10 Hit Songs That Are Secretly Based on Other Hit Songs – Listverse
So many songs hit the charts every year. And so many of them have been squeezed from the same template by the monolithic machine of the music industry that it can often be difficult to really stop and listen. But for those who take the time, sometimes secrets and loot can lurk beneath the guitar riff or linger in the beat.
Although the influences reach far and wide and few songs emerge from a formless void, there are nevertheless some songs that bear more similarities to their musical predecessors than others. Musical artists from all genres have a habit of channeling their own influences, picking up a lyric here, a melody there, and reincorporating them into their own music. These are certainly not covers or outright samples, but 10 successful songs that secretly managed to channel other big hits.
Related: 10 Popular Songs Given the Rock Treatment
10 Las Ketchup, “The Ketchup Song (Aserejé)”
Las Ketchup took over the airwaves in the summer of 2002, breaking out of their native Spain with a song in several languages, featuring a nonsense chorus and a catchy accompanying dance. “The Ketchup Son” went to number one on twenty European charts, as well as in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. But there’s more to this song than meets the eye.
The lyrics of ‘The Ketchup Song’ tell the story of Diego, a hip-hop fan who sees himself as something of a ladies’ man – and a rapper. Although the chorus is gibberish, the verses leading up to it provide crucial context for the song’s main inspiration: It’s essentially a mangled version of the Sugarhill Gang’s 1979 classic “Rapper’s Delight.” The fictional Diego is a big fan of the song and enjoys drinking, dancing and singing along to the best of his ability.
At first glance, the two songs don’t sound very similar. Once you tune into the chorus of ‘The Ketchup Song’ you can really hear where Las Ketchup came from – but don’t hold your breath waiting to hear what Wonder Mike and Grandmaster Caz think.[1]
9 Deadmau5 feat. Rob Swire, “Ghosts N Stuff”
Music producer and DJ Joel Zimmerman – better known by his stage name Deadmau5 – has a penchant for referencing pop culture, old movies and memes in his tracks, but rarely does the electro house master draw inspiration from other sources. However, this does not apply to his employees.
Deadmau5 typically composes the melody and core elements of his songs before asking a singer and/or lyricist to add their own unique touch, and this was no different when he enlisted Pendulum vocalist Rob Swire to provide vocals to what ultimately became. one of the biggest songs of his career: ‘Ghosts N Stuff’.
However, on a Reddit AMA, Swire admitted that he borrowed the melody from Chris Isaak’s iconic soft-country song “Wicked Game,” saying he “might have borrowed the melody.” Luckily, no lawsuits have been filed against the pair yet, but Isaak is probably not a big dub, bass, and drop type.[2]
8 Olivia Rodrigo, “Bold”
Ex-Disney anti-pop princess Olivia Rodrigo recently found herself in hot water when music fans noticed a striking similarity between her 2021 hit “Brutal” and legendary singer-songwriter Elvis Costello’s “Pump It Up.” Indeed, they share what sounds like virtually the same riff, with the inspiration between one song and the next almost unmistakable.
But while the similarities may be too obvious to miss, that’s not quite where the story ends, as Costello himself has cited Bob Dylan’s ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ as an inspiration for ‘Pump It Up’. Coincidentally, the riff long predates Costello and has appeared in several hit songs before and since, including Rogue Traders’ 2005 hit “Voodoo Child.”
Recognizing the futility of fighting over good music, Costello even came out to defend Rodrigo, getting his sizable fan base to back off from the young singer by stating that this is just “how rock & roll works… You take the broken pieces of a new sensation and create a brand new toy.” It’s hard to argue with that.[3]
7 Sam Smith, ‘Stay with Me’
Tom Petty saw his share of detractors and imitators over a forty-year career, with acts as diverse as the Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Strokes all claiming a piece of his musical genius – and undisputed to boot.
However, when Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me” went to the top of the UK Top 40 charts and number two on the Billboard Hot 100, it was hard for the Heartbreakers frontman to keep quiet. Despite being slow and gospel-infused, Smith’s song bears an uncanny resemblance to Petty’s guitar-driven “Won’t Back Down,” with the vocal melodies in sync despite the difference in key.
But it all ends well, and after some back-and-forth between the singers’ respective management and legal teams, Smith acknowledged the influence of his musical forebears by giving a co-writing credit to Tom Petty and “I Won’t Back Down” co-writer Jeff Lynne – although it wasn’t enough for them to appear on the Grammy nomination for “Stay with Me.”[4]
6 The Sex Pistols, “Pretty empty”
The Sex Pistols burst through the late 1970s music scene under the banner of punk rock, destroying stages, taking names and planting a Union Jack squarely in the center of the genre. Despite the fact that only one studio album was released: that of 1977 Don’t mind the Bollocks, here are the Sex Pistols—the band’s influence is extensive and resonates across decades and genres. And while some of their own influences, like Iggy Pop and the New York Dolls, aren’t hard to hear, others couldn’t be further from home.
Bassist Glen Matlock revealed that the main riff of the Pistols’ ‘Pretty Vacant’ – a huge hit in its own right – was inspired by none other than thoroughly mainstream Europop group ABBA. Armed with the song’s chord progression and lyrics, Matlock was looking for the final piece when he heard ABBA’s “SOS” on the radio, and it gave him what he needed. When ABBA’s own bassist got wind of this, instead of worrying or arguing, he put Matlock on his Christmas card list…[5]
5 Led Zeppelin, ‘Whole Lotta Love’
Led Zeppelin has a rich history of casual plagiarism, liberally copying parts of other, older songs during the prime of its career – and rarely being caught at the time. It should come as no surprise that one of their biggest and best-known songs, “Whole Lotta Love,” was lifted from someone else’s songbook.
And that someone is songwriter Willie Dixon, via the highly influential blues musician Muddy Waters. Zeppelin’s singer Robert Plant admitted that he took certain elements of the lyrics “Whole Lotta Love” from Dixon’s “You Need Love,” which was famously and popularly recorded by Waters in 1962 – just seven years before the rock quartet’s release. Led Zeppelin II.
Plant claimed guitarist Jimmy Page’s iconic riff (which would later become the theme music for the UK charts). Top of the Pops) was Page’s own invention. Yet even that bears some resemblance to Dixon’s original composition. Regardless, a lawsuit filed by Dixon in 1985 led to him receiving blues artist credit for subsequent Zeppelin releases featuring the song, in addition to any royalties that came with it.[6]
4 Sonny & Cher, “I Got You Baby”
Sonny Bono and Cher entered the pop music scene in the ’60s and shot to stardom with their songs “Baby Don’t Go” and “I Got You Babe.” With Bono writing most of their material and Cher adding star quality, the pair took on bigger acts than themselves for their share of the audience’s attention, often coming out on top.
One of those contemporaries was Bob Dylan. Bono stated that their 1965 song “I Got You Babe” was deeply inspired by Dylan’s 1964 song “It Ain’t Me Babe”, saying, “I would always write, subliminally or deliberately, a phrase that I would hear somewhere.” .. And I’d be looking for a hook lyric, you know, and then you go – baby, I got you, baby… Dylan had ‘baby’ all over the air, you know…. And I took that and then added the ‘I got you’ part to it.”
Dylan himself was not really impressed by this, aware that other artists were making new hits from his songs. He acknowledged that The Byrds, The Turtles and Sonny & Cher used parts of his music to tailor it to their audiences, but they couldn’t get behind their “jingly-jangly” sound.[7]
3 Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars, “Uptown Funk”
When international super-producer Mark Ronson and multi-instrumentalist R&B star Bruno Mars collaborated on ‘Uptown Funk’ in 2014, it had all the ingredients for an instant success. The song’s catchy chorus, singable breakdown, and retro beat immediately sent it to the top of the charts, and pretty much everyone loved it. Everyone except The Gap Band.
Although Ronsons openly admitted on many occasions to being influenced by older artists and funk records, he never mentioned The Gap Band’s ‘Oops Upside Your Head’. Nevertheless, the similarities between the disco classic and “Uptown Funk” are more than mere coincidence.
Matters came to a head when The Gap Band filed a lawsuit, claiming that Ronson and Mars had stolen their song and were trying to be credited and receive royalties for the big hit. And after the suit’s success, they did just that; five new names – Lonnie Simmons, Ronnie Wilson, Charles Wilson, Robert Wilson and Rudolph Taylor – were officially added to the song’s publishing credits in 2015.[8]
2 Bon Jovi, ‘You’re giving love a bad name’
Sometimes a song’s influences don’t come from the singer or band, but from the songwriter – and that has to do with the way the music industry works, with certain behind-the-scenes talent always on speed dial to make a song. to lend a hand on the next big record from a big artist. many songs end with the same writer. But this is nothing new.
Before Desmond Child ever wrote a line of Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love a Bad Name,” he wrote “If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man).” Bonnie Tyler made the record, and it was a big hit in Europe, but not in the US. So when he recorded with Bon Jovi a few years later, Child took direct inspiration from his and Tyler’s track, which he thought should have broken the American market. .
Child consciously reworked the chorus, elevated the melody, orchestrated the guitar riff, and in the process created an international megahit for Jon Bon Jovi and company. And hardly a Bon Jovi record has been released because it has not benefited from the magical touch of the songwriter and producer.[9]
1 One Direction – Best Song Ever”
British boy band One Direction found itself in the middle of a media storm in 2013 when similarities between their “Best Song Ever” and the classic rock song by The Who (and CSI: NY theme song) “Baba O’Riley” were identified by critics. Although the intros to both songs are eerily similar, the inspiration came not from the boys, who were then in their late teens, but from the songwriters (Wayne Hector, John Ryan, Ed Drewett and Julian Bunetta). who were older and wiser and probably should have known better than to release something that sounded so similar to such a popular record.
In response to the controversy, Pete Townshend, guitarist and principal songwriter of The Who, told the story of his encounter with Bachman-Turner Overdrive singer and guitarist Randy Bachman, who admitted to his rock contemporary that BTO had copied ‘Baba O’Riley’ for their hit ‘You Ain’. Haven’t seen anything yet.” The guys from One Direction weren’t the first to do it – if they did it at all – and they almost certainly won’t be the last.[10]