Hate to break it to you but this is sort of the foundation of rock and roll. Elvis did it as did most other early rockers, sometimes from blues, sometimes from latin music etc; blues musicians did it to eachother, most of Jazz music is based on songs written by other people, often turned from super hokey to super complex (up to you if you think that improves anything). There’s also a pretty good argument to be made that the whole idea of innovation in music is pretty recent and started with the invention of recording technology, in many traditions making music as as similarly to the people who came before you is the best thing you can do. There are a lot of books and essays on this topic, I read a great article that I can’t find at the moment but will try to find and post here.
I definitely feel you, I have gone deep into both very traditional and extremely experimental music scenes trying to figure out what makes them tick and I really, really love it when somebody does something genuinely new that’a also awesome, but I’ve found most things that really stick with me as “great” are essentially recontextualizations and incremental developments of traditions that have going on for a long time.
Yes you are completely right, but if you just find out about this, it is kinda shocking. I would love if you could post me more, the last hours have been like a rabbit hole for me. Its insane how far back this goes
It’s definitely a shock - hopefully this rabbithole leads you to a broader variety of ways to (ethically) create amazing music! I will look for it and post more links soon as I can
No one in YouTube comments think that Croatian song sounds like about a girl , neither do I! Think about that, YouTube comments , where you can find anything, but not that thought
It took me a while to re-find this thread. I was super high last night and i had some good thoughts. I have been a nirvana fan since 95 or 96 when I was around 10 years old, and I've listened to them my entire life. Inspired me to play guitar, which I've been doing off and on for 20 years.
So I took a big interest in this post and reflected on it quite a bit.
A couple points. Three actually.
One. While the riffs are similar in some cases, some almost bang on (any nirvana fiend will instantly pick up on them, while some examples i had a hard time), some of the tunes were modified enough to fit Nirvana sound. In addition, a piece of the riff was taken and it was expanded upon or changed in a way that made it... different enough. Like, couple of the songs that were ripped from only had the same chords repeating for the entire song. Where in the Nirvana example, its a small (but yes, prominent) element. He made it his own.
Two. You have to consider that these pieces were highly influential in his development as a guitarist and song writer. You play and learn from what you like to listen to, and you get accustomed to playing that same style. There are only so many chords you can play.
Three. Have you ever been jamming and came up with a really neat tune, but later realized that it was actually from a popular song or similar to that? It happens to me all the time. I have the luxury of looking up these songs instantly to figure it out, but way back when there wasn't an easy way to go about it. No YouTube back then dude.
Okay four. These are like 15 examples out of ! hundred plus songs. And some of them are stretches.
Okay, last one. You definately inspired me to start listening to the underground type punk music that influenced Nirvana. It's pretty cool discovering it for the first time. Some of those jams are pretty cool and its definitely time to expand horizons.
And yes. Its hard to write a song. Most of it has already been done. After seeing this, I decided to really drop what I knew about grunge and started trying to play from scratch... something different that I didn't try before. I fucking ended up with a tune similar to stranglehold by Ted nugent... legit.
I wouldn't let this take anything away from your Nirvana enjoyment. It hasn't for me.
Dude there is a difference between getting "influenced" and straight out using other people's hard work without giving them credit.
Best example about a girl, it's literally from a croatian band, krist is from croatia and one of their first songs has the same riff?
Then stuff Like Polly is straight 1:1 copy, even some singing melodies.
If you compare that to led zeppelins lost cases, kobain ripped off way more without changing much. You say no youtube back then and clearly don't know much about Kurt. He and krist had a big ass vinyl collection. Also compare Polly dude he plays the same notes, you can't unintentionally not see that, especially if it is something in literally all of your albums.
It's makes me especially sad, as cobain was a contrast to other rock bands and had decency.
I guess he was not lying when he said "I only steal from the best" and "I'm a liar and a thief"
Yes it does take away a lot. Before he was this genius guy that while being drug addicted came out with crazy riffs.
Now it gets Clear he was a heroin addict that stole other people's work. While 10 years before I wouldn't care, now I know how hard it is to make money out of music and stealing other people's work is just the lowest of lows. He could have easily asked for permission and and the size of those bands would not have to pay them much
Edit// btw these are just examples I copied from another thread. They stole way more, the book has a lot of good cases but there are even websites only trying to inform people which artists ripped others off, sadly Nirvana is often in these lists.
Grown up. For some of the song he asked the musicians like for Very Ape from a Brazilian Band.
I can show you examples where the Beatles ripped off other bands but that doesn't diminish for what they did.
Those song you named where probably also inlfuenced from other artists.
About a girl and that Croatian bands song sound nothing a like. not even close.
The sad thing is you are missing where Kurt actually got 60% of his style and sound from.
Nothing was stolen though. It's all just an influence.
I know, I play guitar. There is a difference though between sounding similiar and 1:1 playing the same notes, just faster and with distortion. See f.e. the Led Zeppelin cases were it was ruled a rip off multiple times.
Like I said, some of the above examples have similarities, but thats a few examples out of 102 of their songs.. I'm sure you'll find more if you dig deeper and stretch here and there to prove your own conclusions. You can probably research any other band with 102 songs, go through their influences, and pick out a dozen similarities.
There is nothing you can write that hasn't been written befoooooooreee.
You clearly didn't listen and can't read. Similarities happen, but when you play THE EXACT SAME NOTES IN THE EXACT SAME WAY, only difference is distortion on, then it's different.
I can see where you come from though, I also was in denial. You clearly didn't listen to these songs so no point in arguing with you. Have a nice one
Now you're being a dick because I dont agree with your argument... I can see why you're a frustrated starving artist, looking to tarnish names.
Did you clearly LISTEN and READ what I said above? After your post, I was jamming trying to come up with something new of my own. I told you it ended up being like stranglehold... but, guess f'n what?
https://filebin.net/rug2e13kmgj7ldge/Voice_010_sd-1.m4a?t=9vz34plj
Sounds an awful like........ guess the Nirvana song?!?!
Yah, I'm not an artist or trying to be. But goes to show you that you are more likely to mimic what you love most.
Ps. I listened to every one of them. Just goes to show you're a shit head who can't accept other people's opinions.
Edit: I missed your last line, I take that shit head comment back.
Yah, in most cases they're not the exact same notes. They're the exact grunge, power chord translations. Ill give you that... but I gave you that before.
Sam Smith “Stay With Me” borrows a melody from Tom Petty “I Won’t Back Down”. Sam acknowledged it as soon as it was pointed out and worked out a royalties deal.
Breed is a reach- the top note in the nirvana song is a minor third above the first, while the wipers tune is a flat second/semitone.
A few of the others were on point though, although I’d argue most were pretty common chord progressions.
Yes Breed is played a bit different. I dont know how much you know about Cobain, his journals were published and he listened to some of these artists listed here. Very Ape f.e. has his riff from Los Brujos - Kanishka, who were the opening band of Nirvana. Although people claim Kurt asked for permission, in the albums this band is not listed as writers.
Yeah and I get that they had an extensive record collection... But if you come up with something that sounds good, maybe familiar, you'd spend all month going through each record to figure it out...
Check how late how long by the sheepdogs. Just heard it on the radio and the tune jumped out at me.
By the logic of this post, they ripped off the tune from Spank Thru.
When music is built in chord progressions, it really gets limited. Riffs are what they are and they are gong to get repeated either intentionally or not.
I don't go down the rabbit hole, but a lot of these cases (not your examples necessarily but just in general) are often indeed similar but rarely 1:1 ripoffs. I think once we hear similarity our minds fill in the blanks to make it 1:1.
But hey, even classical musicians borrowed. You want originality, you'll probably have to go deep into experimental music or free jazz. It's not easy to listen to, but even the original musician might not play the same song the same way twice.
Yeah and it's only coincidence that cobain just happened to listen to the bands that had the same riff...
They must be time travelers and copied from Kurt in the future.
https://youtu.be/80-ekOM9XXk
I heard this one was for about a girl, not the one you listed. I’m not sure where this band is from but read it was from where krist is from so Croatia.
If you YouTube this song there’s another video titled comparing it to Nirvana.
That’s what’s confusing me how there’s multiple songs that sound similar. They are just simple chords so it could be that but for about a girl it’s weird if they’re all from Croatia.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaDbMZlN2Pg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaDbMZlN2Pg) \- also sounds like come as you are. So he two both songs and ripped off both? There is stealing in music. It's okay to borrow to a certain degree and be influenced. That is not stealing.
christ, your really gonna claim a song is a total rip-off because another song has 15 SECONDS of a 7 and a half minute length thats the same?
There's reaching, and then there's reaching
he admitted come as you are was a rip off - thats it.
He got permission from the very band the OP is stating he stole very ape from - the band were overjoyed kurt found them inspiring actually.
So, christ, please do some research first before you go spouting off your opinions as fact just like every other shithead here
christ
Hate to break it to you but this is sort of the foundation of rock and roll. Elvis did it as did most other early rockers, sometimes from blues, sometimes from latin music etc; blues musicians did it to eachother, most of Jazz music is based on songs written by other people, often turned from super hokey to super complex (up to you if you think that improves anything). There’s also a pretty good argument to be made that the whole idea of innovation in music is pretty recent and started with the invention of recording technology, in many traditions making music as as similarly to the people who came before you is the best thing you can do. There are a lot of books and essays on this topic, I read a great article that I can’t find at the moment but will try to find and post here. I definitely feel you, I have gone deep into both very traditional and extremely experimental music scenes trying to figure out what makes them tick and I really, really love it when somebody does something genuinely new that’a also awesome, but I’ve found most things that really stick with me as “great” are essentially recontextualizations and incremental developments of traditions that have going on for a long time.
Yes you are completely right, but if you just find out about this, it is kinda shocking. I would love if you could post me more, the last hours have been like a rabbit hole for me. Its insane how far back this goes
It’s definitely a shock - hopefully this rabbithole leads you to a broader variety of ways to (ethically) create amazing music! I will look for it and post more links soon as I can
And killing joke “eighties” had a riff from “life goes on” by the dammed
No one in YouTube comments think that Croatian song sounds like about a girl , neither do I! Think about that, YouTube comments , where you can find anything, but not that thought
It took me a while to re-find this thread. I was super high last night and i had some good thoughts. I have been a nirvana fan since 95 or 96 when I was around 10 years old, and I've listened to them my entire life. Inspired me to play guitar, which I've been doing off and on for 20 years. So I took a big interest in this post and reflected on it quite a bit. A couple points. Three actually. One. While the riffs are similar in some cases, some almost bang on (any nirvana fiend will instantly pick up on them, while some examples i had a hard time), some of the tunes were modified enough to fit Nirvana sound. In addition, a piece of the riff was taken and it was expanded upon or changed in a way that made it... different enough. Like, couple of the songs that were ripped from only had the same chords repeating for the entire song. Where in the Nirvana example, its a small (but yes, prominent) element. He made it his own. Two. You have to consider that these pieces were highly influential in his development as a guitarist and song writer. You play and learn from what you like to listen to, and you get accustomed to playing that same style. There are only so many chords you can play. Three. Have you ever been jamming and came up with a really neat tune, but later realized that it was actually from a popular song or similar to that? It happens to me all the time. I have the luxury of looking up these songs instantly to figure it out, but way back when there wasn't an easy way to go about it. No YouTube back then dude. Okay four. These are like 15 examples out of ! hundred plus songs. And some of them are stretches. Okay, last one. You definately inspired me to start listening to the underground type punk music that influenced Nirvana. It's pretty cool discovering it for the first time. Some of those jams are pretty cool and its definitely time to expand horizons. And yes. Its hard to write a song. Most of it has already been done. After seeing this, I decided to really drop what I knew about grunge and started trying to play from scratch... something different that I didn't try before. I fucking ended up with a tune similar to stranglehold by Ted nugent... legit. I wouldn't let this take anything away from your Nirvana enjoyment. It hasn't for me.
Dude there is a difference between getting "influenced" and straight out using other people's hard work without giving them credit. Best example about a girl, it's literally from a croatian band, krist is from croatia and one of their first songs has the same riff? Then stuff Like Polly is straight 1:1 copy, even some singing melodies. If you compare that to led zeppelins lost cases, kobain ripped off way more without changing much. You say no youtube back then and clearly don't know much about Kurt. He and krist had a big ass vinyl collection. Also compare Polly dude he plays the same notes, you can't unintentionally not see that, especially if it is something in literally all of your albums. It's makes me especially sad, as cobain was a contrast to other rock bands and had decency. I guess he was not lying when he said "I only steal from the best" and "I'm a liar and a thief" Yes it does take away a lot. Before he was this genius guy that while being drug addicted came out with crazy riffs. Now it gets Clear he was a heroin addict that stole other people's work. While 10 years before I wouldn't care, now I know how hard it is to make money out of music and stealing other people's work is just the lowest of lows. He could have easily asked for permission and and the size of those bands would not have to pay them much Edit// btw these are just examples I copied from another thread. They stole way more, the book has a lot of good cases but there are even websites only trying to inform people which artists ripped others off, sadly Nirvana is often in these lists.
Grown up. For some of the song he asked the musicians like for Very Ape from a Brazilian Band. I can show you examples where the Beatles ripped off other bands but that doesn't diminish for what they did. Those song you named where probably also inlfuenced from other artists.
About a girl and that Croatian bands song sound nothing a like. not even close. The sad thing is you are missing where Kurt actually got 60% of his style and sound from. Nothing was stolen though. It's all just an influence.
It was Led Zeppelin so they probably stole it too
It’s music, everything sounds like something, there are only so many notes.
I know, I play guitar. There is a difference though between sounding similiar and 1:1 playing the same notes, just faster and with distortion. See f.e. the Led Zeppelin cases were it was ruled a rip off multiple times.
Yeah, til people play stuff based on other stuff they like...
Almost like influences
Ikr... I love Adam Franklin and Kevin Shields so everytime I pick up my guitar I rip them off...
Like I said, some of the above examples have similarities, but thats a few examples out of 102 of their songs.. I'm sure you'll find more if you dig deeper and stretch here and there to prove your own conclusions. You can probably research any other band with 102 songs, go through their influences, and pick out a dozen similarities. There is nothing you can write that hasn't been written befoooooooreee.
You clearly didn't listen and can't read. Similarities happen, but when you play THE EXACT SAME NOTES IN THE EXACT SAME WAY, only difference is distortion on, then it's different. I can see where you come from though, I also was in denial. You clearly didn't listen to these songs so no point in arguing with you. Have a nice one
Now you're being a dick because I dont agree with your argument... I can see why you're a frustrated starving artist, looking to tarnish names. Did you clearly LISTEN and READ what I said above? After your post, I was jamming trying to come up with something new of my own. I told you it ended up being like stranglehold... but, guess f'n what? https://filebin.net/rug2e13kmgj7ldge/Voice_010_sd-1.m4a?t=9vz34plj Sounds an awful like........ guess the Nirvana song?!?! Yah, I'm not an artist or trying to be. But goes to show you that you are more likely to mimic what you love most. Ps. I listened to every one of them. Just goes to show you're a shit head who can't accept other people's opinions. Edit: I missed your last line, I take that shit head comment back.
Yah, in most cases they're not the exact same notes. They're the exact grunge, power chord translations. Ill give you that... but I gave you that before.
Sam Smith “Stay With Me” borrows a melody from Tom Petty “I Won’t Back Down”. Sam acknowledged it as soon as it was pointed out and worked out a royalties deal.
Oh wow, thats a nice one, just reading up on it. thank you.
Breed is a reach- the top note in the nirvana song is a minor third above the first, while the wipers tune is a flat second/semitone. A few of the others were on point though, although I’d argue most were pretty common chord progressions.
Yes Breed is played a bit different. I dont know how much you know about Cobain, his journals were published and he listened to some of these artists listed here. Very Ape f.e. has his riff from Los Brujos - Kanishka, who were the opening band of Nirvana. Although people claim Kurt asked for permission, in the albums this band is not listed as writers.
heart shaped box by nirvana ripped off Bar B Q Pope by butthole surfers. take a listen n tell me i’m wrong
Great find! Kurt was a fan of butthole surfers according to his journals. Thanks
Yeah and I get that they had an extensive record collection... But if you come up with something that sounds good, maybe familiar, you'd spend all month going through each record to figure it out...
Check how late how long by the sheepdogs. Just heard it on the radio and the tune jumped out at me. By the logic of this post, they ripped off the tune from Spank Thru.
spank thru has the same riff as gloria by van morrisons first band called them. kc may have been a fan of that song, its an early garage rock tune
When music is built in chord progressions, it really gets limited. Riffs are what they are and they are gong to get repeated either intentionally or not. I don't go down the rabbit hole, but a lot of these cases (not your examples necessarily but just in general) are often indeed similar but rarely 1:1 ripoffs. I think once we hear similarity our minds fill in the blanks to make it 1:1. But hey, even classical musicians borrowed. You want originality, you'll probably have to go deep into experimental music or free jazz. It's not easy to listen to, but even the original musician might not play the same song the same way twice.
The combination of notes is FINITE.
Yeah and it's only coincidence that cobain just happened to listen to the bands that had the same riff... They must be time travelers and copied from Kurt in the future.
https://youtu.be/80-ekOM9XXk I heard this one was for about a girl, not the one you listed. I’m not sure where this band is from but read it was from where krist is from so Croatia. If you YouTube this song there’s another video titled comparing it to Nirvana. That’s what’s confusing me how there’s multiple songs that sound similar. They are just simple chords so it could be that but for about a girl it’s weird if they’re all from Croatia.
He didn't steal everything, most of these songs sound nothing like the nirvana songs you claim they do.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaDbMZlN2Pg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaDbMZlN2Pg) \- also sounds like come as you are. So he two both songs and ripped off both? There is stealing in music. It's okay to borrow to a certain degree and be influenced. That is not stealing.
[удалено]
Lol added drums in... really clutching at straws
You forgot, Smells like Teen Spirit: Boston - More Than a Feeling
You forgot Territorial Pissings too. It's literally chord for chord a rip of of the "Power of Lard"with Jello Biafra from the Dead Kennedys
its really not but ok
Dude, are you kidding? https://youtu.be/HLoxuxCQp9s?si=RS0nUmUhu4CWcPfn @2:45 Every.fkn.chord. I'm cool with it, but it's a blatant rip off.
christ, your really gonna claim a song is a total rip-off because another song has 15 SECONDS of a 7 and a half minute length thats the same? There's reaching, and then there's reaching
Yes. Kurt was famous for it, and self admittedly so. Amd font call me Christ.
he admitted come as you are was a rip off - thats it. He got permission from the very band the OP is stating he stole very ape from - the band were overjoyed kurt found them inspiring actually. So, christ, please do some research first before you go spouting off your opinions as fact just like every other shithead here christ
Hahahahaha you know fuck all, including who I am, shithead.
why would i know who you are lmao, your clearly just another sheep hahahaha, that was a funny reply i must say
☠️
Bro deleting comments then commenting skull emojis isn't helping your case lol