Chris Martin Accused Of Surfing With The Alien, Stealing His Tunes

noah | December 5, 2008 10:30 am
What would the world’s lovers of tasteful rock think of Coldplay and Brian Eno if they found out that they plagiarized the good bits of “Viva La Vida” from guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani, of all people? Well, we’ll find out if a lawsuit that Satriani filed in Los Angeles yesterday goes his way. Satriani is claiming that the Brit band incorporated “substantial original portions” of his 2004 song “If I Could Fly” into their iTunes-shilling track, and the YouTube above puts Satriani’s hypothesis to the test. The songs do sound kind of similar! But then again, when I heard “Viva” for the first time, there was something very familiar about it, and I haven’t purchased any Satriani albums recently, so maybe they both ripped off someone else? (I’m getting a vibe that this all traces back to the the Beverly Hills, 90210 theme, I swear. There’s one lick in the Satriani bit…) Anyway, for those of you who want to practice your forensic musicology, the two full tracks are after the jump.

Satriani:

Coldplay:

Of course, Coldplay being accused of ripping other people off is nothing new. There’s their current Arcade Fire-inspired stage personae, and there was that whole thing where some guy in Brooklyn tried to piggyback on the band’s new album by claiming that Chris Martin had taken in one of his shows and ripped off one of his songs. But did you know that there are even grander Coldplay-related conspiracy theories out there?

The creator of the YouTube swears it’s a joke, but the similarities are kinda eerie, no?

Guitarist accuses Coldplay of plagiarism [Reuters] Did Coldplay copy Joe Satriani? [YouTube] Coldplay vs. Ashlee Simpson: Plagiarism? [YouTube]