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Coldplay Respond to Satriani Plagiarism Suit: "Just As Surprising To Us"

By 
December 9, 2008 3:03 PM ET

Coldplay have responded to guitarist Joe Satriani's copyright infringement lawsuit that claims the band stole the melody from his "If I Could Fly" for their own "Viva La Vida." "With the greatest possible respect to Joe Satriani, we have now unfortunately found it necessary to respond publicly to his allegations," the band posted on their official website, "If there are any similarities between our two pieces of music, they are entirely coincidental, and just as surprising to us as to him. Joe Satriani is a great musician, but he did not write the song Viva La Vida. We respectfully ask him to accept our assurances of this and wish him well with all future endeavours." No word whether Satriani will rescind his lawsuit, which asked for "any and all profits" the band earned off their Grammy-nominated song.

Related Stories:
• Joe Satriani Says Coldplay "Figured This Little Guitar Player Guy Will Leave Them Alone"
• Joe Satriani Sues Coldplay For “Viva La Vida” Plagiarism
• Lil Wayne, Coldplay Lead Nominations for 51st Annual Grammy Awards

 

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“Too Close”

Next | 1998

Next was formed in Minneapolis when the uncle of Terry "T-Low" and Raphael "Tweety" Brown, who was a gospel choir director, introduced the brothers to Robert Lavelle "R.L." Huggar. Sounds of Blackness singer Ann Nesby groomed the R&B group before handing them over to Naughty by Nature's KayGee, who wrote and produced "Too Close." The idea for the song was sparked "from a conversation we had with several girls at a nightclub," explained T-Low. "It's talking about the club scene, with guys getting out of hand and the female telling him to back up, asking, 'What are you doing?'" 

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