Coldplay: It’s Not Plagiarism If You Pay For It

06/07/2011 1:02 pm by

Coldplay 580x470 Coldplay: Its Not Plagiarism If You Pay For It

Coldplay fans, rejoice! (and show yourselves, so I can avoid you) Chris Martin and his band of merry men – those second-rate purveyors of warmed-over Britpop from an alternate universe where their real name is Sucky Radiohead – played five new songs from their still-untitled upcoming LP at the Rock am Rim Festival in Nürburgring, Germany.

First off: Nürburgring? Wikipedia tells us that it’s a ring around Nürburg, so that answers that.

Secondly, one of their new songs – in fact, their first single, “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall” – is ripped off from Mystic’s “Ritmo de la Noche.” But no, claims Martin: they paid to lift the melody. Oh, I see. Let’s compare and contrast.

And now here’s Mystic’s “Ritmo de la Noche.”

Well. I’m glad Coldplay payed for that song, because it’s the same fucking tune. Why not just do a cover version and call it even? Because Martin felt the need to bequeath the world with some lyrics about “I got my music on/ I shut the world outside”? But it gets even better, because they didn’t get permission to use “Ritmo”; instead, they credit Peter Allen’s 1976 hit “I Go To Rio.” Listen and see if you can spot the similarity.

To sum up: Martin was “inspired” by Mystic’s Latin-flavoured dance hit, so he bought the spine of the song from whoever owns the rights to a mid-’70s soft rock tune and gave the original artists a songwriting credit. Then he overlaid it with his trademark I-remember-the-90s delivery and called it an original song. From one perspective, Coldplay did the right thing; much art involves creative lifting and repurposing of elements from other works, and Peter Allen got the credit he deserved. From another perspective, I still want to poke my eardrums out with a knitting needle. Given that Coldplay have been accused of ripping off Joe Satriani, Cat Stevens and Dan Gallagher in the past, Martin probably thought it was prudent to own up to the fact that he can’t put together an original song to save his life.

Perhaps with another band this would be okay. But I can’t stand Coldplay and their rock god posturing. Even if Chris Martin floated down from the sky on a teflon cloud and fireproofed my house for free, I’d still complain. I’d also wonder why he was fireproofing houses. What, is he a consultant now?

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About Palinode

The Palinode, aka Aidan Morgan, is a freelance writer and communications fellow. Slowly but surely, he amasses a towering pile of text behind him as he goes.

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  • http://www.sweetney.com Sweetney

    God. Listen Chris Martin, if you really can’t write an original tune, why don’t you STOP MAKING FUCKING MUSIC and do something else? The only point in being an artist – a musician – is to try to create something fresh, new – not recycle old songs and put your lyrics to them. That’s a couple steps away from Karaoke.

    Now, I realize everyone has influences – people pick up shit from other people, and so forth. But this is COPYING, not taking something and twisting and changing it, giving it new life in a new context.

    Why do people buy this shit?

    Also, “Sucky Radiohead” is may be too kind, too complimentary. :)

  • Emily

    It’s not that bad if you play all three at the same time. It’s mildly tolerable.

    • http:www.Sweetney.com sweetney

      Emily wins at internets today.

    • http://www.thepalinode.com Palinode

      Oh god.

  • Suzy Q

    Could they even BE more emo with that title? Gah.

    • http://www.thepalinode.com Palinode

      No. No they could not.

  • http://www.rebecca-crawford.com Becca Crawford

    Every teardrop…is…a waterfall?

    Dammit, you’ve left me no choice! “Every rose has its thorn / Just like every night has its daw-aw-aw-awn / Just like every cowboy sings a sad, sa-a-ad song / Ev-ry rose has its thorn…”

    Now you ALL get to rot in earworm hell with me! MWA-ha-ha-ha!

  • Mona

    This kind of makes me hope that the Chris Martin – Goopy Paltrow impending split rumors are not true because they seem so meant for each other.
    But I hope someone can rescue the children from all the self-aggrandizing navel gazing these two indulge in.

  • Erin

    This reminds me of the VH1 Behind the Music with Vanilla Ice when he said mine goes dun dun dun duhduhduhduh chhhh and there’s goes dun dun dun duhduhduhduh….about Queen/David Bowie…

    I’m thinking U.K new all along how much Coldplay sucked and were like here have them but no take backs so you are stuck with them and their suckiness FOREVA.

  • http://swanfeet.wordpress.com/ Caitlyn

    my only exposure to Coldplay was in high school when I volunteered at the planetarium in a local museum and had to sit through their “sound and light show” once a day – 45 minutes of Coldplay music (and a couple other artists, I think) while the screen showed what appeared to be an elaborate screen-saver. This was not the best part of my day.

  • [mark]

    well, i suppose this substantiates all of the “coldplay = lame as soft rock for the 2000′s/2010′s” claims out there.

    i don’t see a problem with this. well, let me add a little nuance to that statement….

    if someone isn’t going to call out Pitbull, Beyonce, Lupe Fiasco, and every other current entertainment act** for doing the same damn thing, then you can’t call out Coldplay.

    sampling has been ubiquitous for 20 years, and borrowing melodies/phrases/etc. from existing works is as old as music itself.

    i’m not passing a judgment on coldplay for this particular perceived transgression. i’ll pass judgment on them for taking a shitty song (the Peter Allen track) that someone less shitty (Mystic) and somehow making it exponentially shittier than the original.

    ** – i hesitate to use “artist” as that implies a blanket approval of their output as “art”.

    • http://www.thepalinode.com Palinode

      Absolutely. I’m just passing judgment on Coldplay in this instance because they’re Coldplay. Am I operating on a monstrous double standard? Yes.

      All flippancy aside, what really bugs me is that their sampling was so artless. Mystic was quoting from Peter Allen, after a fashion; they’re calling back to a North American interpretation of South American rhythms and repurposing it. Coldplay just made some emo bullshit because it was kind of danceable.

      • [mark]

        see, and I think they did it because they wanted another hit…they found a very catchy hook, and put some words the white kids will sing along with on it, but hey, if brown kids are ok with it, that’s good too.

        and while I don’t know if it qualifies as any more or less artless, Beyonce essentially lifted “Pon Di Floor” lock-stock-and-barrel…she did the top 40 equivalent of putting a freestyle over another rapper’s instrumental, and it’s probably going to be a “#1 summer jam!!!111eleventy”.

        i know it seems like i’m defending coldplay, but i’m not. i’m just saying…with so many legitimate reasons to be annoyed by them, i find this particular argument the thinnest available, if for no other reason, because they’re merely falling in line with what their more soulful contemporaries are doing.

        • http://www.thepalinode.com Palinode

          I find the genesis of the tune more interesting than the fact that they took a track and set their own lyrics to it. As you point out, this is an old and ongoing practice. It’s just hard to talk about Coldplay without getting distracted by how annoying they are.

          • [mark]

            perhaps half of my argumentative streak is because, despite knowing better a million different ways, i still like “viva la vida” and “yellow”. and that really, REALLY annoys the piss out of me. maybe i’m just subconsciously trying to reason away the guilt.