The Many Works Plagiarized By One Direction
As a college student, in what little time I have, I like to
watch some YouTube, and for some reason I like top ten videos. To get to the
point, I came across top ten sound-alike songs by WatchMojo, a channel my coworker
watches for video game top tens. One this list, something really angered me, I
heard the beginning of a One Direction song that I instantly recognizes it, As
someone who apparently is “out of the loop” with most pop culture events, only
seeing what’s one Tumblr or Facebook that my friends share, I never know or
listen to any One Direction songs, I can’t stand them. I see them as annoying
“musicians” who sing basic pop garbage about whatever it is that the average
teenager is obsessed with.
So when I heard the beginning to their “hit” “Live While
Were Young” and realized it sounds just like The Clash’s “Should I Stay or
Should I Go?” I realized the openings are identical. You can’t say that there
are just so many chords out there that can be played like Pete Townsend said
when referring to the fact that their song “Best Song Ever” sounds just like
the Who’s “Baba O’Riley.” 1D (I hate even referring to them as that, but it’s
short and to the point) or their songwriters -since they obviously don’t have
the talent to write their own stuff- should be very aware of the Clash song since
it is very famous along with the band Two of the writers were Swedish and one
American but 1D is British, they should recognize the song.
Sadly, “Baba O’Riley” and “Should I Stay or Should I Go”
aren’t the only songs they have ripped off. After doing more research, I was
honestly shocked at how much they have ripped off of other bands, some of which
are classic rock, like Def Leppard and Queen.
Yes, they ripped off Queen, to be more specific, they ripped
of “We Will Rock You.” That is a song that you don’t even have to know the band’s
name to know it. It is so common that I knew it when I was five. The opening is
just like the Queen song, it’s annoying that of the 6 people who wrote the song
“Rock Me” didn’t think that what they were writing was a rip off of Queen.
Also, yes, the ripped of Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar On
Me.” Although asked about it, Rick Allen (Def Leppard’s drummer) said it was
more of a compliment, that they had been inspired by them, but it wasn’t the
five boys who wrote the song, it was three dudes and just two of them, but all
they had to do was say they didn’t like something, add something and maybe
change a few words, and they could get writing credit, I highly doubt the two,
Liam and Louis wrote it thinking about Def Leppard, but their song writers did.
Hell, one of the writers Julian Bunetta co-wrote another song “Steal My Girl”
which has been accused of ripping off the New Found Glory Song, “It’s Not Your
Fault” which NFG’s singer’s girlfriend, Hayley Williams of Paramore pointed out
which resulted in her getting hate from the rabid fan base.
Now, the one thing that angers me the most, is probably the
music video they ripped off from one of my favorite bands, Sum 41. In 2002, the
band released their single, and one of my personal favorites, “Still Waiting,”
the music video consists of a record producer (hilariously played by Will
Sasso) telling them that the “number bands are out” and they need to change
their name, he wants them to be The Sums. He also says Deryck needs to change
his name to Sven and tells them to start smoking. The music part is them
playing the song, dressed up somewhat nicely in matching ties and plaid shirts
(not flannel, short sleeve plaid) and then at the end, they break shit and
shove over the sign that calls them “The Sums.” In the 1D video, the band is meeting
with movie producers, who don’t know even know all their names, and then of
course, another dude who is a nerd, tells them their movie is going to be a
dance movie and then go over wardrobe, when the music starts, you hear them plagiarizing
The Who. The difference is that they start breaking shit before the end. Sum 41
broke shit towards the end, and apparently did a better job at doing it since
1D barely breaks shit at all. The also did a better job writing since “Still
Waiting” is actually a song that doesn’t appear to plagiarize other’s works
and doesn’t have pointless lyrics about dancing, nor does the band dance
terribly, not to mention, Sum 41 actually wrote the song. (well, Deryck did)
the video somewhat looks like a set from a video by the Vines, but that was on
purpose because the video was about a record producer trying to change the
band, even renaming Cone as Thurston, Steve as Sergio and Dave as Holmes.
1D has also been accused of plagiarizing more, even by Zedd
who instagrammed it, “What Makes You Beautiful” sounds like “Summer Nights”
from Grease. One opening of a song sounding like Avril Lavigne’s “What The
Hell,” but to me it is similar, not a total copy for me to scream “plagiarism”
a lot with a song that sounds similar to Green Day’s “Good Riddance” and
apparently they also have a been accused of plagiarizing Taylor Swift’s “Style.”
Like mentioned earlier, I agree with Pete Townsend, there
are only so many chords that you can play and eventually songs will start sounding
the same, but this is too similar to the point where it is plagiarism, and
multiple accounts of it. They ripped off “We Will Rock You” with a song called “Rock
Me.” That wasn’t at all subtle. I know a lot of musicians I like, (like Green
Day) have been accused of plagiarism or pointed out how songs are similar,
(Warning or Brain Stew) but it isn’t something they do over and over again,
they write their own stuff and have original stuff (there is nothing that
sounds like American Idiot except for Weird Al’s Canadian Idiot).
This stuff isn’t even sampling like some songs do, the writers
who wrote them claim that they are their own, and are not copying other artists,
but that they came up with it on their own. You can’t listen to claim that the
opening of “Best Song Ever” sounding like The Who is only coincidental along
with “Live While We’re Young” and “Should I Stay or Should I Go” or “Rock Me”
and “We Will Rock You.” It’s not theirs and the artist who these were stolen
from are not credited. The Clash isn’t given credit for “Live While We’re Young”
and The Who isn’t given credit for “Best Song Ever.” It appears nothing One
Direction will put out will ever truly be unique and not plagiarizing others,
but what more would you expect from a boyband that got discovered on a stupid
singing show.
