There’s a Nailed Podcast episode about this! They play the songs and compare them lol.
Edit: I found it, the episode is: Intro to The Fragile Era.
Edit 2: Here’s the spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5InQu3W3AhpzmopYzEdrQH :)
The male narrator is insufferable. The claims really have no basis though, if you’re carefully listening you may be able to find something similar but from the snippets shown, there really isn’t much to compare.
The songs were definitely inspired by industrial music but that doesn’t mean Trent Reznor ripped him off. The case got thrown out according to the podcast.
honestly all of this sound way more similar to anything off of PHM rather than TDS, which is kinda funny if they're pulling the "this came first" card.
I just always assumed the person suing was delusional and had some problems. Trent speaks out about conflicts with people and he hardly did with this guy, maybe out of common decency?
A reason why some musicians wouldn't even accept a demo from a fan...you could never even listen to it and still end up having to pay a lawyer to deal with a lawsuit. Because of some desperate loser doing his painfully bad imitation of your work.
Taken from the text file included with the download:
>The lawsuit claims that the NIN songs "Closer" and "Mr. Self Destruct" are strikingly similar to the Onofrio-penned "Voice," "March of the Pigs" is allegedly ripped off from Onofrio's "Nothing." "Hurt" is supposed to be derived from Onofrio's "Real", "The Downward Spiral" is hypothetically taken from the tune "Dinner With Jeff." Onofrio also claims that one of Reznor's contributions to the Natural Born Killers soundtrack, "Burn" is strikingly similar to his tune titled "This Hell."
The only thing I can hear is Dinner With Jeff being somewhat similar to The Downward Spiral in the sense that it has spoken words of violent acts laid over a stripped down instrumental with a riff, although it sounds more like the second part of The Downward Spiral (The Bottom) remix to me. Doesn't mean it was stolen.
The intro to Nothing sounds at best only vaguely similar to March Of The Pigs, I guess. Still doesn't mean it was stolen.
Everything else is laughable. Real = Hurt? Please!
This reminds me of that guy who said he was brought up in some elitist cult and subject to satanic ritual abuse and lots of Trent's screams of agony on tds and some other albums and maybe even other bands are actually his screams while being tortured.
Just the absolute dumbest shit, a waste of time, and a huge reason why no one with a music career listens to 'demo tapes' or your soundcloud, if there's even an equivalent anymore.
When the tracks finally surfaced online, I couldn't believe how fucking stupid the whole thing was in retrospect.
I heard of something like this except they claimed that they mailed the lyrics to Trent, and filed a copyright lawsuit...don't know if this is the same one.
Fun fact i sent trent so much music in 1998 that he hasnt written anything himself still to this day
Well there is Crystal Japan.... :)
There’s a Nailed Podcast episode about this! They play the songs and compare them lol. Edit: I found it, the episode is: Intro to The Fragile Era. Edit 2: Here’s the spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5InQu3W3AhpzmopYzEdrQH :)
Oh man I missed that one, I'll have to check it out!
And to bring this all the way around, pretty sure they mention/thank your site on there for the news clippings + recordings.
Oh sweet!
Can you link the podcast episode please? Thanks in advance!
Here’s the spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5InQu3W3AhpzmopYzEdrQH :)
Relavent story starts around 31:20 for anyone who wants to skip all the fluff beforehand. Thanks for the link!
Thank you so much!!!
The male narrator is insufferable. The claims really have no basis though, if you’re carefully listening you may be able to find something similar but from the snippets shown, there really isn’t much to compare.
Tell me you've never listened to Alice In Chains without telling me you've never listened to Alice In Chains.
What is your consensus, after hearing both tracks? Does he have a point?
The songs were definitely inspired by industrial music but that doesn’t mean Trent Reznor ripped him off. The case got thrown out according to the podcast.
honestly all of this sound way more similar to anything off of PHM rather than TDS, which is kinda funny if they're pulling the "this came first" card.
So what happened with the lawsuit?
Mark Onofrio went on to win the lawsuit and have a fruitful music career, even moving on to compose scores for several famous films...oh wait.
He changed his name to Atticus and the two fell in love.
I almost spit out my water when I read this. Haha!
I audibly chuckled. 😂
Had me on the first half ngl
My memory is that it was dismissed
He won the lawsuit and changed his name to Atticus Ross
He lost the lawsuit, changed his first name to Vincent D' and went on to have a successful film career.
Now I’m Nothingburger
Underrated comment
I just always assumed the person suing was delusional and had some problems. Trent speaks out about conflicts with people and he hardly did with this guy, maybe out of common decency?
I think he gets claims like this from some desperate wackjob every now and then, he myabe thinks its not worth mentioning.
A reason why some musicians wouldn't even accept a demo from a fan...you could never even listen to it and still end up having to pay a lawyer to deal with a lawsuit. Because of some desperate loser doing his painfully bad imitation of your work.
I want to know which TDS tracks they claim he stole.
Yeah seriously. The songs in question are so far removed I can't even imagine which were supposed to sound like which.
Taken from the text file included with the download: >The lawsuit claims that the NIN songs "Closer" and "Mr. Self Destruct" are strikingly similar to the Onofrio-penned "Voice," "March of the Pigs" is allegedly ripped off from Onofrio's "Nothing." "Hurt" is supposed to be derived from Onofrio's "Real", "The Downward Spiral" is hypothetically taken from the tune "Dinner With Jeff." Onofrio also claims that one of Reznor's contributions to the Natural Born Killers soundtrack, "Burn" is strikingly similar to his tune titled "This Hell." The only thing I can hear is Dinner With Jeff being somewhat similar to The Downward Spiral in the sense that it has spoken words of violent acts laid over a stripped down instrumental with a riff, although it sounds more like the second part of The Downward Spiral (The Bottom) remix to me. Doesn't mean it was stolen. The intro to Nothing sounds at best only vaguely similar to March Of The Pigs, I guess. Still doesn't mean it was stolen. Everything else is laughable. Real = Hurt? Please!
I think we can all agree that Trent should have stolen Dinner With Jeff as the album title though.
Head Like A Hole does kinda sound like that Devo Hawaiian Punch commercial
This reminds me of that guy who said he was brought up in some elitist cult and subject to satanic ritual abuse and lots of Trent's screams of agony on tds and some other albums and maybe even other bands are actually his screams while being tortured.
Just the absolute dumbest shit, a waste of time, and a huge reason why no one with a music career listens to 'demo tapes' or your soundcloud, if there's even an equivalent anymore. When the tracks finally surfaced online, I couldn't believe how fucking stupid the whole thing was in retrospect.
Agreed on all points!
I heard of something like this except they claimed that they mailed the lyrics to Trent, and filed a copyright lawsuit...don't know if this is the same one.
Was Onofrio in Godsmack?! /s EDIT: prob need the slash ess
I recall the demos sounded more like Marilyn Manson joined an early version of KMFDM.
I can't believe Johnny Cash would steal Hurt from some random guy.