Musician Apologizes for Ad's Similarity to White Stripes Song

The musician responsible for scoring the Air Force Reserve's Super Bowl commercial that sounds similar to the White Stripes' "Fell in Love with a Girl" has taken full responsibility for the controversy, absolving the Air Force Reserve of any blame and stating the resemblance between the two songs was pure coincidence. "I'm sorry it sounds the same. It wasn't my intention, truly, truly, truly," composer Kem Kraft told the New York Times, adding that if the White Stripes "want to call me and talk to me, as far as I'm concerned, I'm responsible for this. Just me."

As Rolling Stone reported yesterday, the White Stripes objected to the Air Force Reserve's use of a song that seemed to mirror their White Blood Cells single. The band and their management threatened legal action over the commercial, which was removed from the Air Force Reserve Website once the controversy began to spread.

Kraft told the NYT that he submitted three high-octane pieces of music to the producers of the ad, who told Kraft to "beef it up, make the drums stronger and put on an echo guitar" on the track that eventually wound up in the commercial. Fast Forward Productions' Mike Lee, whose company helmed the ad, insisted he never heard "Fell in Love with a Girl," and told the Times, "I wasn't familiar with the White Stripes song. I've heard of the White Stripes but I'm not a listener of theirs. I had no idea there was similarity until after the fact." In a statement yesterday, the Air Force Reserve reiterated the claim, saying, "There was never any intention to utilize any existing music or to sound like any music by the band White Stripes or any other musical performer. Any similarity or likeness to any other music is completely unintentional."

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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