here’s to Joe getting his fair share…Coldplay have made a career outta ripping people off

This is only going to become more and more common as time goes on. How many songs out there share the same chord progressions? With only 12 notes to choose from in our Western scales, it’s a simple matter of statistics that eventually the same 4 chords or the same melodies are going to be put together by someone else…whether intentionally or not. In the words of Frank Zappa, shut up and play yer guitar. He can’t need the money. Publicity, on the other hand…

While I hate Coldplay with all the fury that I can muster, I really can’t imagine them sitting around soaking up all those juicy Joe Satriani melodies, regergitating them on another tepid album of watered down Travis, which itself is just watered down Radiohead. Now THOSE bands might have a case.

“here’s to Joe getting his fair share…Coldplay have made a career outta ripping people off”

where’s your evidence? Have you ever listened to coldplay? Dumb comment. How much should “Joe” get for having a similar sounding unoriginal riff in a song that’s entirely different?

They ripped of Joe Satriani easy, and shoved their heads up their ars’ in process. Fools.

sounds nothing alike…at all…dumbass

It is a bit similar, though, I can’t see Coldplay sitting through hours of boring ass guitar drivel to try and find a hook to use in their songs.

The Creaky Boards song and Coldplay, that I can chalk up to coincidence. This sounds like straight-up GTA… but with music, not cars.

It’s much closer to Creaky Boards’ “Songs I Didn’t Write”.

i dont care about coldplay or joe so i think both of them sucka dick or two.

“However, Satriani’s lawyers will have to prove Coldplay somehow heard “If I Could Fly,” which may be a difficult task. ”

You don’t to prove access to the music to file copyright infringement, according to legal precedent. The example that legal folks use is if you’re on a desert isle, and coincidentally write a copy of another tune, you’re liable.

Both samples are just playing root notes… I don’t think Satriani can legitimately claim Coldplay stole his material based off a standard musical technique.

If that’s the case, then anybody who has ever played a 4/4 non-syncopated backbeat is in TROUBLE!

You have to throw the Fray and Keane into that incestuous mix now too

CockPlay Sux, they always have. Not only do they suck, they suck at copying people. Hence, they suck.

CP will probably pay Joe the Whiner off b4 trial, which is probably what he’s after. Joe’s song sounds like what comes on talk radio during technical difficulties with him just shredding over top!

After hearing the audio comparisons they are identical, I’m not a big coldplay fan, but I do like some of their tunes and I am a fan of Joe Satriani, but there are that many songs out there now and only so many chords, riffs, melodys that songs are bound to sound the same or similar, whether or not Coldplay have actually listened to any of Joe Satriani’s stuff or whether its a matter of coincidence, an example, I as a musician myself recorded a track called ‘The Chase’ a guitar instrumental 9 years ago, Girls Aloud recorded Love Machine, the opening guitar riff is similar to the guitar riffs in my song, but I’m not about to go out and take them to court over it and that song has never been played anywhere apart from in my car many years ago, and its still sitting on a shelf in a box in my wardrobe. It shows that there’s that many people out there that come up with ideas for riffs, melodys etc and unbeknownst to them that someone else in the world as come up with the same idea, what can you do? Great minds think alike. Maybe Coldplay did rip off JS, maybe they didn’t. And as stated before, maybe if they had listened to JS and were influenced by the song or never bothered to require permission to use that riff as a vocal melody or if they never listened to any of his material, as I say great minds think alike.

After listening to them right after one-another, there’s absolutely no way you can make the case that this similar enough to sue over.

Similarity in chords? Yeah, but these aren’t exactly uncommon chords we’re talking about here.

Coldplay will be fine; there’s no way this guy’s winning this case.

Can’t quite decide if Coldplay is a “Boy Band” or a “Cover Band”.

With their good looks and plagiarized hooks, maybe we should refer to them as a “Cover Boy Band” ..? —TigerBeat –take note.

At very best what’s happening here is the old (think elvis & sun records) procedure of deglazing and commercializing someone else’s groove — put on some cute whiteboy faces, some oohs & bkgd aahs, and you’ve got a hit. RnR has always been about the ‘ripped’ tune, generally from black to white, but this isn’t too different.

It’s a ripped tune from working journeyman musician to millivanilli coverboy …

And just in perfect time for Grammy-adjacent litigation !!!

Can’t wait to see Uk rock press on this.

The chords are irrelvant. A chord structure can not be copyrighted. It is the fact that the melody is identical. He even pauses in the same place. That’s copyright infrigment and they will lose in court.

All these people saying “it’s just chord progression” or think the songs don’t sound the same are obviously tone deaf. Coldplay have ripped off the melody, chord progression, tempo, EVERYTHING! This is not a case of a similar sounding song, someone in the band obviously heard Joe’s song and converted it to a U2 song, and then they made a U2 video to go with it. Joe Satriani is not as unknown as the average colplay fan assumes as most every guitar player has heard of him.

Listening again, even Satriani’s track sounds really close to numerous others, most notably Tear For Fears.

But it’s far enough off for discussion. The Coldplay track is nothing but a kind of television-commercial mock-up of JS’s composition, albeit with synths and strings.

If I were Coldplay, I’d be turning my considerable profit structure toward hiring new & different lawyers, to sue my own legal department who let this rehash get released in the first place.

Hope Satriani has plans for a very big year in 2009. This feels like an open & shut case.

Maybe Satriani should put it out there that he’ll donate half the court award to a good charity.
Lovely.

Dan i hope your right

I don’t think Satriani is looking for publicity. If he was, he would’ve dropped the instrumental gig a long time ago because there is no better place to remain in commercial obscurity than that.

I remember hearing “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” from Jet a couple years ago and thinking how similar to it sounded to “Lust for Life” by Iggy Pop. Did anything ever come of that?

Rappers call out guys that “bite” lyrics, would be kinda fun for rock to establish that kind of artistic battling through their songs. It might also breathe some life into the genre.

H bomb you blatantly have no girlfriend

the benchmark by which this sort of thing should be judged is the case of “Ghostbusters” and “I Want a New Drug”. It’s not enough that the chord progression and the melody are similar; it’s the song, the tune, and the arrangement all together. There are way too many songs out there that use similar chord progressions.

Joes song does sound very similar.I’m a big Satch fan and i hope he wins.

p.s. Joe Rulz!!!!!!!!

Joe Satriani is Yanni with a guitar.

Kinda like what Led Zeppelin did with Josh White on In My Time of Dying? Never understood why they took full credit on that song.

Satriani hasn’t done anything innovative on the guitar since 1987, nor has he released any thing short of boring since ‘The Extremist’ (which in itself was borderline okay). Incidental music at a country club with shredding on top is what Satriani has reduced himself to.

That being said, Coldplay have clearly plagiarized here. It’s shocking how even non-musicians can’t hear that the phrase in question is a measure-by-measure duplicate of Satriani’s vapidly mediocre artefact of acoustic boredom.

The fact that both artists are of different genres, in my opinion makes this sordid affair MORE suspicious not less. Sure Joe doesn’t need the money, (unless he intends on calling Hair Club for Men) but this is about what’s right.

what all of this tells you is that coldplay writes very generic, bland songs. if coldplay plagiarized satriani, did the creaky boards also plagiarize joe? or did the creaky boards plagiarize joe and then coldplay plagiarized the creaky boards? this is a very generic pop song and melody line. very obvious, very catchy. if you want to get mad, get mad that coldplay is unoriginal. there is not way they stole this schlock. i promise you.

Did Joe Satriani steal from John Tesh who stole from Yanni who stole from…..a bowl of unflavored oatmeal?

Satriani’s track doesn’t have to be genius. The music doesn’t have to break any molds. And Satriani could be a laughing clown in a dunce cap, it doesn’t matter.

What’s of note here, is the Pop World Corporate approval of the coverband coldplay, and the way that yes, oatmeal can be cranked out to whipped-up faux enthusiasm. This dude is jetset rich on the back of this kind of…….

Sugary, sappy commercial music and — STOLEN too.

That’s yer postmodern Music Industrial Complex for ya.
Go I-Tunes !
Go Sugar & Sap !

Hey, was there a Sappy Spice ??

Tough year at the Satch residence? I’m surprised he would sue, since he always seemed laid back and all about the music. This is more of a Lars Ulrich tactic (ha ha).

Infinity – nah… I think Satriani got his stuff DIRECTLY from a bowl of unflavored oatmeal.

In retrospect, I don’t know what the fuss is about – neither pieces are particularly redeeming.

Just because something ‘works’ musically or that a particular artist performs it – doesn’t make it good. This is a good example.

The copyright comes down to the top line melody in this case. You can’t copyright a chord progression. Adjusting for key difference, the main three notes of the beginning of the chorus phrase (i.e. discarding the pickup notes in the Coldplay song) are the same.

Although the rest of the choruses from each song fit together, they are not the same melody. I think all Coldplay’s lawyers have to do is find examples of other previously copyrighted compositions that use the same three notes in the chorus. Shouldn’t be hard to do. If they can’t, Satriani might have a case, though can you copyright three notes?

The other main similarity of the songs is modality, which is why they sound similar. You can’t copyright modality.

Who cares anyway? It’s one rich guy suing some other rich guys. I hope their lawyers take ‘em both to the cleaners.

Satriani may have a case, though, his song for some reason reminds me of the segueway songs they would plays on “Saved By The Bell”.

chord/main melody hook is identical.

shut case…joe wins.

was it intentional…doesn’t matter legally…i dont think..

Sound pretty damn similar to me. Same chords AND rhythmic pattern. I’m not a fan of either band – Coldplay is vapid and Satriani noodles on his guitar too much – but if I were on the jury, I’d side with Satriani.

Satriani’s song sucks. This guy is a great guitarist but the worst songwriter. however, I do hear a similarity. I do not think it is blatant on Coldplay’s part, so if he gets anything, it should be the judge fining Satriani for making boring music.

I feel bad for guitarists that think he is good, get a clue! David Gilmore and Kirk Hammett could have him for lunch.

You guys need to stop knocking Yanni because he will chop you down with one twitch of his stache, yet his hair will remain perfectly wizardly.

And he doesn’t even use conditioner!

Woah, woah, woah Musicwinter.com. Kirk Hammett? I can only assume you mentioned him since he was a student of Satriani, but come on. He’s been playing the same solo on every freakin’ song since he joined the band.

musicwinter – satriani taught kirk hammett how to play the guitar.

youtube dot com /watch?v=1ofFw9DKu_I

They do the best comparison between the songs. Especially at the end, where they lay both songs on top of each other, and its a perfect match.

Go try it.

Joe Satriani will win w/o a ‘Sorry’ because through all the people whom Coldplay had process this their 2008 album, no-one ever listened to the early 2004 release from Mr. Satriani? Come, now. All this talk of Joe Satriani being less than creative is bunk. These Coldplay fairies just want to live up to someones comparison of them to The Beatles some time ago; at any and all cost without regard to personal integrity.
Bet.

Satch’s song sounds like Sanata’s ‘Game of Love’. Yup, the one with Michelle Branch. Not exactly a feather in anyone’s cap.

Hmm it’s kindda like your twin “ugly” brother taking your research paper… yeah the one you/Joe Satriani spent days, and weeks perfecting removing your name and penning in Jeffery Fis…/Coldplay… then getting credit.

WHAT.. but, but it’s my work! Stop laughing Jeff you really don’t know that much about Quantum Physics or Schroedinger’s cat box Theory… your just lucky you can tie your shoes. T

Then Jeff/Coldplay get an award/credit for the work…. OUTRAGE!!!!!!
Yeah…. I can understand where Joe is on this one….. Damn you Coldplay and damn you Jeffery!!!

All the Best Joe and good luck with Coldpay $$$

It’s a striking resemblance, but it’s just two bars of music! Actually one bar that’s identical, and one that’s similar. All in all three notes in an identical arrangement. Does that constitute plagiarism? If it does, than Satriani might be in trouble for stealing 10cc’s classic “I’m not in love”! Why not? Those first notes at the beginning sound a bit like that song, don’t they?

I don’t understand why people are saying the chord progression is identical. Check out some guitar tab sites: Satriani is basically Em7, A, Dmaj9, Bmin; Coldplay (transposed) is G, A, D, Bm. Admittedly they are similar, and the melody is, for a short period, very similar indeed. But the chord progression is not the same. The root base note for the first chord is different. There’s no point discussing it if we’re not going to do it properly…!

I really can’t imagine them sitting around listening to JS either – they would all be in a coma by the 4th bar. It IS just a common Chord progression, with one band achieving a hit single with it and one guy wowing all of his ‘closet guitar god’ followers. I can’t stand either of them, but I know which one is already a winner.
While we are on the subject of plagiarism, I wonder what Al Di Meola/Steve Morse thinks of JS? I seem to remember listening to their similar licks in the 70’s. If he wants to get into melody, perhaps he should try listening to Larry Carlton. If he wants to write great songs and play guitar he should be listening to John Mayer, instead of trying to get publicity from ‘award winning’ songwriters… there again, he could always see if Coldplay need any deps, as he knows one song in their set already

There are too many DISsimilarities between these songs for Joe to have a case. I dont hear INSANELY SHREDDING GUITAR in Viva la Vida”!!! Sorry, Joe, your timing sucks too, on the heels of the Grammy nomination show. Both of these songs are quite boring.

what the hell..
satriani is one of the best guitarists ever!
i doubt that the coldplay members havent heard the song becuase it is freaking similar

no offense but this is blatantly plaguerised

I recall a track on X&Y sounding strikingly similar to a Kraftwerk tune, as well. Legally the Satch has it, I think, morally? Eh.

One sounds like elevator music (Satch), the other sounds like a listenable pop tune (Coldplay). I don’t care to remember either one, and Coldplay manages to take the melody in a different direction, if not an altogether better one.

Joe Satriani needs to get a life. I wonder where he first heard that chord progression. Is it totally original? Has he ever “borrowed” from the massive canon of music somewhere? He’s not that original and to see him doing this is disgusting. If he was totally original to begin with I might defend him, but this is just the most ridiculous thing I’ve seen in a while. Joe is pathetic trying to make a buck off someone else cause his own music is out dated and lame.

I’m not a hard rocker and I enjoy Satriani’s work – he’s a melodic rock composer and insanely hot guitarist.

Coldplay should simply credit Satch as one of the writers. End of story.

It’s not an exceptional hook (I prefer Satch’s version). But that it could be a big – albeit bland- hit for a popular band is not surprising.

Frivolous. It’s like 3 bars worth of melody, and they aren’t remotely identical enough to freaking sue someone over. Give me a break. Talk about an attempt at some free press.

I agree with someone below, Cold Play should be chewing their own lawyer out for even letting this see the light of day.

An experienced musician friend suggests we all check out Marty Balin, Hearts (google it, you’ll find it) as a precedent for BOTH.

Coldplay are liable and strike another blow below the belt to the collective human consciousness. Satch plays guitar in ways many listeners only dream of, and closes each song wishing they thought of a particular phrase, or redeemed a lick to what they had just heard. Coldplay arrive upon the new low by having the listener insinuate it is Joe Satriani original vocal styling… of his own melody! That is the problem; that it can, appears, and will be construed as such.
It is only fair. And Joe Satriani is owed as much.

didn’t i hear a chuck berry lick there about six min into js song? it’s almost all plagiarism anymore. drivel

Eric Johnson>>>Joe Satriani

Coldplay>>>Joe Satriani

Sorry, Satch, It ain’t gonna happen. It’s just the way it’s done. It’s always been that way. Sometimes it hurts (in the wallet). But you have to take it like a man. In anyone of your songs there’s probably eleven hooks good enough for some of the mediocre talent that’s emerged recently to receive a lot of unwarranted praise. Elvis Costello put it very honestly years ago stating that he “lifts” ideas all the time whether consciously or unconsciously. You’re still a very talented and innovative player but in popular music that doesn’t always amount to much.

All Day, and All of the Night!

Hello, I love you, won’t you tell me your name!

who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters!

I want a new drug!

They all blow cookie dough!

Go Zigga you speak the truth those posers are alla bout!

You may not be able to copyright a chord progression, but when you have two songs with the EXACT same melody phrased so similarly that they can be layered on top of each other — and actually sound decent — something is fishy…no?

you had me until “actually sound decent”. HAHA

compositions have common ponts. Often these are the catalyst for the melodic “hooks” songs are structured around. BUT it’s different to snatch a riff or phrase versus encompassing an entire composition with the same key & time signatures as Coldplay has done. This is not too different than the digital sampling in the 80’s 90’s rap songs. Just another example of a thief’s mindset shared with some of today’s listeners and it doesn’t mesh well with the ideology and ethics of most composers.

Ripping off riffs and chord progressions in rock and roll? I’m shocked, shocked to find that out!
Give it up, Joe.

“We’re definitely good, but I don’t think you can say we’re that original,” he notes. “I regard us as being incredibly good plagiarists.”

Chuck Berry must be lining up the lawsuits as we speak.

cold play the most over rated band of the 2000s //joe 4ever

Thanks, fnrebel! You may have noticed I got the comment of the week. It’s good to be recognized.

I too doubt that Chris Martin listens to Joe Satriani, but EVERY rock guitarist on earth does. Even the idiot from Coldplay.

All I know is somewhere out there is two P.R. reps bubbling with joy on the inside.

You can’t sue for publicity like this!

….me smells a Grammy Performance

Haha wow this is dumb. Who ever thought that someone could copy a C D E Gm chord progression, in the most basic 4/4 time signature, playing ONLY ROOT NOTES!!! Its a miracle! they managed to plagiarize one of the most common chord progressions in history, with its most obvious voicing, in the most obvious time signature, with the most obvious pacing!!! I’m not a coldplay fan, but their version is far more interesting with the violins than santriani’s, who is masking an idiotic guitar riff with a bunch of distortion. This is somehow worse than the Tom Petty/Chili peppers thing, which was at least an odd beat similarity–these songs follow a metronome-type 4/4 beat that is the first thing any person would clap if you asked them to make a beat. And the riff is the first thing any retarding guitarist would play if they got that chord progression, which is insanely common.

Haha wow this is dumb. Who ever thought that someone could copy a C D E Gm chord progression, in the most basic 4/4 time signature, playing ONLY ROOT NOTES!!! Its a miracle! they managed to plagiarize one of the most common chord progressions in history, with its most obvious voicing, in the most obvious time signature, with the most obvious pacing!!! I’m not a coldplay fan, but their version is far more interesting with the violins than santriani’s, who is masking an idiotic guitar riff with a bunch of distortion. This is somehow worse than the Tom Petty/Chili peppers thing, which was at least an odd beat similarity–these songs follow a metronome-type 4/4 beat that is the first thing any person would clap if you asked them to make a beat. And the riff is the first thing any retarding guitarist would play if they got that chord progression, which is insanely common.

make that C D G Em***

I think even if he literally had listened to Joe’s song and then written viva la vida he should still be in the clear. I have never liked this whole “they sound remotely similar” lets sue mentatlity, especially in rock of all things. What this really boils down to is a common chord progression, with similar phrasing, not even the same phrasing, only similar. I’m sorry, its not like he ripped off the guitar lick to satisfaction. Again, even if he had just heard the other, he changed it enough and is different enough that they whole thing is bogus.

Satriani, wants a jury trial and is seeking damages and “any and all profits” for the alleged plagiarism. Uk press. Will Coldplay members keep Satriani posters on their bedroom walls after the court case?

A jury trial for the band people love to hate might just silence those loopy songs for a while.. Go Joe..

Yeah, of course everybody hears how the two songs are similar for like ten seconds out of 6 minuites. But please, reality check, i bet u can find 700 songs out there that sounds similar with these 4/4 standard chords. I bet i have also played these chords and something similar to this melody when i have played random on my guitar. Besides nobody makes new music, everything you make is a fusion of everything you have heard before. And last but not least, Joe Satriani jerks his guitar so much almost every key on every string is played during one song. He could probably sue everyone. Coldplay made a better song than you, realize and stop whining. And for all you warmongers listen to Mika’s Relax Take it Easy and I just died in your arms tonight by cutting crew. And ABBA’s Emotions and Vengaboys Boom Boom Boom.

Correction: Lay All Your Love on Me by Abba, not emotions

Whoa, hold on here for a second. This suggests that Coldplay actually listened to good music.

The videos on this story don’t show it very well, but on the news yesterday morning they played the chorus of both at the same time, and they were identical. As a guitar player I realize that you’re always taking pieces from other players. But not note for note for two bars.

Satriani may be crazy trying to bring this through court, but I do find it a little bit suspicious. I’ve heard of cases where songs weren’t even remotely close, and they still had their time in the spotlight. But this is note for note, for two bars. I can’t defend Coldplay on this one.

Even with the chance occurrence of using the same chord progressions, and the same notes for a solo, it is virtually impossible to replicate something that closely without consciously knowing you’re doing it.

Sorry bud, but it isnt virtually impossible to replicate 2 bars by accident when you are talking about a 4 NOTE PROGRESSION. in neither case do they even play chords, both simply used the root of an incredibly common 4 chord progression. Im not one to defend coldplay either, but if i was jamming on that same progression, those 4 notes in that order would literally be the first thing that came to mind.

Somewhere in heaven, George Harrison is laughing hysterically.

I’m hearing way too much about “two measures”. The entire melody in question resolves in both songs at FOUR measures. Does that make the situation more interesting?

I’m reading way too much about “two measures”. The entire melody in question resolves in both songs at FOUR measures. Does this make the situation more interesting?

Both songs are incredibly boring, and I don’t understand why more people cannot just let real guitarists like me write music.
I have never had a problem with plagiarism accusation because noone can play the melodies as fast as me. These songs just make me want to go to the Peach Pit and hang out with David Allen Green.

Coldplay are evidently good citizens because they recycle everything and waste nothing. Listen to “In my Place” and an old French song called “Souffrir par toi n’est pas souffrir” sung by Julien Clerc.

Once you start looking for inadvertent borrowing, it pops up everywhere. Cher’s song “Dov’é L’Amore” is a gene-splice between “I’m so Excited” and “La Isla Bonita.” John Mayer’s “Waiting on the World to Change” might be channelling Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready” but IIRC Curtis himself got at least three songs out of that tune.

The most unlikely pair of identical twin songs separated at birth has got to be “Careless Whispers” and “Geek in the Pink.”

A jury trial for the band people love to hate might just silence those loopy songs for a while.. Go Joe. a friend said that on tall dating site:” Tallmingle.C O M “,which is a dating site for all tall friends and tall singles,especially models and basketball players.

i thought they stole this as soon as i heard the song. i had this weird overwhelming feeling that i heard the same bars before. i consider myself a big fan of joe satriani and it took me a few days to realize but i figured it out and i had a feeling it would be brought up. its funny because this band Creaky Boards tried to do the same thing even tho in the end the guy confessed that he made it all up and got the idea when he heard the similarities. anyway joe has a good chance. when i hear both songs i can tell exactly at a precise time when they sound similar. now that i’ve listened to it over and over its almost like i am listening to the same song just performed with more instruments. dont care what all you guys think i’m a music fanatic and have been belting the Opera since i was a little girl so i know my stuff. I dont like the whole well i’m gonna sue you thing but he has a right as an artist under the copyright laws to sue if he feels that he is owed credit. good luck joe. and i’m not trying to be bias i actually liked coldplay before all this happened.

I like Joe a lot, but this lawsuit is pointless. This slightly resembles Coldplay’s song.
Give it up Joe and just go out with Chikenfoot and make some good music and $$!

1. Chris Martin is likely not a big satriani fan.
2. chord progressions are always repeated and copied in rock songs(see Chicago’s 25 or 6 to 4 vs. Green Day’s Brain Stew vs. George Harrison’s While My Guitar Gently Weeps vs. Nina Simone’s You’ll Never Walk Alone).

Satriani is a douche anyways. I hate these faux-virtuoso guys who somehow manage to be virtuoso’s without incorporating any new chord progressions or unique chords into their riffs. Im not impressed that he can play the same scales 2 billion times in every song he does. I hate Coldplay too, but at least they try to songwrite and put more effort into their work than laying a 4 chord major/minor progression down and soloing over it.

Here’s the thing….Yes, they sound similar..strikingly similar but it’s all down to public opinion. If, after listening to the Coldplay song, the general consensus is “Jings, that sounds like that Joe Satriani track”, then big Joe will be laughing.

On the other hand, it’s everywhere and EVEN IN THE SAME ROCK GENRE. Look at Rhino-bucket and AC/DC (you know, Rhino bucket…..:-))

Coldplay will you simply give Joe a hug?

Hey RS – no one has to prove “Coldplay somehow heard” the tune…
Plaintiff needs only to show “access to the original work” and “substantial similarity” between the original and the ripoff.

Ok the thing about this is that it’s not only the chord progression that is copied, it’s also part of the melody, at one point the main riff from joe’s song is the exact melody Chris Martin sings… I write songs and yes its easy to use the same chord structure as another band that has already done it… see Chili peppers Dani California vs Tom Petty’s Mary Jane’s last Dance… But When you make the lead guitar part of a song the main melody of a song it just makes it a little more blatant to me… You cant just copyright a three chord song because theres a million songs out there that have the same three chords in them but the melody is different, martin could have sand it differently… plus i find its weird that there is no guitar on the coldplay track, did they just take out the guitar to make sure no one would notice for a while?

Ok the thing about this is that it’s not only the chord progression that is copied, it’s also part of the melody, at one point the main riff from joe’s song is the exact melody Chris Martin sings… I write songs and yes its easy to use the same chord structure as another band that has already done it… see Chili peppers Dani California vs Tom Petty’s Mary Jane’s last Dance… But When you make the lead guitar part of a song the main melody of a song it just makes it a little more blatant to me… You cant just copyright a three chord song because theres a million songs out there that have the same three chords in them but the melody is different, martin could have sand it differently… plus i find its weird that there is no guitar on the coldplay track, did they just take out the guitar to make sure no one would notice for a while?

Coldplay have made the song alot better that a song that is a six minute guitar solo hopefully coldplay win there not actualy that simalar to me

mattsal knows nothing at all about music.

Go Satriani!

I think Satch gets 1/5 the writing and publishing and joins them for a gig or two and they part friends. I doubt it was on purpose but whoever on Coldplay’s label let this song get out should be fired.. TODAY

Could it be possible that coldplay had heard “If I Could Fly,” forgot they had, and then wrote Viva La Vida? if that makes any sense? I mean, i once made a pretty basic riff, which i discovered i had had heard before, and then forgot:)

Could it be possible that coldplay had heard “If I Could Fly,” forgot they had, and then wrote Viva La Vida? if that makes any sense? I mean, i once made a pretty basic riff, which i discovered i had had heard before, and then forgot:)

It’s lame. All of it. I hope Joe wastes all of his money on legal fees that never get him within a mile of financial compensation. What a dick.

If he is so legendary, why doesn’t sweet Joe write a song someone wants to hear.

It’s lame. All of it. I hope Joe wastes all of his money on legal fees that never get him within a mile of financial compensation. What a dick.

If he is so legendary, why doesn’t sweet Joe write a song someone wants to hear.

You either copy and paste or carbon copy its still a copy.
Plagiarism should be stoped.
If found guilty in the court of law
ColdCopy should pay and forced to change their name!

hey there are only 12 tones in the western musical scale…give enough monkeys,enough guitars and one of them is going to write Stairway To Heaven…
some music is a direct rip of others, just ask Jimmy Page…but a lot of it is your influences…not that JS or CP were influenced by one another!!!!
if you pick the most basic chord progression and try to sound like a human voice singing the most basic notes of the most pleasing scale, then don’t be surprised if one day you realize you succeeded, JS!!!…i love JS because he is the most pleasing melodically of all shredders but this time you are going to look like a kneejerk for having thought you were truly original…

If joe’s track is so simmler why isn’t he making millions? Not a chance Joe not a chance

KoldPlayH8r | 12/5/2008, 12:12 pm EST

CockPlay Sux, they always have. Not only do they suck, they suck at copying people. Hence, they suck.

Wow!!
Your vocabulary shows that you must be a fan of a guy who ,at the end of his career is desperately trying to be in news.

and just so you understand…

Baldy sux,he always has,not only does he sucks,he sucks at publicity stints.Hence, he sucks
Got it?

c’mon satty… what the fuck man?? sue osama or the pakistan or somebody man… lets make music and be happy… u should not frown over someone’s success.. but success gained by fraud .. not good.,, there’ll be this lil guilt inside you your whole life man..,but maybe there could be a misunderstanding…,, satriani should not do a kneejerk reaction..,, jsw

c’mon satty…sue pakis for attacking mumbai, sue osama but let the music play man. satriani should not do a kneejerk reaction…,, maybe there’s been a misunderstanding. well the jury will decide.

satriani nshould not do a kneejerk raction.

joe should get over it. sure they sound the same but they are different. build a bridge and get over it. if it was so popular why did if i could fly never top any charts?

yeah well seeing coldplay’s past suits, i wouldn’t count on them on not plagiarising

How quickly you all forget or are you too young to remember the George Harrison My Sweet Lord plagerism of He’s so fine. In this case we had a famous Beatle screwing up. It cost George over 5 million in compensation. Mind you He’s So Fine was a big hit too so I guess its slightly more relevant here

MattSal, maybe you should try actually listening to some of Joe’s music before making yourself sound like a complete and total idiot

If Joe wins this case it will open up a can of worms in the music industry. Can you imagine what will happen to bands like Nickelback? They will go broke suing themselves for writing the same song over and over again.

Satriani is not a song writer! That is my point. He is not good.

When you work hard to make a song and it gets stolen away from you, in part or in whole, and you no longer get your due credit then it’s definitely cause for a lawsuit. Coldplay is effectively stealing from Satriani’s plate. I’d be pretty pissed off too.

How would you feel if you created the theory of relativity which you knew would bring your prosperity, then someone passes it of as their own idea and you get nothing…?

K.. I’ve heard all versions of Vida..lol.. but I must say it’s closest to the Alizee version since keyboard strings were used in her track… though similar it’s not the same melody…and the same goes for Satriani who INTERESTINGLY went after Coldplay AFTER THE GRAMMY NOD and not the CREAKY BOARDS who should be the ones being sued by Satriani..and of course Alizee’s writers should be suing I guess everyone, since her track was released in 2003. So you see eventually everyone will be suing each other because eventually the same 4 chords and melodies will be used by other artists

HA! Listen to the Enanitos Verdes their song Frances Limon from 2001 is exactly like Joe Santrianis and Cold Plays. Im a big fan of them from back in the day. If anyone is going to sue it should be them!! Not this Joe guy whos song has a 10 sec similarity, wouldnt it just be karma if they sued Joe? U tube them you’ll see!!

LOL, he wants all profits? WOW well he better just be careful anyone ever heard of a band called ENANITOS VERDES? Well they have a song called FRANCES LIMON from 2001 that sounds just like Joe Santriani and Cold Plays song. A lot like Cold Plays song let me tell you. So if anyone is going to sue it should be them. Wouldnt it be Karma if they sued this Joe guy for any and all profits he made? I guess people just cant understand that these 4 chords will somehow in other music with similar melody will repeat. Pretty soon everyone will want to sue everyone!! So sad

It was probably an accident. Joe just came up with it first, so he wins. Joe Satriani kicks ass!

This no way sounds the same as Coldplay’s song. Shame on you Joe, trying to wreck a good band. Go Coldplay!!!

I heard the songs side-by-side and even heard them on top of one another. Coldplay stole that song. Too bad Mr. Paltrow can’t be taken out and beaten about the face and neck with a rubber hose. It’s the least that can be done for stealing and naming your kid Apple.

This is Bull Sh*t Yo. Joe can go f*ck himself. He stole FRANCES LIMON by ENANITOS VERDES and the beginning of that crappy song “If I Could Fly” sounds alot like U2’s A Man and a Woman@2:00. This is B.S. Joe Sucks… Go Coldplay

there are 12 fucking keys in music, stuff is bound to be repeated. everything has been played before. joe is a tool shed for going after anyone. no way joe has a case here. go back to play long, boring guitar solos that seven people listen to.

No point. It is just a part of a guitar melody (a solo actually) which, if not equal but simmilar, barely reaches the 8 bars in all. The chord progression is the same but then, you have plenty of songs out there with that progression. I bet even Satch has another song with that very same progression in other key. So sad Satch you are looking in other’s pocket. Had a better opinion on you before this.

Anyone who thinks this lawsuit has any merit clearly doesn’t understand music. The chords that are used in both songs are pretty fundamental, and there are probably hundreds of songs with the same chord sequence. There is one small part of the guitar in Joe’s track that sounds like the verse in Viva, but playing one note, then another a semitone up, then one two down, is hardly an original work.

Gunde | 12/9/2008, 10:10 am EST

MattSal, maybe you should try actually listening to some of Joe’s music before making yourself sound like a complete and total idiot

Actually… I think he has a point. Satriani is about as original as the Monkees. That sort of guitar playing is more sport than music. Zero creativity, tons of technical skill.

they should be sued!

they should be sued!

joe whatever his name is can suck it…he has no case

Satriani is nuts. I think CP are kinda lame, but I seriously doubt they listen to JS. Have CP ripped off U2? Most definitely – their album X&Y sounds like outtakes from Unforgettable Fire. But this instrumental crap? Not a chance.
JS is such an impotent guitar player, yeah he’s got some insane skills, to be sure. But his sound is so dated, so pretentious – heavy metal noodling, trying to pass as some sort of high brow classical or jazz fuzion. And even though I’m not the biggest fan of CP, Chris Martin knows how to write a melody. Which JS does not know how to do, or else he’d be #1 all over the world. This is kinda sad. Like others have said, our western musical scale is so finite, that it’s bound to happen. I’ll bet CP feel so lame now that their Grammy nominated song sounds like JS. They’re embarrassed because he’s such a wanker – if someone like Bono was suing, then they’d be honoured.

I like Satriani and Coldplay! But Joe shouldn’t sue. That’s dumb – he’s only got 3 notes! Only 3 notes are the same. Besides it’s not cool at all. I’m sure CP didn’t do it on purpose.

Wow, since this has come to light there are like 3 or 4 bands some whose songs go back to 2001, way before Santriani, saying Cold Play has plagerized them for those same notes in Viva La Vida, of course only one of them, Joe Satriani, is suing thus far. So does that mean that all these people should sue each other for the similarities in their music?

Honestly I doubt it was intentional, and I see the similarities but there is so much more to Cold Plays song that has made it the hit it has become. If anything this makes Joe Satriani a very respected musician look bad.

joe satriani is a guitar legend and with all his money he should have no reason to sue the god forsaken coldplay crap unless there’s actually reason to.
Coldplay blows

joe satriani is a guitar legend and with all his money he should have no reason to sue the god forsaken coldplay crap unless there’s actually reason to.
Coldplay blows

joe satriani is a guitar legend and with all his money he should have no reason to sue the god forsaken coldplay crap unless there’s actually reason to.
Coldplay blows

joe satriani is a guitar legend and with all his money he should have no reason to sue the god forsaken coldplay crap unless there’s actually reason to.
Coldplay blows

I’ve heard this same chord progression thousands and thousands of times and it will happen again. Don’t tell me you have not heard some extremely similar shit in those crappy late nineties softporn movies?!?!?

Really, I damn sure know that there’s no way that you could accidentally copy someone’s music. It’s never happened before. Vanilla Ice copied Queen with Ice Ice Baby. Yes, look it up. Also as gavini said:
“How quickly you all forget or are you too young to remember the George Harrison My Sweet Lord plagerism of He’s so fine. In this case we had a famous Beatle screwing up. It cost George over 5 million in compensation. Mind you He’s So Fine was a big hit too so I guess its slightly more relevant here.”

There’s another example.

Listen Satriani is absolutely insane when he plays. His guitar is the song and voice. So when someone or a group takes that, his voice is gone. I know someone is gonna just bitch me out for saying that but oh well. He’s gonna win. Look at the youtube videos. EXACT SAME KEY. listen to the mashup aswell, it sounds like Satriani is playing WITH Coldplay.

They copied him. Notice how Coldplay made NO comments in defense.

Maybe this is all one big publicity stunt!

IMGLIDINHERE, If I was a big famous group like Cold Play and I had a small band accuse me of plagerism and then just as I cleared that up, a guitar player named Joe Santriani accused me of the same thing for the same song, do you really think at this point you would respond? “You gotta be kidding me!” would be my thought on the subject. I guess somethings are so ridiculous they just dont warrant a response.

Just to clear up a few things – the reason Satriani hasn’t sold as many albums as CP is because they are a commercial band which most ordinary punters listen to. Satriani’s music is on a completely different level of music and is more to do with the mastery of a musical instrument to a level of writing that few can do in the world. Imagine you wrote something and heard somebody else used it to profit themselves…ermmm. End of story.

How would you feel if it happened to you?

gotta say if your researching this remember that of all things music is similar if you have ever written music especialy if your not a pro you tend to gravitate towards catchy interesting musical progressions. (read the rest the comments in this bord there super interesting.) i know that coldplay isn’t technical. Satriani is very technical. but you cant tell me that the fame and money arn’t driving satriani on this one. check out the other bands metion its hillariouse once you research. oh and can someone tell me what other plagerism coldplay was accused of im just curious

Well, the part lasts only 10 seconds, but is the most important part in the song…

Joe has more talent in one hand than the whole other band has together.

Go Joe Go

You can’t ignore CP took this from Joe and damned fuck Joe reached the top 10 US with surfing with the aliens! He’s respected as a complete artist, if want crappy virtuoso, go listen to Michael Angelo. Joe has a big influence on Metal guitarists and Metal is the only original and complexed music nowadays but yeah 5-10 min for a song this is not for radio and music industry! Fuck all thoses bastards from the majors and thoses bands like CP sucks cocks as hell, that’s the only truth! Fuck that shit and hail to Joe the master

Shouldn’t he be suing Santana (w/ Michelle Branch) for “The Game of Love”. That is the real rip off.

How the hell can he try and get all of Viva La Vida’s profits, I’m guessing a few million, for a couple of notes of music

Joe satriani is the king of music theory and melody. YOu can match every word in the coldplay song to a beat/note on the guitar. Listen to them together, its quite funny! Now explain to my how that could be a coincidence. Coldplays done this before. . . (U2)???? I have always felt bad for them, and now theyre taking Joes shit. Thats ridiculous, its about time someone did something about it. Joe is the King of guitar and Coldplay is out to make “radio music” that people who are pathetic listen to. Just because you dont know anything about music and the extent of your listening goes only to coldplay doesnt give you the right to put satriani down.

This chord progression exists in thousands and thousands of songs out there, and that little line this is all about is like one of the easiest ideas you could come up with on top of it. You have a scale, and the basic idea would pretty much be, you hit one note, then go to the next note in the scale, upwards, then you play the note below the first you played, then you repeat the same fucking shape one step lower, so just fuck it, I would imagine like at least a 100 million guitar players out there have done something very similar while improvising, at least if you had this boring, simple chord progression in the background… So, I guess there are garagebands that played the same shit a long time before Satriani recorded this in 2004…

Ya know , after listening to both tunes. Joe has somewhat of a case , maybe not for full profits but at least partial. Far as the money , I highly doubt Joe has any reason to need any of it anyway. Hes a legend to almost everyone that has any musical talent. To say that Coldplay did not know Joe before this , is almost absurb , Every guitarist knows about Joe Satriani. As I said before , partial profits would be more in line than full profits , it is very similar , not totally but partially.

wow … ten whole seconds of the exact same music! if Coldplay wanted to rip Joe of I’m pretty sure they would have copied more than that. and you don’t need too be a music wiz to figure out that all those videos where you hear “If I Could Fly” and “Viva la Vida” are obviously fake. Viva la Vida has been speeded up hence they do not really have the same tempo! don’t believe me? try it yourself!

I like Eggs

I like Eggs

Im Not wearing any pants

Coldplay don’t need to rip off the whole satch song, that’s too much for a pop song lol it’s like dream theater if a pop band wants to copy them they’ll just take 10 sec of a song to make their own, cause Satriani, DT or other are too complex for lambda minds! radio music is made for lambs

What a tempest in a Teapot…
The chords are so common and the melody is too. Is the Jury going to be made up of Musical experts? Probably not. So, whoever has the most likable Attorney win probably win. I think the Lawsuit is dumb. The tune is so simple a Caveman could write it.
And as for all the idiots calling Satriani some sort of Superman of the guitar. He’s interchangeable with hundreds of shredders.
If you want to hear a truly great guitarist unlike any other; check out Pierre Bensusan. Michael Hedges admired him so much he even wrote a tune called Bensusan.

A great guitarist will inspire others to play or to keep listening.
Great whiners and complainers makes others aware of their fall-points.
Bobola.

joe roks man coldplay can suk my dik
no one dis legend

u dopes! it doesnt even sound the same that much.
you’ll be fineeee JOE! calm down and take it easy. u must be hearing things…..

Joe of all people should know that every song is made up of the same chords and scales.

And the fact that he plays around with so many scales in his songs he can probably claim to have “written” nearly any song already!

Next!

Fact of the matter is, Coldplay is a lame, no talent, set of losers who call themselves a band. Satriani has inspired more people through his music than just about any other guitarist in history, its not at all hard to believe that a couple fagmo’s (like CP) would rip off a heavily inspiring musician like Joe, the fact that they get radio air time baffles me, then again we do have more idiots now days more than ever who listen to garbage and have no idea what real music is.

I hope he sues the shit out of CP and wins, so he can get back at these dumb fucks for what they’ve been doing to ALL these other artist, who CP has copyed and stolen from.

I’ve read all these different comments on here and I can tell you, that any one person on here who has or plans on critiquing Joe in a shitty way, obviously knows nothing of music and should be put on a banana boat and shipped away to an island and stay the fuck away!!!

I listened to this section done by Satch and then listened to CP’s…SOUNDS EXACTLY THE SAME!!! In melody, rhythm, and any other way you would have it, so its obvious he has a case.

dude, who the HELL is this joe dude?
he sucks!
and he’s going to sue for five seconds? what, is he THAT desperate for some fame that he has to sue a good band?

ughhhh…same key, same harmonic rhythm, same melody ? cmon, any1 who knows music theory knows that this diddnt happen by accident

this is bs!!!

it doesn’t sound alike at all!!!
u stupid fucked up peeps dont know
anything!!!

the songs don’t sound alike at

Coldplay definitely ripped this off. I agree that music in general sounds similar but this is just too much of a similarity. Joe Satriani is a guitar legend, and although not my cup of tea, just about anyone who has picked up a guitar knows about him. So I think it is very likely that they have heard the song. I’m sure they were probably counting on Joe’s relative mainstream obscurity to help them get away with this.

copycat!

Well, you all/ I believe some of you are even artist and some defen. not. I am an songwriter.
Thus, I cannot tell for sure, but the song except the chorus (satriani) doesnt have any similarity objects to the Viva la vida. Altrough when I heard the song for the first time I was certain I heard it somewhere already. So this explains that with so many songs in this world we can make the very same tunes and not knowing about it.
If Coldplay were not Coldplay an Joe were not Joe, they would sit and laugh about the songs. See – Let’s not make war of this, recpect both the artist, cause both are very excellent artist. punks and artists.

so many songs these days are similar, whether intentional or not. I am an experienced musician and work in the music industry.
so my verdict is:

there are faint guitar riff similarities, and there is a slight de ja vu, thinking it sounds similar to something else. But I would not say there are enough similarities to make in plagiarism. I am constantly composing day in, day out as my job, which I love. when I come up with a tune I do some research, to see if I haven’t just created a variation on another tune, I try my hardest to keep things original, but although there is a vast amount one can do with music, there is a hell of a lot if not all of it that has already been done in some shape or form. So I don’t believe Coldplay purposely “stole” the song, when composing one will always have clashes with pieces already done, I can guarantee you

i can see this being a mistek but they do sound a lot alik

BRIAN ENO is the big wig that ripped it off if anything, not Crappyplay. Joe should sue and try to get attention thrown on the fact guitar music doesn’t get as much attention as pop-crafted garbage. It’s essentially different, but let’s see what Eno steals next.

i’ve listened to coldplay for 8 years.. played the guitar for.. n i dont know who the hell satriani is…

i even made a song that sounds like that…..joe is obviously broke…

his song sounds like a car wreck

look coldplay was probably influence and never ask for permission so joe and any artist should be upset.
but don’t make coldplay out to be fake. because there not. in my opinion the make good music. comment:Paul
said great minds think do alike.
and it’s true!!

I believe there is a fundamental element a lot of you folks are missing. While you don’t realize it, artists like Coldplay are manufactured by Corporate types much like the way Disney produces Britney Spears and the Jonas Brothers. While they sell a lot of albums there music tends to be boring and souless. Their Music is based on trends and hype not on skills and musicality. I guess kind of the way early rock was stolen from poor Black musical geniuses. It is always the true soulful geniuses that get ripped. Coldplay is right out of a GAP commercial. As a matter of fact, their commercial for their album says it all. Short of a scarf and hat, it is a GAP Commercial. If you can’t see that then you’re blind. It’s one thing to take influence from an artist, as many greats have with Joe Satriani. It’s another to have to continually steal to make a living. By the way, Satriani has made millions, always sells out his shows and the folks he has taught have made millions and he can cross all genres. He’s toured with Mick Jagger and Deep Purple to name a few. The magazine that hosts this sight has held him in the highest regard. Little Teeney, Bubble Gum, rip off Pop,Flat & Boring Coldplay, which by the way, is great MUZAK to put you to sleep fast and is for the musically immature. I am not saying you have to write complex it just has to be Good. In the not to far future, Coldplay will be forgotten. And Joe will still be Teaching, Recording, selling and touring as he has for decades. I hope Coldplay saves some of the money they make now and they didn’t sign sucker contracts with their Bitch Lords. They will regret it. Just like MC Hammer, George Michaeln and the rest of those types who just don’t understand rock in all it’s forms. SUCKERS.

Amen Mike!! I’ve seen Satch every time he’s come to the Houston area…I’ve seen bands like AC DC, Boston, Metallica, Megadeth, and The Rolling Stones…But none of their shows were nearly as exciting and entertaining as Satch’s shows, he is more than a legend when it comes to guitar. his skills can’t be matched nor can they be measured in any way shape or form. Its bands like Coldplay and all the other shit bands from this generation that need to go somewhere with where they can be with their own kind…In France with all the other queers and pussies, I said it once already a few posts down, that the fags that bash Satch and hype pussies like Coldplay need to get shipped away because yall need either 1)go to hell. 0r 2)get stuck impotent so yall can’t give birth to any stupid offspring…Whether anyone likes it or not, Satch has a case one way or another…End or story…and hopefully Coldpaly.

I think its kind of ludicrous people think Coldplay would deliberately steal this song.

4 or 5 years ago I was REALLY into shred guitar. Vai, Gilbert, Satriani, Becker, Shawn Lane, etc were all at the top of my “most listened to”.

That being said, I still only had Satriani’s “Surfing With The Alien”.

So, how are you expecting a band like Coldplay, who I’m SURE has heard of Satriani, to listen to one of his songs from 2004 and then write a song based off of that?

Is it hard to believe that they developed the same chord progression? There are only so many melodies for a chord progression, and its not uncommon for people to think of a similar melody over the same chord progression.

Ever see that video of Gunther’s “Teeny Weeny String Bikini?” Same chord progression, different key. Does anyone think Gunther gives a fuck about Satriani or vice versa?

And, I happen to enjoy both Satriani and Coldplay. The fact that Viva La Vida was produced by Brian Eno (an ambient artist I LOVE), is a big deal to me, and I don’t think they are some corporate commodity, unless you’re cynical of music and only listen to “underground roflz” music.

This won’t get anywhere, and I’m a little sad that Satriani decided to pursue this.

Two things, firsly everyone has to realise that it is insanity to think that satriani personally heard viva la vida and decided to sue Coldplay. The facts most likely stand to be that satriani’s publishing company (who would stand to recieve 50% of whatever publishing income this suit would harvest)have filed the suit and although satriani is being involved almost certain he is not paying legal fees and such. Does anyone really think that satriani needs the money right now? With the music industry the way it is it’s publishers and record companies that are suffering, in fact it’s probably that his publisher and record company are in bed on this one.

Before people start making misinformed remarks please at least know something about the industry, i’m just tired of so many artists getting stick for something they only have their name on. And we’re not forgetting it’s a business, an artist is a brand when we are talking press.

secondly, someone mentioned that coldplay are manufctured by ‘corporate types’… I mean seriously? If you’re gonna claim that then you may as well just sy that everone who is successful is manufactured in the exact same way. From Johnny Cash to Metallica to anything that has ever been made available to the masses.

Personally, I’m not sure wha to believe but i’m with the judge, if they can prove that Chris Martin heard this song then satriani definaely has a case.

I just had to drop a line in to explain to Simon and any one else who might be confused by my definition of Corporate types and shed a little light on why Coldplay fits this bill. Did everyone know that Martin and Buckland first wanted to rip off NSYNC ( which is also a corporate formulated band as we all know for a fact ) so they formed a boy band called Pectoralz. Does anyone one know that it is a fact that they even copied the name of the band. Coldplay was the name of a friends band first. These are the seeds of their Plagiarism. It was when they started working with folks like Simon Williams of the Label fierce Panda that others started to say hmmm hey… I don’t think you guys want to be a boy band. Let me formulate what you should be based on my knowledge of trends and what’s selling. To think that bands like the Jonas Brothers or Britney Spears broke their bones in small bars and life on the road working hard is an insult to all the Great bands who paid their dues to get where they are today. No, actually these types break their bones on the rough and tumble sets of Disney Studios or like Coldplay, in the hands of Executives of corporations who take these lads who want to be the next NSYNC and form them into teeney bopping selling machines. It is for this reason that people like Britney have failed miserably as adults while bands like ACDC still kick ass and after 35 years and still sell out football stadiums. They are the real deal. So let’s see. They wanted to be a boy band first. They didn’t even come up with their own band name. It was taken from a friends band. They have been repeatedly accused by people other than JS of plagiarism. They were transformed by corp executives from boy band wanna be to the product they are today. And we’re supposed to believe that they would never rip off anything from a true artist. I really think a more plausible explanation is that they and the executives that drive them heard Joe’s music and were blown away by his phenomenal use of Melody and composition. They thought that he may be so underground and exclusive to enthusiasts who appreciate great writing and musicianship, that no one would ever expose their rip off. What they didn’t account for was that Joe Satriani has a huge following of loyal fans and has been a humble mentor to many great musicians. Everyone who knows good music knows that the pop charts are the worst disgrace in music… period. Led Zeppelin, which is one of the greatest bands ever, has never seeked approval via the Grammy’s or any sell out Corporate driven BS. They let the music do the talkin. Coldplay really is a teeney bop band of the TRL type. So, I guess in fairness it comes down to which side of the track you are on. Do you side with all the ten year olds who put Jonas Bros posters on their walls and made Britney rich. Or do you appreciate real bands like Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, ACDC, Pearl Jam, Metallica, Staind, Counting Crows or any band/singer songwriter who stands on their own credits or knows when to give the proper credit for an artistic job well done. So why should Joe or his record label stand by and let a bunch phony wanna be money machines take his credit. What is at stake is integrity, honesty. Who has it and who doesn’t.

Joe is one big fat fucker who isnt so big as coldplay and he isnt making near as much money as coldplay. “Yes! finaly someone have samekind chord progression now I can take all their money!” thats fucked up. If everyone would do like that there wouldnt be only couple songs cause there is only 12 chords. So fuck you all, fuck you joe satriani and fuck you coldplay. grow up you all and stop liking your own asses!

12 Chords… hahahhahahahahahhahahahahahaha hhahahahahahahahahahahahahahah ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah ahahahahahahahahahahahahahhaha hahha

Here’s a strong motive for stealing Satriani’s music. EMI Recordings is just about bankrupt and needed big sales from Coldplay to help keep them running. Experts say they will be bankrupt regardless. Too much mismanagement, drugs and hiding of bad financials. This emphasizes the importance of Joe’s lawsuit. Kick there asses in court Joe and make a point to all these big, greedy Corporations. That music belongs to the people, the artists who create it. From Willie Dixon to Willie Nelson. Not some executives who use marketing techniques and thieving to make a buck. There were artists before there were record companies. History always trys to repeat itself when it comes down to money. These points are dedicated to all the musicians and performers from the turn of the century to the current date who have been ripped off by record companies and phony artists. Satriani had an instrumental song on one of his Platinum selling albums that some else wrote. But Honorably so he gave written credit to Billie Holiday. Coldplay should act like Men and do the same.

While, only part of the Joe Satriani Song is copied and it only covers part of the Coldplay song, it is the good part of both songs!! Without that hook, the Cold Play song would not have been a hit, period!

For those who agree with the “cord progression theory” regarding the inevitable duplication of it (cord progression/music); it may be true. However, until 50 years passes and the music is fair game, pay-up or change your song! Otherwise, get sued. Even if Cold Play never heard the song but heard someone humming the song who had heard it, Joe can still win this suit. They will not have to prove that Cold Play heard the song as the article states. This has and will never be a requirement in court. Cold Play may have heard the song in their sleep over the radio and thought that they were being original with the hook when in fact they were recalling the hook subconsciously. Nevertheless, the hook is still Joe’s hook and he should be compensated.

First of all- If you don’t know who Joe Satch is, you are obviously here because you support Coldplay. Satch has been playing professionally since his teens, and has taught and played with Steve Vai. He has a line of Ibanez guitars modeled after his signature guitar; Vai does too.

It’s true that music can only be changed so much until the songs all begin to sound the same. If you actually take the time to listen to the 2 samples, you will see that its a hell of a lot more than a fucking coincidence. Look at it mathematically: 7 note scale, 50 possible notes on the guitar that fall in that scale, 15 seconds, 2 notes per second, 50^30! thats a 1 in 700000000000000000000000000000 000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000
chance of coming up with the same melody randomly, and because this isn’t random but based on music theory, maybe 1 in 7000000000000 or so.

Bottom line: JS = Rock legend, shredder.
Coldplay = plagaristic wannabe be band

i love how all the coldplay fans can only really say that they dont like satch’s music (nothing wrong w/ that, you’re entitled to your opinion), but everyone else can bring up stuff about coldplay regarding them being nothing more than just another pop band. satch in no way needs the money. also, coldplay fans try to dis satch by saying that no one has heard of them…in 10 years no one will listen to coldplay, yet satch will still be touring the world and be selling albums which will be over 30 years old. satch is a legend, coldplay is some pop band glorified by the media.

i guess joe just over reacted
on this
i mean hey joe let them be inspired by your music man

as for cold play they should have had write this song has been influenced by joe’s music

George Harrison is probably rolling over in his grave right now.
I am neither a Coldplay fan or a Joe Satriani fan. I heard the Coldplay version on a TV ad and I really liked the hook….so much so that I actually contemplated buying the album. Then someone pointed me to “If I Could Fly” and not being an expert, I gotta say, I thought it was an instrumental of the same song. I don’t know if they did it on purpose or not, but either Coldplay owes him money.

Anytime something in life is good, there are always those who want to go against it. Coldplay gets so much shit for being the incredible musicians they are. Joe Satriani is also an incredible musician who has pioneered virtuoso guitar. Anyone who is an accomplished artist knows how easy it is for similar progressions, melodies, and tones to coexist within the music world. Professional musicians know copyright laws and know the 8-note rule. In this case, Joe needs to relax. The guitar hook is similar but the music styles and song structure are so different. This whole thing has just been more fuel for the fire for those who hate Coldplay and an unfortunate focus that takes away from a well written song on both sides. Music was not meant to cause pointless grumbling like that of this incident. Coldplay will continue to receive the same old shit they have for years and they know it, but they can still pack out stadiums and create epic music that millions can identify with–The same can be said of Joe Satriani. Just let it go!!

Not that it really matters that much, but I hope thatMusicwinter.com reads this because I couldn’t help almost falling out of my chair laughing at his comment about David Gilmore and Kirk Hammet being able to outdo satriani on the guitar. David Gilmore is one of my personal favrorite guitarists, but im just wondering, did you know that Satriani was actually kirk hammet’s teacher back in the day in Berkely,CA? Just checking, your comment seemed really ignorant and misplaced but I suppose you’re an expert guitarist yourself so you would know right?>
Kind Regards

u no wat, ace, i guess u shud STFU!
music notes are so ‘limited’ that u r bound to find lots of similarities in the styles and play-up. i am a performer myself, and i no how it goes, cuz someday u r bound to get a ‘copy’ of another guys tune and still not knw about it. for those who think that these all happen on purpose, stop listening to music and get the crap outta here…

I don’t think Joe should get money for Coldplay’s record because only at the 50 second mark does it even sound similar and Coldplay turned the song into a better one anyway! Go Coldplay!!

I LOVE JOE SATRIANI!
LOVE HIM, LOVE HIM, LOVE HIM!

I know nothing about Coldplay other than that the ill-favored lead singer somehow got the bewitching Gwyneth Paltrow to marry him.

As for the plagiarizing of Joe’s “If I Could Fly” melody?

Well, that’s kinda like saying that “Satch Boogie” ripped of Skynyrd’s “I Know A Little.” Oh, those first three little notes in the beginning… And listen to that hi-hat!!???

It may sound somewhat familiar but come on people, its music! There are only 12 notes to work with here and it gonna cross its own path now and then.

I LOVE YOU JOE! But my vote is NO. SORRY!

I don’t see how all you bastards that rank on Joe being ‘poor’ or a ‘crybaby’ because Joe put 10 years of work into this song. No way that somebody can just come up out of nowhere. And with his reputation and teaching Hammet and Vai, don’t need to say anything about them, he finds a band that has multiple reports of plagiarism and thinks “i’m going to sue them because i need money?” How fucking illogical and rediculous do you think the man is. Think people.

Jeremy you are obviously not an accomplished musician– otherwise your opinion would not be biased and you would understand that it is incredibly common for un-related artists to come up with similar music. The issue here is not what people have said or any other shit about who is better than who. It is about the music. The two songs are similar but not similar enough to be turned into a ridiculous issue like this.

damit..like if i needed another reason to hate Coldplay …

This is ludicrous. It’s nothing to do with music, and all about the kind of greedy legal bullsh_t that the whole music industry seems to be wrapped up in these days. I’m a fan of neither Coldplay nor Joe in particular, but I can see who looks like the bad guy here, given the really quite unremarkable similarity that it all revolves around. In my opinion Joe needs to get some dignity and drop it before he starts losing public goodwill. Hell, collaborate and release a double-A-side or something, then everyone wins.

Agreed. There are a few similarities between the two songs, but the emotion of each song is so dramatically different that each song stands alone. I agree with an earlier post, there are only so many notes an artist can use. Similarities are bound to occur. Plus, when I first listened to Joe’s song I immediately thought of Santana’s collaboration with Michelle Branch. I think we can safely say that Santana didn’t rip Joe off, right? Each song is good based on its own characteristics and we should leave it at that.

Joe, you are truly amazing but, nah. There’s no science to it. (the “only 12 notes” comment was pretty funny and ridiculous) What I’ve read so far of those agreeing with you tells me that they just dislike Coldplay.
The melodies are similar but certainly not the same.
Let’s hope for Joe that none of his jury are musicians.

soooo whaaat
it’s two diffrent songs
Coldplays song it just better

soooo whaaat
it’s two diffrent songs
Coldplays song it just better

soooo whaaat
it’s two diffrent songs
Coldplays song it just better

Stealing from one is plagiarism, stealing from many is research.

One thing’s for sure – Satriani has more musical worth than a billion Coldplays.

Nothing about whose song sounds like the others. But you do realize that the REAL musicians favor the artist Joe Satriani’s song because he is one of the best ever. And the younger people who only listen and really know very little about music think Coldplay is better music! Sad..They are different songs with different kinds of artists.
Satriani could play in any band. Could play any music he wants to. Coldplay can’t!

Plagurism is the highest form of flattery. Joe you rock. As for coming up with the same lines? Well it happens, even to lil old me. But I always try and do my homework to make sure it is original I think the key here is that the hook is the same in both tracks and that may pose a problem. As someone else pointed out, someone else probably initiated this entire action. Funny though, I have always enjoyed Joe Satriani’s work and this is the first Cold Play track I enjoyed. Ironic they seem to have leveraged of Joe Satriani’s work LOL

The moods of the songs completely change after several repititions of the hook. The harmony sounds very very similar but the melodies are different. All in all i love both of these artists. I consider Joe Satriani one of the best perhaps the best rock guitarists in the world(he definitely owns the experimental side of rock guitar). Joe is up there with the likes of Vai and Eric Johnson in terms of guitar virtuoso. However this song I believe was not purposefully copied and was a mix up. kudos to coldplay for catchy song writing but If I could fly is still better.

I’m in favor with Joe. He worked on that song for TEN YEARS as a gift for his wife. So that particular song has alot of personal meaning to him. And I think Coldplay don’t deserve any of those Grammy nominations they got for this song they claim to have written. I hope justice is served and that Joe wins this case.

This has become a really dumb discussion.

This pisses me off! OBVIOUSLY they ripped it off somehow. I even like coldplay (liked) Joe Satriani is great! I deserves all of it!!!!!!

its only a money game… and not true reality, ya there are similarities but mostly two different songs, rock status is BS and placing Joe on a pedestal is ###. He is great!!!! ya but Cold Play has far more emotions to display. Tech skills for perfect guitar playing is for snobs…….. the difference is technical skills verses playing music from your heart regardless of what music it is.

HAHAHA. No one even heard of this asshole till someone decided to point out coldplay (whose far more progressed) created a song (which is nominated best song of the year) that sounded somewhat similar to a song with a guitar solo as high as chris’ voice on particular part. Let’s look at what soing is better than go from there. Or which song actually hit the charts in the first day ratherr than 4 years when he thought his song was “ripped off and it felt like someone sent a dagger through his heart.” I liked brians statement below, ” if he is so legendary why doesn’t he make a song someone wants to hear.” LOL and cheers at that I love it. Go brian, and GO COLDPLAY. Joe sucks donkeys

this is mainley directed at coldplayftw you are a moron!!! do you have any idea who joe satriani is and how long this guy has been schooling everyone on guitar and making music????no….didnt think so!!!!this guy has no reason at all to tryy and seek publicity its not about that.im sure you are probabley about 17-23 yers old and think you have seen it all….satch has been rockin for 25 plus years,i have seen him in concert and have many of his albums i have been a fan since surfin with the alien album and i think cold play is just another pos band that has no creative thought process or music skills at all just like most music you little terds sample the life out of then call it your own!!!!!……………..you suck!!!

man this is mainly to coldplayftw or whatever…. joe satriani is one of the worlds greatest musicians, and youve never heard of him because you listen to the radio, which plays all of these homo bands that sing about throwing rocks at their gfs windows late at night… joe satriani, john petrucci, steve vai…can you say musical GODS?? long before coldplay and all those other senseless worthless bands who cant play an instrument any better than my little eight year old cousin….today’s bands is why music is going to die out and no one will ever want to listen to it again

I’ve been wanting to say that same thing for years. With musicians heads swimming with riffs from bands past and present, originality is and endangered species. I love all the sue happy idiots on this board who probably haven’t even listened to both songs in their entirety. I see similarity in the chorus. Good luck proving this was an intentional rip off people.

Hey, has anybody ever heard, “My Love” by Petula Clark. It’s different, yet somehow, in the smallest way, the same.

IT’S DON’T MATTER ABOUT THE EDDIE VH 12 NOTE THEORY. IF YOU BORROW MORE THE 2-3 MEASURES, MAYBE 7-8 MAX AND USE IT COMMERCIALLY NOT FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES IT’S PLAGURISM. GOOD LUCK JOE!!

Ro ck On Joe!!!

Instead of stating whose wrong and who thinks what, ill just say that I am a big Coldplay fan since their first album, and the idiots who are judging them on this Plagiarism dont know what Coldplay is! They are one of the…sory not one of but the biggest band in the world, and that is a fact! They are very popular coz their music can be felt deep inside your soul. Their songs are capable of emotionally expressing their music.
On the other hand, Viva la Vida sounds a lot similar to Joe’s song.
Even though COLDPLAY is the BEST !!!

oh and ‘this little guitar player’ has 14 grammy nominations? (never won one though) and obviously has a bit of money… listening to the songs whilst I see similarities I cant see a musicologist ruling that one is plagiarising the other due to, er, well, similar chord progression? I mean if thats the case surely every rock band would be sueing each other? Could this be a publicity thing maybe?…maybe? hmmm?

I agree with the educated bunch on this thread.Joe Satch needs no pub. He’s proven time and time again that he is a pioneer,and music legend.Why do you think coldplay uses his music? They can’t carry Joes jockstrap!!!! Rock on Joe!!! See you soon!! Coldplay….. Nice try!!!!

Joe is demeaning himself with this. Coldplay is a boyband–a step above N’Sync, but just barely. Sure, a few limey hacks have ripped him off, but the Brits have been stealing America’s innovative, original musical forms since Clapton ripped off Robert Johnson and the Beatles ripped off Elvis. Whatever. Joe’s been rocking for what, 30 years now? Come see me in three decades, and if Coldplay’s still around, I’ll be worried about their La Vida Loca or whatever it is–it’s a crap knock-off anyway, so again, who cares?

I hope he doesn’t win his pitiful lawsuit. Come on, that little bit is very similar yes. But, I am a music major about to graduate and I know that Joe probably ripped it off of some symphony from 200 years ago. Get over yourselves, he doesn’t need more money. Now, I believe Coldplay is overrated yes, but compared to other modern music that degrades sexes, races, and ages who cares if they want to make a giant metaphor of the French Revolution. Stop hating everyone and just get on with your lives please. Spread love not hate.

Lord, Cold Play sucks! Their crappy song sounds like something you’d hear on an elevator . . . in a rest home. What a sorry bunch of social climbers. UGH!

Joe Satriani, on the other hand, is an actual musician. Why shouldn’t he sue? Why should someone as good and talented as Satriani give way to crass money grubbers like Cold Play?

Joe Satriani music was maybe the worst thing i ever heard…….coldplay is 500 times better.

There’s no way the ‘guitar lick’ from Joe’s song matches the verses in Viva La Vida. If anything, just barely.

anyone who can’t hear that it’s the same chords and melody is a not musician nor a listener with even a half way decent ear. it is the same. whether it was intentional is another question.
in any case coldplay needs to pay up. that said, i do like their version much better.

Obviously none of you morons are real musicians or maybe really “good” musicians. Just like when Ray Parker Junior lost his plagiarism case to Huey Lewis and the News. Its not about what you morons think or what you even hear. It’s based on music theory and science and circumstance. Whether or not Coldplay did have access to Satch’s music may become a part of the process. As for the music theory, the chords of both songs transposed..Ones verse to the others chorus. the progression and meter are nearly but not perfectly exact. If your not a musician or have knowledge of music theory STFU! The notion that Coldplay accidentally came to compose a 99% melody and meter piece same to that of Satch’s is highly, highly unlikely. But that’s for the courts and the experts to determine. Not you moroons. Now if they could only get hold of Coldplay to serve them the subpoenas they’ve been dodging..hmmmmmmm

Who the hell who said U2 and Radiohead should suit Colplay is a douche. People get inspired or get ideas from other music, okay??
It is called inspiration.
And do you think it took 3 years for Coldplay to rip off Satriani? (He is one of the guitar gods, no offense)
You Douche bags.

The fact that it’s not the first time shows a pattern and a pattern proves intent.

coldplay sucks,how could anyone think that the garbage they put out is rock and roll. what a slap in the face to the real rockers. the grammys are a joke

Joe Satriani is a douche. in this business its not about coming up with an idea, its how to market an idea.

the successes for a musician for a song is not its complexity or originality, its all about how the audience can relate to it.

satriani decided to pick his market…. a bunch of guitar hero wanna be’s who have not musicianship and never made it.

coldplay caters to a completely different audience, and they are good at what they do.

there isn’t anything new under the sun, satriani is no different than any other musician out there, we ALL take bits and piece of what we hear and make it our own…. Joe Satriani is just made that Coldplay made a lot more money doing it than he did… period!

JOE SATRIANI BEST GUITARIST IN THE WORLD COLDPLAY IS GAY BECUASE THERES A COMMON JOKE EVEN “I KNOW HOW YOUR GAY. HOW? CAUSE YOU LISTEN TO COLDPLAY!!” HAHAHAH JOE ITS BEST GUITARIST IN THE WORLD NEXT TO ERIC JOHNSON GO 80’s ROCK

Many people here have no muscial talent or are tone deaf if you think that this song was not ripped off. Yes they both goods songs “If i could fly” being a better song.

Many people here have no muscial talent or are tone deaf if you think that this song was not ripped off. Yes they both goods songs “If i could fly” being a better song.

Ever since I first heard the chorus to Viva la Vida, it’s been tugging at a memory of something from the 60s. It’s why I was drawn to Coldplay’s song in the first. Turns out the chorus of Petula Clark’s “My Love” is what I kept hearing. I think it’s the interval between the top and bottom of the chorus phrases. Other people have noted commonalities with Cat Stevens’ “Heaven,” from the early 70s.

Basically, I think musicians regular incorporate scraps of melody and harmony they’ve heard all their lives. (For example, Eric Carmen using Rachmaninoff’s piano concerto No. 2 for “All By Myself.”). So who knows where Coldplay’s song truly began.

Ever since I first heard the chorus to Viva la Vida, it’s been tugging at a memory of something from the 60s. It’s why I was drawn to Coldplay’s song in the first. Turns out the chorus of Petula Clark’s “My Love” is what I kept hearing. I think it’s the interval between the top and bottom of the chorus phrases. Other people have noted commonalities with Cat Stevens’ “Heaven,” from the early 70s.

Basically, I think musicians regular incorporate scraps of melody and harmony they’ve heard all their lives. (For example, Eric Carmen using Rachmaninoff’s piano concerto No. 2 for “All By Myself.”). So who knows where Coldplay’s song truly began.

Well, Coldplay stole it, it’s that simple. Since that Satriani riff was very popular back in 2004, Coldplay thought that people wouldn’t catch on to the fact that the song was older.

Well, Coldplay stole it, it’s that simple. Since that Satriani riff was very popular back in 2004, Coldplay thought that people wouldn’t catch on to the fact that the song was older.

Thank you DC Gal. I new I wasn’t crazy.

angelfire . com/d20/normando/sat nclark.mp3

I’m sorry, just remove the spaces.

***Exactly DC Gal! I had exactly the same experience, and although I couldn’t immediately put my finger on it, I know it was a 60’s song, and a female performer. The name Petula Clarke popped into my head. This afternoon on the recliner, the song finally bubbled up from far distant memories. I had the tune, but not the title. Googled “My Love is Deeper” “My Love is Brighter” and there it was “My Love,” Petula Clarke. A Google of Coldplay plagiarism “My Love” brought me to this site.

No opinion on the plagiarism charges, just fun to make the association. Hey, the brain is pretty powerful when it comes to melody recognition, even from the distant past.

It really doesn’t matter whether or not Coldplay INTENTIONALLY ripped off Joe Satriani’s melody – the fact is that it is true that seriously substantial portions of a later song involve the same melodic intervals over a very similar harmony. And that means they have infringed his copyright.
Think of it like this – if you invented peanut butter, it matters not a jot if you somehow lived under a rock and never realized someone had already done it – the fact remains it’s decidedly NOT your invention. Legally, it still counts as plagiarism. A court will not try to psychologically analyze Coldplay or attempt to surmise the likelihood of them possibly hearing it. The law, in a case like this, refers to the facts. Is the tune overly similar to the original tune.
Anyone who doubts this blatant similarity, try this: get the sheet music for both and play them in the same key on the same instrument (transposition does not create originality!). Forget about sonic properties, that is irrelevant from a music copyright perspective. The movement of the notes themselves is what will determine whether a copyright has been infringed upon.

Now that Coldplay won a Grammy for “Viva La Vida”, Coldplay should come clean. I think the lead guitarist from Coldplay was influenced by Satriani. It is shameful that the band Coldplay had to resort to stealing from Joe Satriani. I even have doubts about their hit “Clocks” that I heard that melody before, but I can’t place it. Coldplay should man-up and give Joe Satriani song credit and compensate him. The Stones gave K.D. Lang credit for their song “Have You Seen MY Baby” and Brian Wilson gave Chuck Berry credit for “Surfin’ USA”. I hope Joe wins his claim.

Yea…for those of you making fun of Joe for not having a Grammy…um..who cares? The Grammy noimators are idiots anyway who can tell the difference between a C and a D (If you dont get it than it wasnt for you). Satriani is a guitar legend and if your not an idiot you can clearly hear the stolen riff as soon as it appears. Coldplay has been garbage for day 1 now their proving it. Long Live Real Rock!

I don’t listen to Coldplay, but do enjoy Joe Satrini’s music on all my mtn. bike rides.
My opinion on newer bands is that they are taking music similiar to original artists that may otherwise not be as actively performing and putting their own spin comparable to a copy song or music. What the heck do we need to listen to another remake of a song when originals should be left original. If Coldplay is guilty, then face the music.

This is a bunch of BS

Why would coldplay even plan on doing that? They’ve already hit stardom with X&Y, and i doubt that they’d even need to break copyright to get even more. And if Joe was that good that his song had the same guitar part as his, why didn’t his song get a grammy? Simple, Coldplay didn’t copyright. And why did it take joe so long to notice that it was his song while this album kept on going higher and higher up the charts? Was he in a coma or something? Joes just trying to scam a perfectly good band reaching stard om to lend him some cash so he could get enough money to afford a bus ticket.

So, what is new about this article? nothing, fact is, artists have been ripping each other off for years, look @ Led zeppelin, claiming songs like “whole lotta love”, “Lemon Song” “Travelling Riverside Blues”, etc. and when confronted they say “we never heard that song”, or “we didn’t see how much influence that artist had on us”… whatever! and what about when Michael Jackson and and Tom Cochrane both came out with a song that had the exact same riff? it goes on and on. this thing is, these artists take a chance when they ripp off someone that they may or may not get exposed. In cases like this – bands like Coldplay should just “face the music” so-to-speak and deal with it.

So, what is new about this article? nothing, fact is, artists have been ripping each other off for years, look @ Led zeppelin, claiming songs like “whole lotta love”, “Lemon Song” “Travelling Riverside Blues”, etc. and when confronted they say “we never heard that song”, or “we didn’t see how much influence that artist had on us”… whatever! and what about when Michael Jackson and and Tom Cochrane both came out with a song that had the exact same riff? it goes on and on. this thing is, these artists take a chance when they ripp off someone that they may or may not get exposed. In cases like this – bands like Coldplay should just “face the music” so-to-speak and deal with it.

Joe Satriani doesn’t need the money. He has – so far – a 20-year career and is very musically active, with new releases and tours on a very regular basis. This is a case based on intellectual property and artistic recognition. Just as any movie maker could and surely would be prosecuted if they lifted a chunk of another writer’s scene, if a chunk of melody – not the chords, the MELODY! – is too close to an existing one, then TS, it’s owned by someone else. There is plenty of legal precedent for this. Led Zeppelin, George Harrison, the Stones and others have all had to give writers’ credit and / or pay royalties, and in some cases for far less of a similarity than this one.

If someone steals an object from you (an ipod or a car, for example), of course it’s not the point whether or not you can afford to live without it or whether they could have bought one themselves or not. You don’t cry foul because you need “a bus ticket” or anything like (and anyone who has any knowledge of the music business and of Satriani’s own successes as an artist knows that such a suggestion is completely ridiculous – so much so it’s hilarious) – you stand up and say, “hold on”, because it was YOURS. Simple case of right and wrong. And if someone stole it by accident, they put the situation right or face prosecution. In this case, Satriani is owed retribution – and that’s just about fairness.

I have to laugh at the suggestion that Coldplay’s sales figures mean they are somehow “better”. By that logic, the greatest culinary experience in the world is a Big Mac. And JK Rowling is smarter than Stephen Hawking or Einstein because she sold more books than them. I’m not knocking her – or Coldplay, in their own right – but selling out to the masses is no indication of inherent quality or artistic merit. And having a hit album has nothing to do with whether or not they have enough of their own ideas left after that album.

I also think that Mr. Satriani’s not sitting by the radio to spot if anything sounded like anything of his is a pointless comment and a non-issue. If he took a while to notice, it shows nothing other than that he doesn’t really listen to Coldplay. I don’t believe that his listening habits will be at all relevant in a court of law. Theirs may come into question, though! Having said that, George Harrison’s having to pay for the similarity to “He’s So Fine” didn’t hinge on intention, it hinged on melodic content. Why would this case be any different?

Satriani’s lawyers will not have to prove that Coldplay listened to “If I Could Fly”, only that it were POSSIBLE. And that is already proven by the fact that Satriani’s album was available on general release. The onus is more upon Coldplay’s lawyers to attempt to prove they were unaware of the original composition at all, and it’s pretty much impossible to prove that unequivocally.

Anyone with ears on their head will recognize the similarity, and it’s that upon which the case will hinge. Not intent, not sales figures, not Grammies, just a melody that is too close to a pre-existing one which is already copyrighted. It’s that simple.

Coldplay, Joe Satriani, The Creaky Boards, Alizée, Los Enanitos Verdes and Marty Balin should all stand in a circle and sue each other before Simon Cowell buys up the rights and sues them all.

Joe Satriani has gone completely mad!!!!

“in this business its not about coming up with an idea, its how to market an idea.” well obviously someone has no fucking idea about what is music. THAT MEANS YOU CHUCK !!!!!! i think they did copy the riff… come on why would a guy like satriani mess with these guys?
he’s old-school.. back then it was more about the music, less about the marketing..

There are only 8 Fing chords to choose from of course there are going to be similarities in many songs.

Maybe God should sue anyone you speaks a verse out of the book of Psalms in the Bible.

Or sue me maybe for copy and pasting the below most stupid plagiarism law suite of all time:

Now, if you don’t know the story about Fogerty’s solo album Centerfield, you should learn it. He was sued shortly after it came out, because of three songs: “Mr. Greed,” “Zanz Can’t Danz,” and “The Old Man Down The Road.” Saul Zaenz, president of Fantasy records, sued Fogerty for libel for the first two—and rightly so. But Fantasy Records sued Fogerty for “The Old Man Down The Road” because he signed over the copyright to all of Creedence’s works to Fantasy, including their 1970 song “Run Through The Jungle.” Fantasy claimed that Fogerty had plagiarized “Run Through The Jungle” to write “The Old Man Down The Road”!

That case went on for years, and finally resulted in a quick acquittal. Fogerty then sought attorney’s fees, and when he was denied them, went to the Supreme Court, which ruled in Fogerty v. Fantasy, 510 U.S. 517 (1994) that he was entitled to the fees. (The Court noted that “Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR), recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, has been recognized as one of the greatest American rock and roll groups of all time.” Id. at 520 n.2).

During the depositions, Fogerty had to go through his entire creative process, explaining how he writes songs and so forth—all quite humiliating to him, I’m sure, and certainly stressful. (He showed up in court one morning wearing a cast on his arm, and had to explain that the night before, he’d thrown a tantrum and punched a chair and hurt his hand.)

Can you imagine? Self-plagiarism. Yet, if you concede the legitimacy of intellectual property rights, isn’t this perfectly reasonable? The possibility of self-plagiarism seems to me to be excellent evidence of the incoherence of a natural right to copyright

8 chords? What about all the others, then? Or – getting back to the actual point – the multitude of permutations of melody that can occur over them? Any mathematician well-versed in the science probability can quite easily prove that the possibilities for melodic permutation run into millions. Especially when you take into account different octaves of the chromatic scale too.
John Fogerty’s legal wranglings are quite a different case. It’s an odd thing to be accused of stealing from yourself. Someone else stealing from you is rather more straightforward.

I was hoping someone would call me on that one. I was trying to point out how foolish music plagerism suits are in general. As if someone could actually say they were the first one to play a C#m and sue anyone who used it. Oh and becareful whom you sing happy birthday to.

I was hoping someone would call me on that one. I was trying to point out how foolish music plagerism suits are in general. As if someone could actually say they were the first one to play a C#m and sue anyone who used it. Oh and becareful whom you sing happy birthday to.

Umm, the Satriani defense people on all the sites that print commentary are like a fringe movement thing in the way they come across. “Yeah man the 80s blah blah… man hes got chops, yeah man great licks man, who needs radio airplay or a grammy maaaan lets go up to my moms attic and jam”… its kinda embarrassing for Satriani. Not his fault, at all… but theres nothing wrong with commercial mainstream success. Coldplay arent known for guitar solos, which were out a long time ago. OOOOO yeah my mans a legend! cool licks duuuuuude, he doesnt need to be allowed to go to the grammys, or be like platinum times 50, thats not important, maaaan cool licks dude. I doubt coldplay would borrow from some obscure “guitar hero”, that shit was before their time, and thankfully past.

umm… the a&r guys, the execs at coldplays label, are not sitting around listening to Joe Satironi and…thats absurd.

f#@* joe satriano and his fans who live in moms house and think they know anything about mainstream success. Coldplay is huge, and not embarresing like that 80 elevator crap. get a loife. Heavy Metal DUDE yeah play that lick again!! mmaan. stfu. Coldplay, not joe crapiani.

and, no. the music doesnt belong to the “artists” it nbelongs to the industry. Its the business. Coldplay is in the business, Joe whatshisshmo is not, so maybe that argument about music belong to the blahblahblah is valid if you are talking about the incredible art of shredding the hot licks dude, but when it comes to being a viable entity that appeals to real people, then coldplay wins, and joe whoever should be pleased to be mentioned in the same breath, and would do well to humble himself, stop sticking his tongue out while he plays his cheese ball muzak crap while wearing his leather biker jacket, and learn from real musicians like coldplay. Im not a fan of either, but i wouldnt turn coldplay off. Your “real musicians” shit has nothing to do with music, and isnt listenable. I can listen to rock, or metal, but that crap…ummm…huh? its, as someone else mentioned already…laughable. Oh, and i doubt the process server would be allowed into the grammys, i mean, they dont just let nobodys in to the grammys on behalf of other nobody has been never was’s to bother coldplay while they are performing or getting the grammy. More than likely they would be asked to leave the premises as being a troublemaker, and no way are coldplays handlers going to let anybody just stroll up. Thats naive and the height of conceit to think so. Thats not how the game is played in LA. You need to move there and do something, then maybe you will know the first thing, i dont mean to actually move here, we dont need more wannabes in this town… but alot of people think they know the first thing about how this is done. Coldplay is coldplay…im so sure anybody is going to side with Eddie van halen. Or whoever it is, you get the idea…guitar shred monster with the jerk off porno faces and the dated sound. get real. money talks, so does being cool and that dated corny ass metal shit aint cool. ok? trust me on this.

He’s not suing ‘cos of the chords or rhythms, they aren’t applicable to the law in the same way and therefore not applicable to this issue. It’s the – previously created and very recognizable – chunk of melody. It’s not a public domain song, it’s not just a live performance in a bar, it’s a recorded, marketed and sold appropriation of something he created. It doesn’t matter at all whether or not you like Satriani or Coldplay. Personally I’m not that much a follower of either – I was unaware of Satriani’s song and never really paid any attention to Coldplay – but someone’s work is their work and justice, honesty and honour, as well as the way the law works to protect creative artists, are the real issues here. If we were to allow anyone to rip off anyone else as they wish, legally retribution-free, the careers in the arts would end up not with the creative minds, but with those with the richest parents and most aggressive management teams. If intellectual property and artistic creation were to count for nothing, we’d undoubtedly see way too many of our future musical pioneers having to give up their careers before they even started; great composers and performers being lost to the world while businessmen, thieves and accountants owned rock’n'roll. John Lennon or the Jonas Brothers? The law MUST continue to protect the creative minds, not the minions of corporations. That’s why I applaud Joe Satriani’s taking action.

There are 12 notes in music, I could play the same thing in as many different octaves as I wanted and it would still sound similar.
I doubt Coldplay ever listened to Satriani.
Satriani came up with the riff first, then Coldplay came up with the same riff afterwards. We’re not talking about some complicated solo here, just a few notes played together in a particular, though familiar rythm.

This lawsuit is the biggest load of BS ever.

“There are 12 notes in music, I could play the same thing in as many different octaves as I wanted and it would still sound similar.”

Not strictly true. For example, a D up to a B is an interval of a Major 6th, whilst a D down to a B in the octave lower is an interval of a minor 3rd, a quite different musical motion which generally evokes a markedly different response in the listener. Musical Education across the world accommodates and works with the very real differences between ASCENDING and DESCENDING intervals. Call a Perfect 4th a Perfect 5th in an exam and you’ll get the question utterly wrong. And look at Indian Classical music to see how important the difference is between going UP to a note and going DOWN to it to them. You won’t find many educated musicians anywhere in the world who seriously claim there’s no important distinction between the two. And if you were to, for example, pick any classical piece and substitute, say 30 per cent of the notes for the same ones in a different octave and see what percentage of average listeners still recognize it, I doubt the figure would be even near the same as when it is all in the correct octave.
If, for instance, Coldplay had gone UP to the dominant note of the dominant chord instead of down, JUST like Satriani did, it would have been sufficiently altered as to circumvent breach of copyright and I’d even say there’s a strong likelihood this case wouldn’t even be pending.

did you know that Joe Satriani teached kirk hammet ? LOL!

Its cool, Coldplay knows now that their grammy is a lie… they are the ones that have to live with it. Joe Satriani is an ARTIST.

It’s sorta cute to see the 10-year-olds on here rush to the defense of their fave band of the moment, even if their reasoning is shaky, to say the least. But the ignorance starts to become offensive when they try to refer to Joe Satriani as a “has-been” or (I’m sure this caused some nerd a much-needed chuckle inbetween Mommy’s Pizza Pops) a “never-was”.
Hmm, so who counts as “big-time”, then? How about the Rolling Stones. Definitely, undeniably one of the biggest “always-was-and-still-is” bands ever. Their singer, Mick Jagger, is a pretty famous guy. Had a pretty good solo career, too. So if you somehow missed the fact that Joe Satriani has played guitar with Mick Jagger, bit of an “oops” for you there.
How about Deep Purple? Hall-of-fame legends, firmly nestled in the rock n’roll history books. Not only did they call Joe Satriani to play guitar for them – which he did – but when he left to go back to his solo career, they went on record as saying they wished he would keep playing with them.
Can you imagine Mick Jagger or Deep Purple calling Jonny Buckland instead? Hahahahahahahaha as if!
Satriani’s “Summer Song” on the Sony commercial was played on TV across North America on a very regular basis, so I’d imagine there are plenty of people in the US and Canada who don’t follow Coldplay – and couldn’t name you a Coldplay song if you asked – who nevertheless watch TV and, as a result, would recognize Satriani’s composing skills upon hearing them.
Satriani will still have a good, solid, long-lasting career long after Coldplay have taken their rightful place alongside the likes of Dead or Alive, Rick Astley, MC Hammer, Bros, S-Club 7 and so many other fleeting trends with no real substance of their own.
Billy and “Big Will”, I hope you don’t rant like that in class. Teacher will make you sit in the corner! And stop pulling the girls’ hair…

Yes, there are a few seconds of similarities but that is the only similarity. There are often chords played in a part of a song that remind you of another song, that is the music industry. If Joe’s tune was so catchy why didn’t it win Grammy awards?

Musicians “borrow” from each other all the time. In Joe’s case, he writes very unique passages – passages and structures that resonate his musical style – and that’s his trademark (and his artistry). To his ear, this is immediately identifiable as his work.

I’m sure that Joe considered all of his options before filing suit. This isn’t something that one does out of ignorance – I’m sure that Joe consulted his attorneys before proceeding, and discussed the merits of his proposed action. If they filed, it was with good cause.

I don’t follow Coldplay’s music much at all, however, I will note that in the late 90’s a similar incident happened between The Verve and Mick Jagger (The Rolling Stones) over “Bitterweet Symphony”. That resulted in Mick winning his suit for the misappropriation of a “sample”. The Verve lost all of the revenue associated with that song – which was perhaps their most commercial success to date. It didn’t make the song any less great, but that’s the importance of Intellectual Property in the 20/21st century.

A few seconds is too much. Yes, lots of songs have similar chords, but when we’re talking about an overtly similar melody for that amount of time, with highly similar changes and rhythms, it’s infringement.
“If Joe’s tune was so catchy why didn’t it win Grammy awards?”
One word – marketing.
Do you honestly think the music business is all about the music?

its a very simple catchy melody… i don’t think its that out of the ordinary to coincedentally come up with a very similar melody over that chord progression… whats worse, coming up with a similar melody and a better song and making millions, or crying infringement and attempting to make more money by suing than you’ve ever made in your entire career. I’ve never heard of Satch’s tune, because it sucks… its overindulgent overplayed(guitar wise) crap. Coldplay is much more talented than satch… they can actually write hit songs, not the same old instrumental time and time again…

It’s also funny to see grown men who act like 10 year olds defending their favorite band or GUITARIST on here, MR. White. But you dont realize that while youre on here defending Satch, there are talks of Satch being sued for ripping “his song” off of Enanitos Verdes song “Frances Lemon”.

this is really daft in my eyes. To think how up tight and snitchy the industry has become. melodies, hooks and chord sequences are always being replicated in various places but rarely on purpose, i mean there is only a certain amount of melodies and harmonies that go with certain chord sequences and when popular demand is so narrow and unoriginal due to ever decreasing public taste and IQ commerical musicians cant really go that far outside the box so there are always going to be incidents like this. look at the 1m-7-6 chord sequence, it has been used by 1000s of artists imagine all of them sueing eachother! you cant buy chords and melodies, why doesnt he just sue them for breathing the air he was breathing? madness

Coldplay probably doesn’t even listen to other music but their own.

Lot of assumptions there, Editor1. LOL

Wow, you can definitely tell who the Coldplay fans are in here. They are they ones with horrible grammar, immature insults such as “Joe Crapiani”, and of course, the complete ignorance for everything Satriani has done for music as we know it.

Satriani is entirely justified in his lawsuit. Whether he will win or not’s a different story

without joe, this song would never exist….pay the man, and repent your sins c.p.

joe is just trying to get attetion. joe has never done anything for for music and you know why? because i have never heard of him till now.

So, it came as a bit of a shock when I saw this crap online today, but I don’t have time to argue with a bunch of stupid low-lives whose idea of a fun night is to sit on their computers trying to prove a point to the rest of the world by trying to defend something that they end up contradicting in the end anyways, but the fact of the matter is, and I’ve nothing against Joe since this is the first song of his I have ever heard, he is trying to get attention. When you hear a hit song like “Viva La Vida”, it doesn’t take that long to realize it sounds like your own song. I just saw another video some guy did, saying the exact same thing, only he took pieces of the song and put them together to sound like his. Bull shit!!

It was like 20 seconds of melody. Calm yourself, sit down, and shut the f*ck up Joe!!!

Guy, are you serious you’ve never heard of Joe Satriani? If this is true who are you to comment on anything? There are definite similarities in the two tunes. I don’t think it justifies a lawsuit. After all there are only 12 notes a man can play. Only in a capitalist society gone wrong would you find this kind of nonsense. I wonder if this had been perpetrated by one of Joe’s students if we would be dealing with this.

i can comment on anything because i know who coldplay is and i know they are not rip off artists. also, coldplay has many orignal songs so people need to stop saying that their career is ripping off people.

If you study music theory, WHICH I DO FOR A LIVING, you know that there are only certain chords that can follow the previous one. They are such common progressions and you hear them so much more than you even know. So shut up because Bach is one of the fathers of music theory and I wish he were alive to slap Joe across the face with his own guitar.

Better study a little harder…………. even rudimentary music theory clearly explains the difference between melody and harmony.

Frustration is the first word that comes to mind when I read all these comments. Despite the fact that half of you have never even hear of Joe Satriani, let alone his music, you somehow justify a barrage of insults, such as “he sucks” and “he’s unsuccessful”. I would like to point out that there are millions of artists you’ve never heard, but under no circumstances does that give you the right to ridicule their music. Satch is no different.

At the same time, those who condemn Coldplay to the plagerists’ hall of shame are making accusations that are just as unfounded as those that are launched at Joe. Do you know for certain that Chris Martin sat up all night listening to “If I Could Fly” over and over again, deviously planning to steal it’s melody? No. You do not.

It is not for us to judge who is the better musician. In fact, it is not for us to judge if Coldplay did or dd not take Joe’s melody. As has been said over and over, there are only so many notes, so many chord progressions that fit, and it is entirely possible that this coincidentally happened. I know it’s in human nature to pick a side and fight to the death for your beliefs, but in this case it seems nobody knows enough about the details to responsibly pick a side.

i’d be suprised if coldplay even heard satriani’s tune before they wrote theirs. outside the world of guitar magazines, he’s not that well known. most of the people i know haven’t even heard of him. if i remember right, mick jagger once said “there are only so many combinations of notes.”

Interestingly enough, Satriani has toured with Mick Jagger.

so many people living in closets and only listening to typical over rated commercial overdose…..sad that so many people are oblivious to the great talent that’s out there, but, however, never been able to reach full stardom because of money zealous recording companies.

In pop music there are only so many combination’s of the of the 7 notes that are going to sound catchy. Mathematicians can calculate the many variations the notes can be combined but they can’t write hit songs. I wrote a song, then 3 years later Black Crows released She talks to Angels. It sounded like mine. I heard it and thought that’s my song. I know there’s no way they ever heard my song. It was a coincidence. Now I can’t play my song because people think I ripped it off.

I listen to both songs and they sound similar but this doesn’t prove it was plagiarized. It just proves they sound similar. I doubt if Coldplay even listens to Joe Satriani.

“I doubt if Coldplay even listens to Joe Satriani”..thats funny..any professional guitarist listens to joe!!its true that joe is not famous..but thats explains why they ripped him off !!

well you guys who are saying we never heard of Joe Satriani … well i think you should go and get some music education !
as he is the teacher of very famous band in the world ,,, what about Metallica ? did u ever heard of them ? well Metallica guitarist begged satriani till he taught him !!!
without mentioning Joe is Steve vai teacher ,,, probably u never heard of vai too ,,, lol if you didnt .. its better not commenting and go listen to your cheezy music and crap pop !!!
enough said !

AAAARGH.
It does not matter if you love/hate Satriani/Coldplay. It does not matter if Satriani/Coldplay is a good/crappy musician. It does not matter if Coldplay does/does not listen to Satriani. It does not matter if Satriani’s/Coldpaly’s song is better/worse than the other, it does not matter if Satriani’s/Colplay’s song sold more than the other.

The facts are, Satriani copyrighted a song in 2004. Coldplay published a song in 2008 that is similar to the song Satriani copyrighted. Satriani sued for copyright infringement, not for having a song stolen. It’s up to a judge to decide if the song is similar enough that it constitutes an infringement on Satriani’s copyrights.

If Coldplay loses it does not mean it copied the song, it means they infringed on Satriani’s copyrights. If Coldplay wins it does not mean they did not steal the song from Satriani, it means it’s different enough not to constitute an infringement on Satriani’s coptright. End of story.

joe satriani(If I Could Fly 2004)copy enanitos verdes (frances limon 2002)

We’re talking about, literally, a few notes that are similar here, basically it corresponds to where Chris Martin sings ‘rule the world’. The rest is actually nothing alike at all. I think that the similarity is almost certainly coincidence.

Funny how people always make these claims with really really successful hits, never obscure album tracks. Weird that!

Dude what the hell?!
Who cares? It shouldn’t really that matter!
It’s just a damn song.
I would less care if people used my stuff that I made. At least we can be sure that people like our stuff. At least we can know that they like it.
Calm down idiots.

It’s not just a song. Joe Satriani made that song for his wife and it took a long time to get the whole song done and recorded. Joe is doing the right thing. Coldplay has been caught plagiarizing many times. Coldplay deserves to get sued for this.

Theory, SHUT UP! That’s the stupidest thing I ever heard. Joe is not suing them for stealing the song itself, but for taking the melody and breaking Joe’s copyright infringement law. You’re wrong about there’s only certain chords that follow the previous chord. You can make any chord follow the previous chord, if you really wanted too, but you have to make it sound good that’s all. It’s funny that you all say that it’s just some stupid thing and stuff like that when the chord progression for both songs are exactly the same, but they are played different and the melody is exactly the same. If you can’t say that is plagiarism, then you have nothing to complain about. This case is an easy one to decide. Coldplay DID infringe with Satriani’s copyright law.

sounds prettttttty darn similar to me. too similar.
honestly, i reckon jow has a case
but even if they cant prove that coldplay ’stole’ parts of the song intentionally, they should still go to jail anyway for writing a song so lame and boring that it sounds like something else already released

Hater, Joes just sounds like any other guitar solo out there.
If the intention was plagiarism, atleast they made it sound musical, rather than another piece of trash.

The chorus melodies sound very similar. If you wrote a book and before you published it someone else some how released their own book but it had word for word almost everything you wrote in your book and they were making millions of dollars. That should be you making that money because it is your material right?

This is all crazy. There are so many songs out there that sound alike. But since this one is such a big hit, its the one people want to sue against. The songs do sound similar, but only the chorus. I dont think that its that big of a deal that it should be brought to court, and I dont think they’re similar enough. Plus there is no proof against coldplay, and I dont think they would do that. They have all original songs. Both are good artists and I think they should just forget about it and get on with their lives.

Coldplay is just like most pop music acts. They look for older material from someone else that they can copy and make a profit from.

There is so much music that has been made that it is impossible to write a new song without accidentally copying something already written.

Joe is just pissed that he can only write shitty songs.
So when he heard this song that hardly sounds like his, he jumped on it to try to make some money, only since he cant do so from his own songs.

“No proof against Coldplay”?
The proof is the melody itself.
Circumstantial evidence.
That’s all that’s needed and it’s certainly there.

Question: Which concert would you rather go to, Coldplay or Joe Satriani?

End of story!

I’m from the UK and I don’t weven know who Joe Satriani or whatever his name is. And his song is terrible anyway, I doubt Coldplay copied it. Typical greedy American

joe satriani is famous in 80’s. codplay members sure know about him. they grow up in 80’s. surprisingly the melody quite similar. coldplay just change a little bit. what a sad for overrated band like coldplay

I think its the same. remember george harrison?

Coldplay have got to be the biggest plagiarizers in the history of music. If you play the songs IF I COULD FLY & VIVA LA VIDA, they are a dead match!!! Joe is doing the right thing. Its a piece of art that he created & Coldplay shouldn’t be able to copy someone else’s song. It’s just not right.

Coldplay have got to be the biggest plagiarizers in the history of music. If you play the songs IF I COULD FLY & VIVA LA VIDA, they are a dead match!!! Joe is doing the right thing. Its a piece of art that he created & Coldplay shouldn’t be able to copy someone else’s song. It’s just not right.

how can one guy own a chord progression and a beat?…..if you recall..there was no singing in the satriani version…..I’ll bet you could find that chord progression in more than on one or two other songs….that would be my defense in court…..good grief…

It is obvious that there are A LOT of pop music fans posting comments defending their little popular pop band who know nothing about the purity of music. Joe is one of the greatest guitarists in history and will long live with Zepp, Stone, GnR, and Van Halen once coldplay is another Fock of Seagulls. Coldplay is good, but they are just a typical pop band.

nobody in colplay will ever be as creative and as skillful as satriani. this is one of the things i hate: that the true virtuosos get payed less and are not as famous like those who i bet cannot read a note.

theirs something called a melodic guitar riff , unsuprisingly its the exact same melodic line that coldplay sing…. nicely done mr.b.

seriously, i dont think it was stolen. i would bet that they didnt even know that this song existed. i mean who listens to some guy jamming to a drum machine. it sucks!!! ive been playing guitar for 15 years, and it still sucks to me!!!

I saw Cold play on TV the drummer was playing a big drum and a bell the singer danced like a baboon and they can’t even do a good rendition of Joe Satriani’s Song.
They are known for stealing songs. There are only 26 letters in the alphabet and people can still come up with different lyrics. Why does coldplay have to keep rippin off other musicians? I guess they can’t write their own music. they’re just another boy band. they will be imortalized along side of the jonas brathers, miley cyrus and all the other silly pop bands.

I saw Cold play on TV the drummer was playing a big drum and a bell the singer danced like a baboon and they can’t even do a good rendition of Joe Satriani’s Song.
They are known for stealing songs. There are only 26 letters in the alphabet and people can still come up with different lyrics. Why does coldplay have to keep rippin off other musicians? I guess they can’t write their own music. they’re just another boy band. they will be imortalized along side of the jonas brathers, miley cyrus and all the other silly pop bands.

I saw Cold play on TV the drummer was playing a big drum and a bell the singer danced like a baboon and they can’t even do a good rendition of Joe Satriani’s Song.
They are known for stealing songs. There are only 26 letters in the alphabet and people can still come up with different lyrics. Why does coldplay have to keep rippin off other musicians? I guess they can’t write their own music. they’re just another boy band. they will be imortalized along side of the jonas brathers, miley cyrus and all the other silly pop bands.

stop whinning. joe just want to have something in return from coldplay cause right now, coldplay is on the top of the world. and joe is like a sinking boat. stop criticizing coldplay if you have nothing relevant to say

stop whinning. joe just want to have something in return from coldplay cause right now, coldplay is on the top of the world. and joe is like a sinking boat. stop criticizing coldplay if you have nothing relevant to say

You idiots know the Verve was sued by the Rolling Stones and wasn’t even as close?
Get a life the ripped Joe Off.

i invented the 1-4-5-1 progression so just about everyone (punk bands especially and even mozart) have ripped me off.

i require much loot for my stolen property.

This song sounds nothing like cold play’s version. Quit hating on cold play and try to come up with your own hit. Cold Play’s album is the shit! Viva La Vida!!!!!!!!!!

Joe Is actually far more talanted than coldplay… you dont see chris up there whakin out an amazing solo do you now… satch is UNREAL at what he does and there is no denying that… just wacth some of his vids and see for yourself… and those of you who say it doesnt even sound like it… GET A GRIP! i do like coldplay and i’m not trying to ctriticize them but it is a very very similar melody.

It’s the same song! Coldplay obviously copied Joe Satriani.

Coldplay will suffer the same fate as Boys to Men and New Edition. Most bands from the last decade or so will. A very dissapointing time in music history. Satriani never got aboard that commercial train, refusing to compromise his art and make hamburger for the masses. For those who say Satriani’s crying foul because hes sinking in his career… be ware of the Chickenfoot (google it) that will come crashing down upon you in June.

Doubting satriani is like doubting God,s existence!!so one can say nothing to the ones who doubt him coz they themself suck so much like co ldplayitself!!

The only way that Coldplay could have copied this song is if it went into the top 100 songs, which it didnt and i hadnt even heard ofJoe Satriani until this has happened.

I think it really is quite unlikely that Coldplay had actually heard this song and equally unlikely that, had they heard it, they would have gone ”;ooh, that’s genius, let’s copy it!!!”. Coldplay claim it’s as much of a surprise to them as it is to anyone and I really think that they are probably telling the truth. The Coldplay haters out there (come on, you know who you are) would LOVE to think that Coldplay deliberately ripped someone off but I think the reality is much more mundane…it’s just a coincidence. Such coincidences are bound to happen. If you write a set of lyrics, for example, do you really believe that EVERY line and phrase you use will be 100% original?!? Dream on!

You’ve NEVER heard of Joe Satriani?

Not hating anybody, but the melody it’s almost identical in parts. Given that Viva la Vida doesn’t sound anything like other Cold Play staff, it’s to doubt. I think there is some plagiarism going on.

Chris said Satriani isn’t relevant enough for him to comment! I guess he’ll have to make some statement now. Ir sounds identical to me.

So then does that mean the Joe stole this song from that Indie band for NYC that everyone is also accusing Cold Play of ripping off. The problem is that 3 bands (people) are claiming that their own is the origional. I don’t see this going anywhere. Do DO Do DO Do De de de de da da da……. Not guys I don’t want to hear that on the radio! I can prove that I wrote it first right here……

So then does that mean the Joe stole this song from that Indie band for NYC that everyone is also accusing Cold Play of ripping off. The problem is that 3 bands (people) are claiming that their own is the origional. I don’t see this going anywhere. Do DO Do DO Do De de de de da da da……. Not guys I don’t want to hear that on the radio! I can prove that I wrote it first right here……

Coldplay are, like them or not, intelligent, clever men. I seriously doubt that they would purposefully rip off Joe Satriani. Why bother? Is Satriani’s melody so damn brilliant that it was too tempting for them? No. What has happened here is that Satriani wrote a tune with a sequence of notes. Coldplay then wrote a song with a similar sequence of notes almost certainly without hearing the Satriani tune. This is what is known as a coincidence and, newsflash conspiracy theorists, coincidences can and do happen, all the time in fact. Oasis have made a career of copying riffs and motifs from other people’s songs. Coldplay have always ATTEMPTED to write their own stuff from scratch; that doesn’t mean that they won’t stumble on a (very simple) little tune that happens to be similar to someone elses’ once in a while. I think this is just bad luck for Coldplay.

It comes down to style of playing and wether you like it or not it sounds more like satrine style in parts. It could be as simple as coldplay heard it, forgot about it and later on had inspiration for this one. Who knows.. they might have just decided that it was too good to pass it up.

Another thing, you can hear iron maiden or dave matthew and instantly tell it’s ‘them’. Even if cold play didnt rip it off, anyone who has listened to joe can tell it’s him. If britney spears was doing a variation of “Hallowed Be Thy Name’, you would be able to tell

It doesn’ matter if coldplay plagerized or not. They made it sound so much better than that other guy. They put real music into it. Satriani’s just sounded like a bunch of jumbled up chords. I will always love coldplay. Go british dudes. fuck satriani.

I agree with Theory. It shouldn’t be against the law for someone to make a song better. Just because Satriani couldn’t make his song sound like that, doesn’t mean that coldplay should be punished. He’s just mad because he did a suck ass job. Coldplay mad it rock. I LOVE COLDPLAY. GO TO HELL SATRIANI.

off course you haven’t heard of jow satriani, hes not a regular mainstream artist that has to be marketed, advertised and sold like your regular run of the mill musician nowadays, he’s not being hammered on the radio 24/7 to make him get inside your head.

his fans are people who are actually interested in music, not in a pretentious way, we recognize his talent, the effort he’s put into his craft, not the label’s endless effort to make him famous…unlike most of the bands that appear on mtv and are part of the “music busyness” as they like to call what they do

wow! i cant believe the arrogance of some people, that people can find it okay to slander the name of joe satriani and that they can put down some one as amazing as satch! its just a sign of how things are today! satch is without doubt one of the most brilliant musicians to walk the earth and has the respect and admiration of people worldwide because of it, and will be forever remembered, cold play will be forgotten like every other band that are flogged on the radio all the time. Lets see were cold play are in 20 years!?

here’s my opinion, Joe Satriani is a musical virtuoso who makes great, amazing music which is not in the mainstream. musicians and music-lovers know him even though he’s not on your regular 24/7 radio. so taking that fact that this guy is not in the mainstream maybe Coldplay thought that nobody knows this guy so nobody will notice if they copy his catchy melody and put it in to a stereotype environment.

I recently chanced upon the song “If I Could Fly”(Fly) by joe satriani.

You know, it was pretty weird when the moment i heard that particular riff in “Fly” and thought how similar it was, if not 90% identical to viva la vida. The background chords, the rhythm and what not are close to the same.

I immediately googled the two songs’ name even though i’ve never heard about the controversy before and arrived at this page.

Technically it may not be plagiarism but a mere coincidence. However, this is one of the few times i chanced upon 2 songs with extremely similar melodies+feel.

Damn that song by Joe Satriani is the shit!!! I’ve never cared for Coldplay anyway, I always thought their song “Clocks” sound a bit like “Dare to Dream” by Yanni…f*ck them…I will be listening to more Joe Satriani. I heard ColdPlay say that Joe “lacked” creativity…give Cold Play the side eye or if U watch Scrubs “The Evil Eye”

I am a fan of both Joe Satriani and Coldplay’s latest album.

Brian Eno, the famous British record producer/ambient music pioneer produced Coldplay’s Viva La Vida.

Eno is know for his considerable musical influence on bands such as U2, The Talking Heads, Devo and David Bowie and also for his command of the equipment and the artist he’s producing during recording sessions.

Joe Satriani wanted desperately for Eno to produce a record for him back in the late 1990’s. Joe at that time was of course way too unknown of an artist for Eno to even consider this.

However, Eno has been noted over the years since Joe’s initial request as saying that he thinks Joe Satriani is a “brilliant artist”.

Considering this historical backgound information, I believe it was Brian Eno who brought Joe Satriani’s melody to the table during the Coldplay recording sessions that he was the mastermind of.

I think Eno heard this chorus melody in his own head during this time working with Coldplay but did not realise that it was planted in his memory long before that moment from listening to Satriani’s version of the same melody. Eno is the link who brought that melody from Joe Satriani to Coldplay because Eno enjoys and listens to Joe’s albums.

Just as Eno has given Paul Hewson (Bono), David Evans (The Edge), Larry Mullen and Adam Clayton of U2 some of “their” most sucessful ideas, Eno this time round brought what he thought was his own sucessful idea to Chris Martin and the guys in coldplay without realising where he first found the idea.

Sariani should call Eno and ask him to produce his next solo album now that he is as famous as Coldplay.

Man,

It’s too easy to see where Satch is coming from. Imagine you’re Satch and you hear this Coldplay song while going about your business. You’d be floored.

Similar chord progression are one thing. However, for the Chris Martin to sing the lead guitar part almost identically might be a bit too much for Satch to swallow as being mere coincidence.

Don’t record labels have people/sound engineers that listen to tracks back and forth to prevent situations like this from happening?

It seems Coldplay have borrowed (intentionally/unintentionally ) from Satriani, but it’s the responsibility of their label to prevent the release of potentially plagiarized work to the public for the gain of all except the original artist. Maybe the label thought they could get away with it.

The whole thing makes Coldplay look even worse given that they are this giant world famous band whilst Satch is a super talented but hardly mainstream guitar virtuoso.

Intentional or not, Satch’s melody was here first. May justice prevail.

Next year’s news: “Satriani Sues Music After Music Plagiarizes Self”

Think before you speak. Also, that being said, I’m not going to argue about this. Listen to the two songs, write, or transcribe each, and then compare. If you can’t even do that, or won’t, then you shouldn’t be commenting on this. Also, don’t let your bias for either artist dictate your decision. If you do… we have uninformed comments like many of the ones below.

Let’s be real here, people. We are dealing with a very simplistic form of music. We’re not talking major symphonies. Sure, Satriani is a very good guitarist. And not to take anything away from his talents, but that’s all he is. Good guitarists are a dime a dozen. So Coldplay decided to arrange their three cords similar to what Satriani did, who in turn, had a similar arrangement to Cat Stevens, so on and so forth. That’s been going on for 60+ years now. The guitar has been done ad nauseum. You can add effects, pedals, whatever, but it’s still a realtively simple style of music.

As far as I’m concerned all these guys are just a rehash of Holly, Berry, Jerry Lee, Little Richard/Anthony, etc. Maybe the estates of the original rockers should be suing all these bands for plagarism.

Sorry, Joe, you haven’t broken any new ground here. There’s just no new ground there to break.

You got to be kidding me…rather it’s the same or not, I don’t or won’t know. I can’t believe anyone could compare the two talent wise! Joe has more talent in his pinky and if they stole it, I hope he gets his. Sinking ship huh, same ship he’s been riding for many years and Joe is one of the most talented musicians I’ve seen. I guess if a 15 year musician can’t recognize that, they need more practice!

satriani can suck my mother fucking dick rolling stones suck he sucks fucking classic rock is a joke fuck all you stupid mother fuckers saying he is a good musician he is not since there are better guitarist out there and chris martin can sing and play unlike satriani deuch who plays guitar real fast with a bunch of chords trying to save his washed up career viva la vida is such a dope suck fuck satriani and his stupid if i could fly song it should be if i should die cause i am an idiot who is paranoid and trying to get money from a fucking band who is pretty much going to rival u2 who knows how long coldplay could last even the beatles might have a mother fucking run

Thank you B. Willis. You have proved yet again how people talk out of their ass just for the sake of saying something. Joe Satriani is an amazing guitarist and you wouldn’t know music if it bit you on the ass. You’re an example of some fucking poser who thinks they know what they’re talking about when all they’re really doing is proving how much space they waste in life. Go fuck yourself hard and do the world a favor and keep your bullshit opinions to yourself

Very well put Jack W. Did he really just say the Beatles should worry about Coldplay? HAHAHAHAHAHHA

Anyone with ears would think it sounded very very similar

Joe Satriani Has been Arounf forever and is clearly one of the best guitar players in the world.so if you dont know who he is then dont even comment. These songs are identical and Joe Satrianis came out first. Common sense. Joe satriani haters GET OVER IT!

Let’s see … Coldplay is accused of plagerism from 3 bands – Creakyboards, Satriani and Cat Stevens. (well, Cat Stevens didn’t come right out and say it, but alluded to it). So … one melody, 4 artists. Now logic dictates that the melody came from only ONE source and thus if you believe Coldplay plagerized, then obviously 2 others did as well. Let’s work it out. Cat Stevens comes out with the melody in 1973. Satriana plagerized the melody in his 2004 release. It was plagerized again by Creakyboards in 2007 and then by Coldplay recently. So if I’m understanding this right, Joe Satriani is suing Coldplay for plagerizing a song that he plagerized himself? LOL … a theif going after another theif for stealing their shit. LMAO … Man, only in America.

Who and or what is a Joe Satriani. Until I saw the b***s*** about the lawsuit I had never heard of this goof. I went and listened to some of his “work”, what a joke. As one commenter said there are a hell of a lot out there 1000 times better. ……Coldplay comes to mind.

“Who or what is a Joe Satriani?” Sounds like Myself has been missing the boat for some quit sometime. Satriani is quite simply an elite guitarist. He has worked with alot of huge artists of Rock from Alice Cooper to Yngwie Malmsteen. He taught many famous guitarist ranging from Kirk Hammet to Steve Vai. “Who or What is a Joe Satriani?” He is a master guitarist whose music you probably heard and just didn’t realize it. As for all of those people who say there are only 12 chords,12 scales, and 7 modes; true but its the way you imply these chords, scales and modes. Theres no doubt about it. They stole from Joe Satriani. They didn’t just stumble over this melody on their own. They had help by listening to a Satriani recording. They took the first part of “If I Could Fly” and scrapped the rest could they ain’t got enough talent to follow the rest cause the rest is basically a jam session that compliments the melody. My advice to Myself… Expand your musical interests. Coldplay has. They listen to Joe Satriani.

lol @ myself, how can you not know who Joe Satriani is? You live in a cave, eh boy?

My word, some people are SPECTACULARLY good at missing the point here. The question, contrary to what some people seem to blindly believe, is NOT whether there is a melodic similarity here or not. Those who smugly think ‘I can hear a similarity’ so that proves Coldplay are thieves are not looking at the wider picture here, which is what any judge/jury will have to do. One melodic phrase (and wake-up people, it’s ONE melodic phrase that is similar here) does NOT indictae plagarism of any kind. The vast bulk of Viva La Vida sounds nothing like Satriani’s track, it is ONLY WHERE CHRIS MARTIN SINGS “I USED TO RULE THE WORLD” THAT THE MELODY IS ACTUALLY THE SAME, the rest is similar at best and in places nothing alike. So, is Viva La Vida entirely based on Satriani’s song? Of course it isn’t, dumbos. Like I say, everyone seems to be very good at missing the point when it comes to these things. NAP makes the excellent point that other people have come along and gone “huh, hey, that really successful, mega-selling, royalty-spinning song sounds a bit like my track from 1987..I’m gonna sue”. So Coldplay have deliberately, all in one go, ripped all these artists off, have they?! Why would they bother?? How would the idea to do so have begun?? Why would they expect to get away with it?? What, you really believe that in this world coincidences don’t happen and that everything someone writes/plays/sings is going to sound NOTHING LIKE anything else out there?? Some people do not live in the real world, it seems. Satriani being a “brilliant musician” (man, there’s some fanboys on here) is not relevant and doesn’t prove Coldplay copied him in any way.

Just because you think Satriani is a great musician and you hate Coldplay doesn’t mean that his lawsuit is correct/justified and that Coldplay have done anything wrong. If you look hard enough, you’ll find hundreds, maybe thousands of songs with similarities akin to this. It’s interesting how it’s always when it’s a big hit that other artists start claiming they ‘wrote it first’. To think money doesn’t come into this is very naive.

One more thing; I think a few people aren’t aware that Satriani is much better known in the USA than he is overseas, unless you are regularly buy Guitar magazines and have done for the past twenty years.

One more thing; I think a few people aren’t aware that Satriani is much better known in the USA than he is overseas, unless you regularly buy Guitar magazines and have done for the past twenty years.

just add this to the list:
CP “Talk vs. Kraftwerk “Computer Love”
identical. even to the synth riff.
i guess CP figured no one was listening to 25 year old krautrock eh?
listen & decide yourself, on itunes.
go ahead, make my day.

Joe satriani is one of if not the worlds greatest guitarists of all time, if you motherlickers cant get to grips with the fact coldplay stole this melody then ur obviously thick as shit! anyone with eyes let alone ears can hear the fact that its been stolen from the satch man, and all u ppl out there that are sayin “who the fuk is satch we love coldplay”, think bout this, u just slated someone who made the fukin music for that coldplay song that u all love so much in the first place! iv seen more talent in an out of date sandwich than coldplay! SATCH MAN FOREVER!!!! lets see them rip off satch boogie!….or should i say viva la boogie hahahahaha!

Err, Ozzie, you need to do your homework. Coldplay were open about using the Kraftwerk riff for Talk and got their permission to do so.

There are STILL people posting here whose (flawed) logic is that because (in their view) Satriani is some kind of God who walks amongst men and plays guitar better than Hendrix, Clapton and Page put together then that proves Coldplay stole his tune. What total gibberish! And STILL people are not realising that a melodic similarity does NOT PROVE artistic theft of any kind! I don’t think anyone is denying that a similarity exists (for all those ”anyone with ears can hear it…” bores) but the issue is a) whether Viva La Vida is an exact copy of Satriani’s track – which it is not – and b) whether Coldplay DELIBERATELY INTENDED TO USE SATRIANI’S WORK CONSCIOUSLY.

Is this THAT difficult for people to understand??!

b) whether Coldplay DELIBERATELY INTENDED TO USE SATRIANI’S WORK CONSCIOUSLY…..

…..which Coldplay have totally denied. As intelligent men, I doubt seriously that they would have done this and tried to hide it and that they would continue to deny it. Their statements on the subject indicate genuine surprise so I seriously do not think that they thought they had written a track that was anything like someone elses’.

all of you are too judgmental.
there is a LOT of music out there… there is a very good chance that one song might sound a little bit like another one.. not every single song can sound completely different.

listen, all of you just going off what you can hear or w/e logic you’re trying to show off with your flash light of stupid need to read this…

theres more to music than sound, when the songs dont sound the same they ARE spot on with tempo, bridge time, and other aspects of basic theory. This means while the songs aren’t sounding the same, they’re still walking the same pace, matching their feet withe very steep, they’re just talking in different sounds. all it would’ve taken for coldplay to avoid all this was to go and get permission, satch isnt some stingy ass, he’s one of the nicest people you can probably see live, he’s very passionate about music (from what i’ve seen and witnessed from his live preformances) much more than that of coldplay who is rather bland and ignorant to everything besides the fact of how popular they are, anyways, satch would’ve let this all go if permissions we requested so on and so on. i’d think that the record company, their producer, their agents, someone would’ve checked the legitamacy of their songs before release…

Search youtube for “satriani coldplay morph”. GUILTY!

If Viva La Vida bore any similarity to Hey Jude or Jumping Jack Flash then someone may well have said ”hey, lads, that track is a bit like….you should ask permission”. But, like it or not, Satriani is a relatively obscure artist (especially outside the USA) and I totally doubt that many people would have EVER EVER EVER heard this track of his were it not for this issue.

You also ALL SEEM TO BE IGNORING THE FACT THAT COLDPLAY HAVE ASKED PERMISSION BEFORE WHEN TALK TOOK A RIFF FROM KRAFTWERK. So why would they not do so this time? The answer is obvious – they didn’t know that their track was anything like Satriani’s.

That’s right, Chris. And remember that, IN ACTUAL FACT, as a whole song, Viva La Vida is nothing like Satriani’s work. It is one BRIEF melodic phrase that is reminiscent. THAT IS ALL. Trying to build a copyright case based on one melodic similarity (which IS NOT EVEN THE MAIN HOOK OF VIVA LA VIDA) is like an author trying to copyright a sequence of words. Daft, arrogant and money-hungry.

Satriani will be telling us that he invented the C major chord on the guitar next.

Paul Tunney – no one is denying the similarity. But ONE melodic line being alike is not plagarism. The main hook(s) in Viva La Vida are nothing to do with Satriani. Satriani did not invent musical scales. He knows which notes sound good together, but DOH! so do Coldplay. There is no way a novelist can write a book without using ideas/phrases/situations/chara cters that have been used in some way before. Likewise a songwriter cannot possibly come up with tunes that sound nothing like anything else. Some people are so short-sighted on this issue. Listening to the two tracks and going ”that’s it! I heard it! There’s a bit that’s really similar there!” means NOTHING in terms of PROOVING that Coldplay DELIBERATELY SET OUT TO COPY SATRIANI. I am sorry but the dude’s music is NOWHERE NEAR FAMOUS ENOUGH to make it likely that Coldplay EVER HEARD IT!!!!

I think some people think that this is ”real music” (Satriani) versus ”popular, commercial music” (Coldplay) and therefore want to see Satriani win this lawsuit for that reason alone, which is just plain silly.

Someone earlier said this (or words to this effect): Do you think Coldplay sat and listened to loads of Satriani showing off his fast fiddly fret work just to find a little bit of a tune to steal?? Really?? Get real here! Do you think they heard this track somewhere?? Where can you actually hear Satriani’s music playing?? I couldn’t hum you a single Satriani ”tune” and I listen to loads of music from all over the place.

Either Brian ENO heard this or Coldplay heard this somebody before heard this, I mean same background melody with the guitar doing the singing parts. NO COINCIDENCE, I went into this one thinking Joe is crazy but I found myself singing Vida la Vida with it. Coldplay should just settle it becasue it will only damage their crediability later regardless if the whole chorus is a coincidence but MAN THAT IS NOTE FOR NOTE AND someone (if not the band) the producers BRIAN ENO someone thought they were gonna slide it by IMO. Lookwhat happened to The Verve and bittersweet symphony, a precedent has been set, and there wasnt no one note stolen, it was big part of the song. DO THE RIGHT CHRIS MARTIN (HELL YOU GOT ENOUGH MONEY) give Satch his due and some Cash

Anty
I totally understand what you are saying, did you even go to you tube and look at the video I referenced? Please do it, you might have a change of heart. Chords – yes, Parts of a melody – sure, whole sections? NO WAY! And they have a BIG history of doing this.
So… search youtube for “satriani coldplay morph” and I think we all, fellow jurors, will find Coldplay GUILTY!

“To be or not to be”, five simple words even my little girl knows but if she said them in a row I would ask “Where di you hear Shakespeare?”

I think Coldplay would cough up fast if they actually felt they were at fault. It’s not a whole section that is the same, people. It’s only one part of it. The whole chorus of Viva La Vida is NOTHING LIKE this Satriani guitar workout in any way. Yes, listened to both tracks and the morph and still seriously doubt they DELIBERATELY ripped this off. Amazing how no one believes in coincidence in a world that’s full of them.

I’m amazed by people who think Satriani’s work is in any way well known. It’s not. Don’t know a single person who owns a single one of his albums.

I talked with Sartriani last week about this subject and he told me that he is very depressed. He loves Coldplay and he doesn`t want to cause any problems to the band. He also said that Obama called him last night to talk about this subject and about what happened with Michael Jackson. But the prices of wine in France are higher now. It is very cold in Amsterdam, so Im going to ride my bike and think about Viva la Vida. Thank you for your cooperation.

Looks like we have a die hard fan here in Anty who just CAN’T come to grip with the fact the their beloved Coldplay is guilty of plagiarism (which they have been accused of before). Do you know Coldplay? Do you know the ENTIRE band? Are you sure that not a single ONE of them heard of Joe Satriani? You must honestly live under a rock if you’ve never heard of Satriani. If a tree falls in the forest does it not make a sound? Let it go.

When did I say I hadn’t heard of Satriani?! Can’t you read properly? What I actually said was that his music is not well known. 9 out of 10 people on the street would not be able to name a Satriani track let alone hum one. Yet apparently Coldplay DEFINITELY heard his music. That is my point – saying that a band definitely heard the music of someone whose music is not famous at all is like saying that everyone is familiar with Bananarama b-sides. E.g. total nonsense. I’m actually fairly luke-warm on Coldplay, I don’t love them at all, but I am not a Coldplay-hater like all the dumbos here who are delighted to think that Coldplay are in trouble. And for the last time, whenever Coldplay have used something before they’ve admitted it, e.g Talk from X&Y. I am merely expressing the point that the two tracks are not as alike (the entire song, I’m saying) as everyone seems to think and saying that I think it is very likely a coincidence.

To say Joe Satriani is unheard of outside of the USA, is ridiculous. Thats like saying the guitar is unheard of outside of the USA. Whether you want to admit it or not, he is infact a well known guitarist. And his tunes are used for things ranging from TV commercials to video games, from movies to sports shows (and it is even rumored that the Phoenix Coyetes use “Crowd Chant” when ever they score a goal). NASCAR used his tunes. Do I really need to go on? He has been putting stuff out since 1988. When Coldplay is still stuff out for 20 years and they are employed by other famous artist for their musical expertise; when they are teaching and producing students who are making their mark in the music world… maybe then I will rank them up there with real musicians. I think it is unfair to real musicians, who slaved hard at their craft to hone and perfect their “noodling”, to remain in the background while cooperate-backed “stars” like Britney Spears, and yes, even Coldplay, hog the limelight. But, I guess that is the nature of the beast. Terrible!!

Again, the can’t read properly brigade strike again. Never said Satriani was unheard of outside the USA. And to say his name is as famous as the guitar itself is an absurd statement, as well you probably know. What I am saying is if you asked people on a bus in London, or a train in Sydney who Satriani is they would perhaps recognise the name but MOST WOULD NOT KNOW WHAT/WHO HE IS – HE IS NOT KNOWN BEST BY READERS OF GUITAR MAGAZINES FROM TEN/FIFTEEN/TWENTY YEARS AGO. They certainly would not be able to whistle one of his songs. So damn what that his music has been used in ads and stuff – that doesn’t mean anyone is actually familiar with it in a conscious way at all. Why can’t you Americans grasp that?

There are actually people here who think Satriani is as famous as John Lennon or Paul McCartney and that his songs are as well known as Yesterday or Imagine, aren’t there?! OH MY WORD!! That is frighteningly misguided.

ok let us put this into perspective, i live in jersey, litterally the other side of the world from america, 9 out of ten people know who satch is, they know why he is and they love and appreciate his skill, and hey im not bein funny but are u stupid, of course he is as famous as the guitar himself, he has his own range of guitars made by the worlds number 1 top makes IBANEZ! the JS(Joe Satriani) so wat the hell are u talkin bout, u dont see a fukin coldplay Ibazez do you????i wonder why???????

Agree with zigga. Not sure this was plagiarised. There are a few basic notes and rhythms that go well together in music. This is a basic chord progression. Clearly, Satriani ripped this off from a sitar tune from several hundred years ago… or from that popular Greek harp tune… What?! You haven’t heard of it??

I’m just amazed how many people can’t get their heads around the concept that two songs sounding similar (in one little phrase) does not automatically equal theft. If Satriani is such a music God, how come he doesn’t have the sense to know that it is VERY unlikely that his guitar romp is original anyway. Hasn’t Cat Stevens said that he might sue too?! So whose song actually is this then?! The answer is that he knows that songs sound alike all the time, but he wants in on the credit and the cash for a world-wide hit – has he ever had a world-wide hit, all those people who keep on about Satriani being the equivalent of Beethoven or Lennon or Dylan?? Mmmmm, methinks he hasn’t.

I know so many people who are very into music of all genres, and none of them have Satriani in their large CD collections. Mainly air-guitar obsessives would care about Satriani or ”Satch” as his buddies seem to call him.

Also, if you think Satriani’s music is so well known, re-read the original piece on this page, where is mentions that ”Satriani’s lawyers will have to prove Coldplay somehow heard “If I Could Fly,” which may be a difficult task”.

This is because his music is not the equivalent of The Beatles, or The Rolling Stones, or even Cat Stevens. His ’song’ are not part of the wallpaper of popular culture/music. Dream on if you think they are.

Satriani may well be a respected musician, but that is NOT the same thing as having famous songs/pieces of music.

This is total bull. I don’t really listen to either band/ guitarist and they sound completely different. I think the problem has arisen from the guitar hook which simply rises by a tone and drops by a third. That combination of notes does not belong to coldplay or Satriani. Then there is the fairly sustained rhythmic accompaniment of both pieces – again not something to unique to coldplay or satriani. If we start making comparisons here and suing people we’ll end up with loads of rubbish comparisons and a blame culture in music. There are essentially only 12 notes in our western scale and 24 chords. There are bound to be things which sound vaguely similar. The answer is to buy both albums and enjoy listening to the differences – not the similarities

This is total bull coming out of Satriani. First, they barely sound alike, and second, I haven’t even HEARD of this guy’s existence until today. So how would Coldplay be able to find this if the average human, doesn’t know this guy! His song’s good, but, like in the article, he needs proof they listened to it, and they can’t, because they didn’t.

Well said turner and aviyah97.

With all respect to the posters before me, the fact that you, or your friends, or the jury hearing the case has never heard of Satriani is immaterial. All that matters under copyright law, is if there was direct copying (which can be inferred by access – i.e. did coldplay hear the song?), and is there substantial similarity?

Substantial similarity is a difficult standard to meet. Remember that Queen couldn’t meet it when suing vanilla ice. I’d say that Coldplay probably wins, but may settle to avoid the lawsuit, which will probably cost $50-100K

The chords and melody Chris Martin sings are virtually identical to the Satriani song, even the tempo and key. If this was in a different key, different tempo, it might be easier to say probably not.
However, they are too darn similiar as they were released.
(remember George Harrison sued by the Chiffons lost for unintential plagiarism)
BTW, 90% of guitarists who play in a rock band within the 2 decades have heard of Joe Satriani and likely own an albums of his.
Coldplay never heard of him?? C’mon…
When Mick Jagger went on solo tour in 1988 who did he have for his guitarist? Joe Satriani. Joe has also been on Deep Purple tours,in the 1990’s and 2004. Joe has had very prominently sucessful guitar students like Steve Vai, (solo and David Lee Roth) Kirk Hammett,(Metallica). Joe Satriani’s First album “Surfing with the Alien” went platinum, so he is very well known in the music industry and his recordings are found in a huge number of households. Joe Satriani will likely win this one, settled out of court.

And still they come – those who do not read properly. My point has always been that whilst I am very familiar with Satriani the guitarist, e.g. I know who he is and what he does, I do not know ANY of his music, and I expect a lot of people in the world would say the same. Why? For the dozenth time, because his guitar workouts are simply not famous pieces of music. Too bad if you worship ‘Satch’ and air-guitar to his stuff, the reality is that he he has never written anything that has become famous. Accept it.

I love both songs and both artists-think they should collaborate and turn this into $$

Dear Anty,
this is not about famous- its stealing ideas. They are IP (intellectual property) and you clearly are uninformed about the rules of engagement here.
Factis

You do all realise (actually, most of you clearly don’t) that 99% of artists know that, if they have copied something, the smart thing to do is to either make it clear from the beginning, or to admit it the second that someone else points the similarity out. Coldplay are in this 99% – I know this because they have admitted this before when the track Talk used a Kraftwerk riff.

But what has happened here? Well, Coldplay are sticking quite firmly to the defense that any similarity is a total surprise to them. So why would they do that then? BECAUSE THEY GENUINELY DID NOT INTEND TO COPY ANY OF SATRIANI’S SACRED GUITAR PLAYING.

I’m sorry to all the Coldplay haters who are desperate to see them fry over this, but you’ll just have to accept that Coldplay are innocent here.

I think it was Anthax who said ” …outta sight, outta mind. It was yours, but now its mine. Take a riff, take a line. Outta sight, outta mind.” The album that “If I Could Fly” was released on, “Crystal Planet”, was put out over a decade ago. I think this is what might have happened… someone in the Coldplay camp thought that no one would remember this sweet lil tune. Yes, Anty, there are some people out there that remember it. (I don’t play air guitar, I prefer the real thing, myself.) Satch? God Status? no. Legendary Status? Beyond a shadow of a doubt. I would have to rank him right up there with Randy Rhoads and Eddie Van Halen. My question to you, Anty, is this… Are you saying that Coldplay are ranked right up there with The Beetles and The Rolling Stones? If so then THAT, my friend, is the absurd statement on this thread. They have along way to go for anyone to be able to say that. One more fact to pass on about the Satch Signature model guitar, JS series. Its also one of three of the longest running models out of all of the guitar companies signature series. He also has a signature amp, pick-ups, and distortion pedal. I’ve been checking to see when the Coldplay signature series gear are coming out… no word yet. I’m still waiting, though.

oh yeah! Last night I was watching “Americas Got Talent”, and there was a 9 year old on there show casing his ability on the ‘ol Ax. When asked who inspired him to play, Joe Satriani was the first name of three that passed through his innocent lil lips. Well my point is this, all who watched that show now have heard of the name Joe Satriani. lol

Sid, you sort of sounded like you had something useful to say until this:

“My question to you, Anty, is this… Are you saying that Coldplay are ranked right up there with The Beetles and The Rolling Stones? If so then THAT, my friend, is the absurd statement on this thread”

I just had another look at my posts and at no time have I even suggested that. So clearly you have a reading/comprehension level of a 6 year old if you think I have said that or you are simply deliberately misinterpreting my posts to try and provide yourself with a line of attack.

And it seems I have to say it again: Satriani IS a respected guitar player – yes. Does this mean that modern bands like Coldplay, Fleet Foxes, Blur, Augie March etc listen to his CD’s – NO! Why is this SOOOO hard for you to understand???

Also, you clearly think you know a lot, Sid. You don’t. If I Could Fly is from 2004 not from ten years ago. There aren’t words for this kind of inaccuracy. Why did you bother posting all this drivel?

if you think Coldplay stole from Satriani’s song you really should have your ears gouged out with a spoon. We’re talking about THREE notes in the entire chorus that are similar. It’s not even a complete chord progression! You people are no better than those morons who see the virgin mary in toasted cheese. Or maybe you’re just a bunch of fat balding aging rockers who desperately want to see your never-been idol try to steal some the fame of a band that has achieved more than a hundred Satriani’s could. Get over yourselves you pathetic losers.

I just noticed that Sid doesn’t even spell The Beatles’ name correctly in his post.

I’d say that failure to know how to spell the name of the most seminal and significant band ever combined with thinking that Satriani is musically important is basically the same as saying ”I know nothing whatsoever about music”.

It’s funny seeing all the Coldplay haters here who’ve obviously never actually listened to the band. So any band that sells a lot of albums must automatically be bad? Well then, I guess that makes Satriani the greatest artist ever, because absolutely no one buys any of the dud records he’s made. Joe Satriani is some Santana-copycat who makes guitar wank music with a cheap casiotone keyboard drum machine as his backing band. He “shreds”, so therefore he must be cool. Really? The man is a complete zero as a songwriter. No one will ever remember any song he’s ever written because it’s just guitar wanking. Coldplay on the other have already achieved immortality. Just another forgettable boyband? Seriously, you clearly don’t know a damned thing about music if you a) equate Coldplay with boybands and b) think Satriani can hold a candle to them. I guess if this conversation happened a decade or two ago you’d be calling The Police or U2 another boyband. Until now I never had anything against Satriani, because frankly, his existence was utterly irrelevant. If he died tomorrow or had never been born it would amounted to the same thing. He hasn’t brought anything of lasting value to music – the man makes disposable guitarporn. But now I hate him – for his obvious greedy attempt to cash in on the talent of another band, and for having an army of retards as fans.

Oops! Sorry for the mis-spelling of “The Beatles”, my bad. As for my line of attack? It is simply that Satriani deserves the respect that he has earned. And yeah, he has earned it. I don’t hate Coldplay. I do have ONE of their tunes on my player. Its really the only one that caught my attention. I have listened to both artists. As for me thinking that I know alot… I know enough. Never claimed to know it all or even alot. But the definition of a riff is a short melodic ostinato. I think the melody part lying underneath “ru-le the world” would qualify as a riff. The main part I’m looking at is “ru-le”. Satriani uses a 1/4 bend on that note, as Martin duplicated this with his vocals as he raised it up in a smooth blended note change. If he (Martin) were to have used two whole notes or even a half step, then I would say there is a difference there. If Martin would have used a rest there, there there would be a difference. The next two notes in question here is almost irrelevant but adds to the phrasing. Once again, the exact same two notes, same in every way. Like I said before “It is the way you imply these modes, chords and scales” that makes the statement. Chris and Joe made the exact same statement… Joe used a riff to make it and Chris made it with his vocals. My reading comprehension and spelling may very well be at the six grade level, but my music theory and knowledge is alot higher than that. I play by ear, therefore I have to really listen close to the notes of the intended song that I’m learning. After about 24 years worth of “noodling” on a fretboard you tend to become fairly good at hearing whats going on within the music. So all I did was listen real close to the notes that Chris used and way they both implied the phrasing and came to this conclusion… THEY IMPLIED AND MADE THE EXACT SAME STATEMENT!!

Oops! There goes my 6 YEAR OLD “reading/comprehension” skills, again. In my last post, I stated “6 GRADE LEVEL”, when, Anty in fact, said “6 YEAR OLD”. Damn! I wish I could raed… er, I mean… read better and understand what the hell I’m reading. (I wish this thing had an eraser!)Maybe, perhaps, I’m just giving myself the benefit of the doubt. But, what did you expect from a guy from Harrison, Arkansas! Oh well! Screw it! I can speak a language that the whole universe can understand… that language is called Music!!! YEEE-HAAAAWW!!!

Simon Parson, you spoke with an eloquence and insightfulness that made me laugh and smile with approval. Well done.

Switch on any radio station in the world that plays popular music from the past 40 years. Hits that mean something to people. Classic tracks by dozens and dozens of artists and groups. The Beatles will always feature pretty largely on those stations, as will U2, Oasis, Fleetwood Mac, Kate Bush, Crowded House, Pink Floyd and Radiohead. Many, many others of course. Coldplay have now got a number of tracks that would get played on these stations; Yellow, In My Place, Clocks, The Scientist, Fix You and of course Viva La Vida. Listen to any of those stations for an entire week and you will never hear a Satriani track.

Why is this?

Because the reality is that no one cares about his music in a meaningful, non-guitar-wank way. The artists I have listed above will still have their music played a hundred years from now. No one will give a toss who Satriani even was then, apart from some spotty, sad teenager with no friends sitting there strumming a guitar in his bedroom and worshipping some guy called ‘Satch’.

Question – is there anyone here who believes that the chorus of Viva La Vida has been copied from Satriani? The ”I hear Jerusalem bells are rining…” section that is. It’s nothing alike, is it.

What has happened here is that Coldplay wrote a tune using the a similar group of chords and notes to Satriani, purely by coincidence. By coincidence, one sequence (I used to rule the world…etc) ended up sounding a little bit like a riff in If I Could Fly. Coincidence, pure and simple.

What Satriani came up with (which he didn’t anyway) is not so wonderful and amazing that anyone would bother copying that. Why? You think Coldplay can’t put notes together without listening to guitar wank first?

ok,I agree with U2, Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd and possibly Radiohead…but not the others. Anyways, they don’t even put out albums anymore. Maybe individually, but not collectively. I’ll put it this way, even your beloved Beatles hardly gets air time on the radio around where I live. And when they do its the same 3 songs, no others. What the hell does the radio have to do with anything? Sharon Isbin is a well respected musician, basically the top of her game, do you hear her recordings on the radio? No. Just because your not on the radio doesn’t mean you are’t making an impact on the music world. Iron Maiden never got radio air time. Didn’t stop them from selling out world tours and they still do. WTF is a “guitar wank” anyways? It almost sounds like you’re jealous of someone who loves music so much that they take it one step further and actually took the time to learn how to play an instrument; whether it be a guitar, piano, or drums. Do you play an instrument? If not, I suggest you pick one up. Then you will see the dedication it takes to become good at it, let alone what it takes to become a virtuoso. Do you have that type of dedication it takes? I love music so much that I wanted to be apart of it. Even though I’m not on the radio, does that mean I am not part of the universal expression of music? No. I play everyday for my own pleasure. Not for anyone elses pleasure, not for money, not for fame, not for anything but my own self gratitude. Yes, as a guitar player, myself, its in the musicians code to pay respect to those who broke bountries, created new genres, and made an impact on the real music world on their own. Not a cooperate ran commercial music world that pumps out music to fill their bottomless pockets full of cash. As for the Grammys,(What a f*&%ing joke) all that is is a popularity contest. Does that measure who is more talented? NO! It is simply who is more popular and who has sold more. The commercial music world is a finicky monster. You maybe on top now, but what about tomorrow? Only time will tell if Coldplay has the
“staying power” to keep pumping out “Grammy winning” tunes. What does it take to be a band with staying power? Ask Iron Maiden. Ask George Strait. Ask AC/DC. Ask anyone who has be at the grinding stone creating music and forging new sounds thought up from an idea that they had, or an idea from someone else who handed it over to them and said “Run with it! You have my blessing. Squeeze all you can outta it!” Why are all of us “Guitar Wankers” are so offended by this BS. Because we understand completely how it feels to have someone rip an idea out from underneath you and hear them say I wrote that. Don’t tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about…don’t you even dare tell me that. I,proudly, wear the badge of “GUITAR WANKER”!! I’m finished here. ‘Nuff said.

“Satriani… who?” I would say if it wasn’t for this accusation. Awkuardly, I would also say, “Coldplay… who?” if it wasn’t for “Viva La Vida.”
When I heard “Viva La Vida” for the first time, I rushed to the computer to punch in overheard lyrics to find out what is this wonderful creation called. The video setup and the music had formed a synergy, but…. Every one from the band was acting according to the music and it’s meaning except Chris Martin. The guy has no idea how to behave in this clip. Many of you might ask, “what’s your point?” My point is that for “Viva La Vida” Chris is just a singer, maybe with some royal ancestry to match the song’s spirit. As for the rest, I’d say “Viva La Vida” is a song unlike the rest of the “Coldplay” songs. My implications? None! Sometimes a tune comes out in your head, and you might not even know what it was that inspired it. With “Viva La Vida” the “Coldplay” did something new, something different than how they came up with the rest of their songs.
The music in “Viva La Vida” matches the lyrics’ deep meaning – melancholy. The meaning of Joe Satriani’s “If I could fly” is different – dreamy.
Hardly anyone would come up with idea to use dreamy tune to express sadness.
Bottom line, successful people has always been attacked, especially by those who spent their entire life climbing and never reached the top. Hypothetically, if Coldplay did steal the tune from Satriani, that would make Satriani’s “If I Could Fly” somewhat a big hit – which is not. Nevertheless, it would not diminish the the masterpiece “Viva La Vida”. Joe Satriani wasn’t good enough to make his “If I Could Fly” into a hit. Does he desrve more money or glory from it than he got? NO.
Coldplay delivered “Viva La Vida” which hit the tops, and every looser who reasonably can yells “Plagirism”. What’s new?

Guitar wank is like in the middle of a Queen show (watch any live DVD of theirs) and you will see Brian May doodling on his guitar for the best part of twenty minutes. Now I love Queen, I think they are one of the best ever. And Brian May is a superb guitarist, one of the best. But it is generally much more enjoyable to hear someone showcasing their skill as part of an actual song, rather than spending half an hour fiddling around bending strings and making your fingers go blurry and showing how many blues scales you’ve mastered. Yes, it shows talent. Yes, it proves dedication. No, it is not interesting to hear. It’s boring for MOST people to listen to. It wouldn’t get played on the radio. So, whose it for? Chiefly, it becomes for the pleasure of the player rather than the listener. Like sex, music is supposed to be a two-way thing, a shared experience. But if it has become only about the person playing it showing how skilled they are on the fretboard, then it has become guitar wank. Now do you understand?

By the way, I play guitar. Not as brilliantly as ‘Satch’, but if it made me obsessed with making the kind of records he makes and thinking of myself as a songwriter when in fact I am just a player, then I am glad I can’t play like him. People like him have lost the ability to ’sit back’ and just compliment the song – they have to take it over and make the song a guitar wank.

Nothing wrong with ”guitar wank” in the privacy of your own home with only the player present. But it is different when the player expects an audience to enjoy listening to an hour of that accompanied by a backing track. It’s boring and self-indulgent. Satriani seems to think he is a songwriter, which I think is a little bit of a stretch of the term to be honest. He is a guitarist only. Brilliant at his instrument he may be, but he is not someone whose CD’s are of mass-interest.

Have you heard Chickenfoot, yet? It’ll actually amaze you how well controled he is… his leadwork and fills compliment their tunes very well. It’s not his band, he was hired on afterward. Give ‘em a listen to. I would have picked a different band name though. lol

It amazes me how many people are missing the point. It’s not about who’s “better” at making songs,or who gets more radio play. When you decide to have no singing in your music you are knowingly and deliberately limiting your audience mostly to guitar enthusiasts. There is nothing wrong with this, and I don’t think Satriani’s allegations are an attempt to claim any superiority of any kind.

However, does this mean that Coldplay, who no doubt take in as much music as they can as professional musicians with an interest in creating new music, does this mean they can subconsciously recycle something they overheard once in a guitar lesson without anyone bringing them up on it?

I don’t necessarily think Satriani should get all the money or anything, but if he gets a little credit as the indirect co-originator then something good will have come of it.

Oh god… well Anty missing the point yourself. I love Coldplay- and Joe Satriani. Fact is- If even unintentionally you copy some artist (albeit some savant pidgeonholed artist like Joe Satriani) you have still plagiarised even if unintentionally) I know I have done so myself as a guitarist and singer/songwriter. Stuff gets buried in your head way deep. There are beautiful patterns and melodies which have powerful (and sometimes buried) grasps on our musical brain. I don’t know what the equitable settlement might look like, but it certainly can’t blow off Joe Satriani. Thats not right nor fair.

Oh god… well Anty missing the point yourself. I love Coldplay- and Joe Satriani. Fact is- If even unintentionally you copy some artist (albeit some savant pidgeonholed artist like Joe Satriani) you have still plagiarised even if unintentionally) I know I have done so myself as a guitarist and singer/songwriter. Stuff gets buried in your head way deep. There are beautiful patterns and melodies which have powerful (and sometimes buried) grasps on our musical brain. I don’t know what the equitable settlement might look like, but it certainly can’t blow off Joe Satriani. Thats not right nor fair.

Personally I think Anty is either a lawyer for Coldplay or an incompetent music “affecianado” cause the counter arguments are very lame. “I’m a guitarist too” but he’s a wanker cause he doodles on long leads doesn’t fly. Brian May is a wanker too? go away little person. You are not spekaing in the real world. Your not even a real musician, your arguments aren’t based on musical facts. We are talking about songs here. Take a hike. Let me say one more time I LOVE COLDPLAY! I have learned and can sing and play Yellow, Clocks, Violet Hill, and Vida La Vida. This doesn’t change my thoughts. Its too similiar.

Personally I think Anty is either a lawyer for Coldplay or an incompetent music “affecianado” cause the counter arguments are very lame. “I’m a guitarist too” but he’s a wanker cause he doodles on long leads doesn’t fly. Brian May is a wanker too? go away little person. You are not spekaing in the real world. Your not even a real musician, your arguments aren’t based on musical facts. We are talking about songs here. Take a hike. Let me say one more time I LOVE COLDPLAY! I have learned and can sing and play Yellow, Clocks, Violet Hill, and Vida La Vida. This doesn’t change my thoughts. Its too similiar.

Actually FACTIS (ironic name for someone who doesn’t stick to the facts – well done there) where did I say Brian May is a wanker? Looked through for where I said that and can’t find it. Oh, yeah, that’s right. You just made it up to fit your ‘point’. If you cannot argue without accusing the other side of saying things they haven’t then it is you who is presenting a ”lame” argument.

I’m not a real musician, no. And where did I say I was? And, if we’re being accurate here, are YOU a real musician? What do you play in? The local pub at best I’d guess. Don’t be such a ponce. You are no more a musician than I am and your knowledge is no better than mine – if it is I can’t see the evidence of it anywhere here. Don’t just make crap up and then think you are superior when most of what you wrote doesn’t even make sense as your English is so garbled. Get a life and grow up and stop thinking that calling yourself FACTIS means you are any more of an authority than anyone else.

Also – ”Nick” – no one has missed the point. We know it’s not about radio play you tool. The discussion about radio play is relevant through because if Coldplay can make it seem likely they never heard this track then they are off the hook. And for what it’s worth you don’t hear Satriani on the radio. Cos no one cares about him other than sad subscribers to guitar magazines.

Oh Anti-
“anty | 7/19/2009, 5:38 am EST

Guitar wank is like in the middle of a Queen show (watch any live DVD of theirs) and you will see Brian May doodling on his guitar for the best part of twenty minutes.”
this is Anty calling Brian May a wanker. Isn’t that a person who does guitar wank? (read your statement again)

I wont bother talking to the rest of your dumb crap. I am clearly a musician, you aren’t. Go argue about fashion or somethin eh?

Calling a type of playing, obviously flippantly, as ”guitar wank” does not mean that the player is a wanker and even if you choose to infer that it does, you total fool, at no time did I actually SAY that. In fact, I made reference to liking both Queen and Brian May in the same passage. So if you select to take one remark out of the context of the other and make inferences from it that I have categorically denied anyway then you are simply dogmatically sticking to an argument because you think you are clever. Which you are not.

One more thing – how are you ”clearly a musician”? What? Cos you say so? OOOHHHH! Sorry! He SAYS he’s clearly a musician so it MUST be true! Who are you? Slash? Jimmy Page? No, you are the tool who plays guitar in his bedroom, thinks he’s great and talks total **** on forums like this.

For those that have got this confused, I was NOT saying that radio is the guide to what is good and what is not. My point has ALWAYS been that, contrary to what some people have said here, Satriani does not produce music that MANY people are familiar with – this was how the radio discussion was relevant. I was using that as an example of how you DO NOT HEAR his music being played very often. Only people with a serious interest in the guitar would seek out his albums in a record shop. I was making the point that IF Satriani was often on the radio, you could perhaps say it was more likely that Coldplay might have heard his music, but seeing as that is CLEARLY NOT THE CASE, it is very likely that they have not spent time listening to his music or are familiar with it. Sure they listen to music as I would expect all musicians do but that doesn’t mean that Satriani is on their list of people to listen to. I fail to see why he would be and am amazed that there are people who seriously think a British band like Coldplay would go into HMV and buy Satriani stuff. They might buy Fleet Foxes, Radiohead, Wilco etc, but Satriani?! Get real.

Loads of people are referring to the similar bit as the ”hook” of Viva La Vida. Err, no it’s not. The slightly similar bit occurs in the verse of Viva La Vida. The chorus of the song, plus the ”woah, oh, oh” singalong refrain (which would be best described as the hooks) are not the same as Satriani’s track at all. Don’t people know anything?!

Joe is the man. He has all of my respect and his influence on my music is in calculable…Mr. Satriani has more groove and soul in his pinky toe than those TRUE WANKERS.
They are such ultra puss super wankers I will never speak their name…
Jimmy Valentine

Even if I felt inclined to respect Joe as a guitarist, I now could never respect him for his pompous and downright foolish insistence that he invented that sequence of notes. So many other artists, including artists whose work is old/obscure, have said it sounds like their song and music experts have listed all the potential similarities. If this is the case, then this melody is no more Satriani’s than Coldplay’s. What arrogance on his part to think otherwise.

And PLEASE PEOPLE – Viva La Vida as a whole does not sound significantly like Satriani’s track at all. They are vastly different. One SLIGHT melodic similarity is ALL THERE IS.

Satriani taking Coldplay to court over this is like the estate of John Lennon suing Blur for the fact that the beat/percussion in Tender sounds a bit like the beat/percussion in Give Peace A Chance. Having similarities in songs in rock/pop music is unavoidable and inevitable and people suing each other for it is bad news for the future of music. If 9 out of 10 elements of your song have been used in the exact same way in someone elses then you have a case perhaps, as the two songs will essentially sound exactly the same, as with Boys Keep Swinging by Bowie and M.O.R. by Blur – the two tracks are substantially the same and Blur had to credit Bowie.

But if Satriani believes that Viva La Vida sounds like his If I Could Fly thing from start to finish then he really does not have any right to be judging anyone else because it does not, and you need to ask yourself some questions as a listener/fan if you think Viva La Vida and If I Could Fly are identical as songs…reason being that they are not.

The “Satch” is the best gituar player ever lived. And if its his song its his. He would not lie about his songs. So all you guys are a bunch of stupied ass for think like you do!

COLDPLAY SUCKS ANYWAYS!

Eric Frybarger – thanks for the masterclass in incoherent, nonsensical, idiotic reasoning.

It’s often said that being brilliant at an instrument is more of a hinderance than an advantage when it comes to actually making great music. One becomes focussed on technical, note-for-note perfection in the playing rather above anything else; it becomes an experience of the head rather than coming from the heart, which is where the best music originates from normally. Not being brilliant at one’s instrument allows the less-expert player to arrive at things by accident and perhaps create things that the technically expert player would not do because he/she knows them to be ‘wrong’. Not only in music either: lots of people know their cameras back to front and all the theory of photography perfectly too but they can’t take great photos because they don’t have the creative inspiration to do so and are too fixated on what is technically correct.

So when people go on about ‘Satch’ being brilliant on guitar, it’s not especially meaningful when it comes to be a good songwriter.

Anty…. Shut the hell up, get a life, and go play with yourself. you dont really think what you say do you. Yes im on joe’s side, you know joe the guitarist/SONGWRITER, just because there are no words in joe’s music does not mean that its not a song, so tell me, are there jazz songs? … lots of jazz has no words… you also say only guitarists will listen to joe! … and you also say why would coldplay listen to them! … well look at that you answered your own question!!!!! plus play those songs again… hey i have noticed that when i play this to some ppl not familiar with the case they sing along to joe’s song, and no they dont know who joe is. It is so true that the wrong ppl are making money in the music indusrty nowadays!, and so Anty please go back to your little pop scene of ppl with no knowlage of music, thanks and good bye you small minded bafoon…………………… ……(i know i cant spell but thats not the issue!)

Anty…. Shut the hell up, get a life, and go play with yourself. you dont really think what you say do you. Yes im on joe’s side, you know joe the guitarist/SONGWRITER, just because there are no words in joe’s music does not mean that its not a song, so tell me, are there jazz songs? … lots of jazz has no words… you also say only guitarists will listen to joe! … and you also say why would coldplay listen to them! … well look at that you answered your own question!!!!! plus play those songs again… hey i have noticed that when i play this to some ppl not familiar with the case they sing along to joe’s song, and no they dont know who joe is. It is so true that the wrong ppl are making money in the music indusrty nowadays!, and so Anty please go back to your little pop scene of ppl with no knowlage of music, thanks and good bye you small minded bafoon…………………… ……(i know i cant spell but thats not the issue!)

”Real Person” (stupid name, well done) you are a total, arrogant fool for suggesting that people who don’t rate Satriani have ”no knowledge of music” (I’ve corrected your dreadful spelling/grammar for you there). What a dumb thing to say – and you have the nerve to have a go at me?! What a joke! And when did I say Satriani’s music was bad for ‘having no words’. Err, the answer is that I NEVER said that. What I suggested (as have others) is that he does not write ‘proper’ songs that people really care about; he writes what Simon Parsons called ”guitar-porn”. Lots of Jazz is great; having no words is irrelevant and you are the only one to actually raise that topic. I heard a CD of Satriani stuff that came with a guitar magazine years ago and it’s fundamentally not interesting in my opinion (and clearly the opinion of most of the record buying world) – whereas loads of Jazz is great to listen to: Miles Davis, John Coltrane etc.

So if we’re talking about shutting-up based on talking s***, then take your own advice, pal.

The facts as I see them are:

Satriani wrote a guitar piece with a melody similar to the one subsequently used by Coldplay.

Satriani definitely is a great guitarist, no doubt about that.

Coldplay write ‘proper’ songs that mean more to more people.

Coldplay’s piece has SOME melodic similarities to Satriani’s – not as extensive though as some are suggesting.

Coldplay very, very possibly composed this piece without hearing/knowing Satriani’s piece.

So, there it is. I just think it’s a shame that artists are suing each other over these things, I don’t think it’s great for the future of music because artists being scared of being taken to court if they record a song that sounds even slightly like another one that they may not even be aware of automatically limits them and what they do.

First of I think concidering the time that If I Could Fly has been out for quite some time, so it is a reasonable assumption that Coldplay heard it before. It might have been unknowningy, but it is a fair assumption.

What suprised me is that this is ANOTHER accusation. There is nothing wrong with a song being inspired by antoher song, but the link should be only recognizable to the one writing the riff.

Only that one melody appears the same. But the songs as a whole sound completely different. Personally I think Cold Play and Satriani suck (I am a guitar nut, but come on the guy can’t right a real song to save his life). We need to get over this whole plagiarism in music thing. Taking a melody or writing a melody that’s already been written is inevitable, and something the great composers of the past indulged in. The melody Satriani composed is hardly Unique. Cat Steven’s used it before as well. As, I am sure, have others. Its a simple melody and not particularly inspired. One you could easily fall into just messing with scales. Satriani just sees an opportunity to fatten his wallet here.

Oh my god, anty, your a geek, you go on raging about how everyones intelligence is inferrior to yours and then you insults guitars who like listening to guitar calling it guitar wank or whatever. You a nerd get of the computer and get a girlfriend. Satch is entitled to defend his work if he feels thats a portion of his composition for one of his songs and any amount of it, has been copied when it is clearly copyrighted then he can sue whoever he god damn wants. Oh yeh and dont give me bullshit as if the cold play guitarist has never heard or listened to Satch and his songs that absolute crap.

I have to agree almost entirely with Bruce Hoffa. The overall tracks are not the same. Melodically similar in places but as complete tracks very different. Factor in the Cat Stevens Foreigner Suite issue and it looks increasingly like Satriani is going after the dollars here. Very foolish because doing what Satriani is doing makes him look like a bit of an egotistical, money-mad musician who thinks he owns the rights to all the guitar chords in the world. If Satriani can sue for this, then SO MANY artists out there could be taken to court because SO MANY songs sound similar to something else. It’s just ridiculous and Satriani should be a bigger man this this.

I wonder if Satriani sees this as his chance to get his name listed on the credits for a proper song? I mean, he hasn’t ever had a ‘hit’ in his career that I am aware of. Then along come Coldplay and Joe gets all excited.

anty r u fukin 12 yrs old neva heard a hit by him my fucking god. thank fuk u dnt no satch cuz he def wouldnt wana no a loser like u nerd

Satch is a great guitarist but an absolute moron. That progression and melody are not just his as they have been used many times in many different songs, something Utube can show in 5 minutes. Satch is just an ego thats past his used by date. Maybe he needs the money for all those failed baldness cures.

“anty r u fukin 12 yrs old neva heard a hit by him my fucking god. thank fuk u dnt no satch cuz he def wouldnt wana no a loser like u nerd”

I’ve never heard someone talk such nonsensical shit in all my life. Wanker.

I love Satriani and hate Coldplay, but don’t think they copied it.

Nestor: that’s because they almost certainly didn’t.

Cold play sucks ass, they have to copy music to make any money rofl. Fuck you cold play.

The two songs are so similar that you can superpose them without even hearing the diffrence. Satriani totally have the right to sue them first because coldplay refused to talk about this song with him and second who care’s if it is a coincidence because there are things called copyrights.

nick750:

It DOES make a difference if it’s coincidental. It would make a difference to the exact nature of any court ruling if the judge is satisfied that Coldplay did not intend to ’steal’ from Satriani. It makes a big difference morally as well.

well it’s pretty obvious the Coldplay fans stand up for their band,
But stil, try playing the coldplay song on guitar,
first play the backing guitar record it, and play the notes that total turt sings over it, ull have almost the exact same song,

And joe doesnt need the monney indeed,
What he does need is his own originality because thats what makes him stand out,
And that wont work if ppl coppy his songs..

Annyways cold play was simply wrong to copy a song even if they: ”didnt intent to”,
This should be Joe’s win

(not that i would dare to dream coldplay fans would hear it since they must be total numb skulls to even listen to coldplay annyways)

Cold play maybe shouldn’t have ever screwed around with satche’s song but even if it was a cowincidence satch shoud have the right to sue those cold play cock suckers

cold play shouldn’t have fucked with the satch master’s song. cold play should have that grammy shoved up thier ass, satch does have the right and moth balls should suck a chaud

As a musician who appreciates the sounds of both songs I have to admit that the lead melody line in the context of the chord progression is the same in both, except that the Coldplay starts on a slightly different chord – which I understand is a modal variant on the original chord Joe uses anyway. I don’t know about previous plagiarism claims but this looks pretty clear cut. Come on, Coldplay use guitars in their sound, a lot, so it’s not beyond imagination that one of their guys has heard The Satch’s track – maybe as a fan. Ultimate kudos would have been to negotiate a deal with The Satch, then asked him to guest on the record. Hit single, Grammy award and critical acclaim all in one for Coldplay. But now we have this tawdry mess. I hope this can be sorted (out of court) and allow both fans to get on with supporting their artists and enjoying their respective music genres.

They do this often. Coldplay ripped off a Kraftwerk song in their last record. Hooks and all.

They do this often. Coldplay ripped off a Kraftwerk song in their last record. Hooks and all.

Joe Satriani Rules!!! Hope he wins it!

Joe Satriani Rules!!! Hope he wins it!

Ah wel, cold play can just keep copying songs and pay the price, seems like joe got a share big inuff to not even comment annymore.

Cheers to coldplay,on making joe even ritcher without lifting a finger!

Cold Play settled with Joe Satriani and the suit was dismissed on or about 9/24/09. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

simple songs are simply copied (even without knowing), the problem is hooks are simple :\ there’s gonna be a limit to how many hooks there are in the world (as hooks are extremely short and simple) and when we hit it who knows maybe everyone sues everyone

Does it make a diff ?
Satch is a God !!!

i really don’t think coldplay would copy songs. joe satriani is famous as well so they would’ve known that eventually they would be caught out. so it was a coincidence, plain and simple.