," on his next album, which he eventually did on the album Rock 'n' Roll.
The melody and the opening line "I hear that train a-comin'/It's rollin' round the bend" were taken from a song called "Crescent City Blues" by Gordon Jenkins. Jenkins received a $75,000 settlement after he sued.
Judas Priest was sued by the parents of two boys who made a suicide pact while listening to the song. They alleged the song "had subliminal backtrack messages that encouraged the kids to commit suicide."
This song is famous for a lawsuit where John Fogerty was sued for sounding too much like... himself. Fogerty was sued by Fantasy Records (his former label) because the song sounded too much like CCR's Run Through The Jungle. They acquired the rights to the CCR catalog as part of John Fogerty's deal to get out of his record contract.
Luckily, John proved to the court that the two songs were not identical. He successfully countersued for attorney fees.
George Harrison was sued for allegedly ripping off the song "He's So Fine" by the girl group The Chiffons. The outcome was that he bought the publishing company, Bright Tunes, from Allen Klein (his former manager) for the same amount that Klein bought it for during the lawsuit. One of George's tunes, "This Song," was written about his frustration over the lawsuit.
Similar to the Judas Priest case, a depressed teenager named John McCollum committed suicide in October 1984. His parents sued Ozzy and the label, CBS Records, claiming that "Suicide Solution" influenced his actions.
Ozzy denied that the song promoted suicide, stating that the song was partially inspired by the death of Bon Scott from AC/DC. Ultimately, the court ruled in Ozzy's favor, citing the First Amendment's protection of artistic expression.
The Verve obtained a license to sample an Andrew Oldham Orchestra version of The Rolling Stones song "The Last Time." However, they were sued for using more than what was agreed upon. The Rolling Stones and The Verve initially had a deal to split the royalties, but after seeing how well the recording was doing, The Rolling Stones demanded 100% of the royalties.
Joe Satriani sued Coldplay, alleging their song Viva la Vida ripped off his song If I Could Fly, citing similar chords and progression. His lawsuit was dropped in 2009 after Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, claimed that both songs sounded like his Foreigner Suite.
Nirvana was unsure about adding 'Come As You Are' to Nevermind, citing the similarities between it and 'Eighties' by Killing Joke. However, they wound up adding it to their massively successful 1991 album.
Killing Joke considered legal action but never filed a lawsuit against Nirvana.
After Kurt Cobain's 1994 suicide, Killing Joke chose not to pursue the matter further, feeling it would add to Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic's grief. Dave later collaborated with Killing Joke on their 2003 self-titled album.
Both 'Come As You Are' and 'Eighties' were later compared to 'Life Goes On,' a 1981 song by the post-punk group The Damned, though no lawsuit was ever filed.
Rod Stewart unconsciously plagiarized the chorus from the song "Taj Mahal" by Brazilian musician Jorge Ben Jor after hearing it while in Rio de Janeiro for Carnaval. He was sued, and Jorge Ben Jor won the case.
Ed Sheeran was sued for using the same main chord progression as Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On." I'm not sure how this one turned out.
Similar to the Come Together incident, they were sued by Arc Music for ripping off Chuck Berry's Sweet Little Sixteen. They gave the copyright (lyrics and all) to Arc Music.
Oasis was sued by the writers of "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" (the Coca-Cola song). When asked about it afterwards, Noel Gallagher allegedly joked, "Now we all drink Pepsi."
Huey Lewis sued Ray Parker, Jr. for ripping off his song "I Want a New Drug." They confidentially settled it out of court, but Ray Parker sued Huey after Huey broke the confidentiality agreement by talking about the lawsuit on VH1's Behind the Music.
