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13 Songs That Famously Ripped Off Others

@coltondaniel — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 21:27:43 +0000

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There’s a fine line between sampling a song and straight ripping off someone else’s artistic integrity. Imitation is recognized as the highest form of flattery – but at what point does it go too far?

Most recently, Madonna finally spoke out about her insane influence of Lady Gaga, with focus on ‘Born This Way‘ and it’s similarity with Madge’s 1989 hit ‘Express Yourself’. And in the spirit of that buzz – we’re delighted to bring you a little sampling, thirteen songs that famously ripped off others (and were pretty successful in their own right). Some of which dealt with court settlements and others were able to slip through the legal cracks. For those arguing that the likes of Hammer and Vanilla Ice had the right to sample – both were busted by the predecessors for their use. Ice even argued in an episode of VH1′s ‘Behind the Music’ that it was completely original and the sampling accusations were bogus.

Tell us what you think! Below are thirteen examples, first being the song that ripped off the following song:

Jennifer Lopez “On The Floor (Ft. Pitbull)” VS. Los Kjarkas “Lloranda se fue”

MC Hammer “U Can’t Touch This” VS. Rick James “Superfreak”

Sean Kingston “Me Love” VS. Led Zeppelin “D’yer Mak’er”

Sum 41 “Pieces” VS. Coldplay “The Scientist”

Ray Parker Jr. “Ghostbusters” VS. Huey Lewis “I Want A New Drug”

Red Hot Chili Peppers “Dani California” VS. Tom Petty “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”

Flo Rida “Right Round” VS. Dead Or Alive “You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)”

The Offspring “Why Don’t You Get A Job” VS. The Beatles “Ob La Di Ob La Da”

Vanilla Ice “Ice Ice Baby” VS. Queen & David Bowie “Under Pressure”

Avril Lavigne “Girlfriend” VS. The Rubinoos “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”

Coldplay “Viva La Vida” VS. Joe Satriani “If I Could Fly”

Green Day “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” VS. Oasis “Wonderwall”

Fergie “Fergalicious” VS. J.J. Fad “Supersonic”

Jimmy Fallon invents Tebowie – half Tim Tebow, half David Bowie

Natalia Buia — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 22:27:16 +0000

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The Broncos win over the Steels this past weekend can be attributed to Tim Tebow’s amazing pass. After that, Tim Tebow, a devout christian, began to trend on Twitter and many people began using his last name as a verb. “Tebowing” now refers to
one getting on their knee to pray. It’s like planking but more religious.

SNL made a skit about him on their latest episode and now Jimmy Fallon has come up with his own spoof: Tebowie, if Tim Tebow and David Bowie mated.

Jimmy Fallon dresses up in a tight Ziggy Stardust outfight, glitter platforms and all, but has Tim’s football jersey on, singing a humourous rendition of “A Space Oddity”.

“Tim Tebow to Jesus Christ,” he sings. “This is Jesus Christ to Tim Bebow. Please leave me alone. Don;t you know my day of rest is on Sunday and I’m sick of watching all these Bronco games.”

Jimmy Fallon’s known for his on-key impersonations. He does a killer Justin Bieber, Russell Brand and now, Tim Tebow. Check out the video below.

DJ Space Cowboy, Ready To Raise North American Party Levels

Jeremy Singer — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:09:43 +0000

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With the touch of a button, Nicolas Dresti delivers a shot of adrenaline to the sea of 30 thousand fans. Their screams are met with his quick rhythmic jumping and head bobbing to the beat on-stage. He’s not the main event, heck he’s not even a co-headliner, but he’s still the man orchestrating one of the hottest concerts on the planet – all from a laptop. This may be Lady Gaga’s party, but DJ Space Cowboy is the event’s power source – the battery that keeps the beat alive.

He’s now on top of the world.

On that night Dresti was the European energizer bunny, but now he’s recharging his own batteries at his hotel. It’s hard to believe that he is the key to Lady Gaga’s live performance successes. The man in the neatly-cut dark-suit and sparkling rhinestone skinny-tie seems sophisticated and quiet – the complete opposite of what a Gaga concert is notorious for.

But it’s true. Look at Dresti and his alter ego DJ Space Cowboy like you would Clark Kent and Superman – they’re both the same person, yet totally different at the same time. Put Clark Kent into a phone booth and he’ll become Superman. Well, put Dresti in front of an audio mixer and laptop, and he’ll suddenly transform into the backbone – or backbeat, if you will – as DJ Space Cowboy, Gaga’s DJ and head maestro responsible for explosive energy in any crowd.

His new album Digital Rockstar dropped earlier this week, and it’s one of the rare chances to really hear Superman-like energy harnessed into one CD.

“Raising the energy bar is one my main jobs as a DJ,” Dresti tells andPOP in the martini bar of Toronto’s Pantages Hotel.

Understand though, that he will do it any way possible. This is a man whose sole belief and line of work is to find the party factor in all depths of music. That’s basically the narrowed down version of his job.

“I prefer to do it with the Pop, Rock, Hip/Hop approach, but basically anything to get that killer reaction from an audience. Nothing beats spinning a song, and seeing a crowd go nuts. Nothing.”

Released by Cherrytree Records, the fourth studio project marks Dresti’s first album output with an American record label – a personal milestone for the Paris-born Disc Jockey. On that note, Dresti recalls how much the American DJ scene has evolved over the last few years. “There wasn’t much house music,” says Dresti in a refreshing British accent. “That was the big difference between here and back home.”

Before he got here, Dresti was busy amping up crowds in London’s underground club scene. There, he was a U.K. DJ extraordinaire – the protégé of British DJ legend Fatboy Slim.

But listing his accomplishments is of little interest to him. “Home is home. I was always musically inclined.”

He’s the kind of guy who refuses to mention that his passion led to a handful of singles, which flooded the charts in both the U.K. and the U.S. It was following the remix of Fergie’s Glamorous, which took the No. 2 spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Airplay Chart in 2007, that Dresti released Digital Rock (2007) – his third and most valuable released album to-date.

“I was just trying to show the whole aspect of being a DJ and a rock-star at the same time,” explains Dresti about the term Digital Rock.

“Then, when I combined it with technology, guitars and synthesizers, it just all turned into this Digital Rock age which was a pretty important stage in my life.”

The album is the reason why he was presented with a signing deal to U.S. label Cherrytree Records – an Interscope Records imprint, which focuses on new artists – and the ergo-step to eventually meeting an up-and-coming artist from New York, who was also signed with the label, by the name of Lady Gaga.

“The label said I should meet with this girl, listen to her songs,” says Dresti.

He even recalls their first conversation.

“We actually spoke on New Years Eve. I was in London and she was in Los Angeles, and we just began talking about all our experiences

“We got along so well right away.”

You could say the two were speaking the same language, with conversation topics including sequins, disco balls, Prince, David Bowie and body paint. The U.K. man then flew to L.A. to help Gaga record the single Starstruck – which featured Flo Rida – on her debut album The Fame (2008).

“After we got to know each other better, she invited me to come on tour with her,” says Dresti.

And so he began mastering the sound beds for Gaga’s Fame Ball Tour, which kicked off last March. At that point, Dresti had already had years of experience fueling parties to know the true meaning of peak energy.

Or so he thought.

While working with Gaga, the DJ – who had previously worked and remixed with a variety of iconic artists from The Darkness to Sir Paul McCartney – witnessed energy being set to a new level.

“A unique thing about her,” begins Dresti, “is that whether you’re playing in a stairwell or a stadium, it always has to be the same energy. There’s no excuse, she’ll do whatever it takes. She’ll come to me five minutes before we go on stage and tell me she wants to switch this song in the set, and cut that verse out, and add this in…

“It’s enough to make you go crazy, but in a good way. She always sets the standards high.”

As the audiences grew bigger for each passing show, Dresti came to realize that he was on the most colossal tour of the year. Cities were being booked for two-a-night performances due to the high demand for tickets. The DJ found that with the rising popularity of the tour, so did his pressure to get more creative behind the laptop.

“I definitely had to sit down and start putting together some new sounds,” recalls Dresti. “For example, she (Gaga) would ask me for a song to dance to for two minutes on stage to represent something sad. So I would then try to incorporate other instruments like an organ or violin to find the right sound. Stuff like that.”

And when time would allow it while on the tour bus, Dresti would work on his own passion project, Digital Rockstar. He says it’s taken around a year to complete, and he can’t wait for it to hit the shelves. Shining brightly are songs like I Came 2 Party featuring Cinema Bizarre, Falling Down featuring Chelsea Korka from The Paradisco Girls and then a remixed version featuring LMFAO.

Simply put, it’s dance meets rock, meets party like a digital rockstar.

“Definitely a lot of work,” he says after a deep breath, smirking as he looks back on the experience. “I’m glad that’s finally all put together; looking forward to the reception.

“But then again, I’m also so glad that I got those artists to help me out.”

He seems a bit tired; maybe from the performance in Vegas the night before, or the North American solo tour that he’s been doing since the end of July. Luckily he now has a month break before the real fun begins.

There might not be a more perfect situation for his post-release promo-trip: LMFAO’s Party Rock Tour – 31 shows squeezed into a month and a half on the road from November 5 until December 20. A bunch of artists jumping up and down on stage, singing about partying, drinking and having a good time. It’s Dresti’s utopia.

“That truly, is going to be really exciting,” says the DJ who will be joined by the Far East Movement, Shwayze and the Paradiso Girls. “I love those guys and their work. A lot of DJs opt to play stuff by David Geutta or Black Eye Peas’ I Got A Feeling. It’s pretty big right now, but I like spinning with LMFAO a lot.”

Ideally he would love to work with David Bowie or even Kings of Leon, but as he gets up, he readjusts his rhinestone tie and parts with some insight. “I don’t always believe in going with the No. 1 charted song. That’s too easy. Sometimes in order to get a crazy reaction, you’ve got to dig deep and pull off something unique. You’ve got to find a song that not everyone would really expect, but then show them the party factor.”

David Bowie and The Spider from Malaysia

Emma Renda — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:39:47 +0000

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If someone decided to name climate change after one of the Rolling Stones, perhaps the world would take it more seriously.

That’s the genius behind a German scientist who recently discovered a new species of arachnid in Malaysia and dubbed it heteropoda davidbowie, according to the Telegraph UK. Peter Jager said he did so hoping it would draw attention to the plight of the species, which is often shirked on endangered animals lists.

Bowie was chosen as the namesake for the large, yellow, hairy spider (a genuinely freaky looking thing) because of his penchant for spider references in his music. His 1972 The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was followed by an international Glass Spider tour.

Jager has reportedly discovered more than 200 kinds of spiders in his last ten years of work. And Bowie isn’t the only celebrity to have warranted a namesake, according to Exclaim Magazine.

Last year, an East Carolina University biologist Jason Bond named a new species of trapdoor spider after Neil Young, calling it Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi. Bond said he chose the name because, well, he is a fan and appreciates Young’s ongoing contributions to peace activism.

In the same year, a species of beetle was named for Roy Orbison (Orectochilus orbisonorum) because it looked like it was wearing a tuxedo.

Even Stephen Colbert snagged himself the honour when he complained on his talk show about neilyoungi. So, another species of trapdoor spider discovered along the coast of California was then dubbed Aptostichus stephencolberti. The sister spider of stephencolberti was actually named for Angelina Jolie.

Well played, Bond and Jager, as evidently the attention-grabbing tactic is working quite well.

“It’s a great opportunity for people to connect with it. I think many people are surprised that there are new species,” Bond told the New York Daily News last year. “The stuff that makes the world go round are all the small things.”

David Bowie Sings on Scarlett’s Album

andPOP Staff — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 03:15:25 +0000

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Actors making the transition to recording artist are usually looked at with disdain, but it’s pretty hard to argue with David Bowie.

Bowie croons along with Scarlett Johansson on two tracks of her upcoming Tom Waits cover album, reports Ananova.com.

With big name support like that, the future looks bright for Johansson’s singing career. But will Waits himself be a fan?

“I sent him some of the early recordings,” Johansson noted, “and he said, ‘Go ahead.’ I’ve heard he’s very pleased.”

Meanwhile, Johansson’s day job is keeping her busy, with “The Other Boleyn Girl” opening next weekend.

You’ll Never Guess Who the Newest Guest Star on Sponge Bob Is

andPOP Staff — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 19:20:49 +0000

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Here’s casting news that will shock you, perhaps even more than when it was announced K. Fed would be guest starring on “CSI” this year.

Reuters is reporting that David Bowie (yes THE David Bowie), will join the cast of “Sponge Bob Square Pants” (yes the one who lives in a pineapple under the sea) in a guest starring role.

Bowie blogged that he will be the voice of a character whose name is Lord Royal Highness, and that hey couldn’t be more thrilled about his new job.

“It’s happened. At last. I’ve hit the Holy Grail of animation gigs. We, the family, are thrilled. Nothing else need happen this year, well, this week anyway,” Bowie said in his blog.

The episode will air sometime next year.

Bowie Considering Role in ‘Prestige’

Eva Lam — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 21:25:06 +0000

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David Bowie is in talks to play inventor Nikola Tesla in an upcoming thriller from ?Batman Begins? director Christopher Nolan, reported Billboard Tuesday.

The cast of ?The Prestige,? a tale of rival magicians in early 20th century London, already includes Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale and Michael Caine.

The Tesla character is based on the real-life Serbian-American scientist who discovered the rotating magnetic field.

The movie, which is based on Christopher Priest’s 1996 novel, is scheduled to shoot in January with a budget in the $40 million range.

Bowie has previously appeared on the silver screen in 1976?s “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” 1983′s “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” and 1996′s “Basquiat,” among others.

He most recently appeared in “Mr. Rice’s Secret” in 2000, the same year he ranked seventh on VH1?s list of the 100 greatest artists of rock and roll.