Gorillaz accused of plagiarism by Eddy Grant
Tue, Mar 16, 2010
Post filled in: News
We’re just three months into the new year and already there are talks about the first major plagiarism scandal of the year, following last year’s now infamous feud between Coldplay and Joe Satriani. This time around the protagonists are Gorillaz and 80’s raggae sensation Eddy Grant, the later claiming Damon Albarn blatantly used significant portions of his song “Time Warp” to write the latest Gorillaz single “Stylo,” all without giving any credit. “My song sits almost note to note with their release,” the songwriter complained. “I am outraged.”
“Time Warp is a very popular song,” Grant wrote in a statement yesterday. “[It] has been a staple of the DJ scene for many years and I feel total disrespect from Gorillaz and their management company, especially as they are an established act.”
One can clearly see the resemblances, particularly how the notes ascend, but there are some clear differences as well. You can stream the two songs bellow and see for yourself.
“Damon Albarn knows in his heart of hearts – it’s unfortunate that we cant get into people’s hearts – he knows that this is a song that he’s loved,” Grant said, “in his club days.”
Well, I’d like to abstain from this one, since I consider myself far from being a musicologist, but do you guys think?
If you enjoy our posts, then you might consider subscribing to our full RSS feed. Or enter your e-mail address bellow and receive our posts in you inbox. Thanks for visiting!
Tibi is the co-founder and current editor in chief of ZME Music. He's had a passion for music since when he can remember, but since he lacks the necessary skills to make music, he decided to simply mix in another passion of his: writing.
Thanks to the marvels of the Internet, anyone can voice out and, in time, Tibi has helped a lot of artists and made a lot of friends by following his double passion for writing and music.
Share on Digg
Share on reddit
Bookmark to del.icio.us
Share on StumbleUpon
Share on Mixx
Share on Twitter
Share on Facebook
March 16th, 2010 at 5:00 pm
No way! Why wasn’t he “outraged” by the bass in ” Time to Get away ” LCD Soundsystem? The poor old man just wants some publicity!By the way, are you spelling Eddy or Eddie?
March 16th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
Yeah, sorry about that.
March 16th, 2010 at 6:26 pm
I hear a slight similarity, but it’s not enough to be considered plagiarism.
March 16th, 2010 at 9:04 pm
ok..so the one part that is similar is actually the same notes but an octave lower so why does it matter…thats the only part in the song that is remotely close ….im sorry but this is sum stupid shit if he thinks that they resemble eachother.. isnt he a musician?
March 16th, 2010 at 9:42 pm
If the Gorillaz wanted to sample Eddy Grant’s song they would have done that instead, but they didn’t, they simply wrote something coincidental similar. The album is full of featured artists, it doesn’t make sense that they would try to pull a fast one on Grant like that. There are clearly enough differences to distinguish the two, AS WELL, there are plenty of songs out there that have similar chord progressions … it happens. How many times do you see similarities within the art world (even outside of the music realm)?
I say Grant is just peeved, jealous, and being a wiener because his music is lame and will only be heard in lame clubs.
March 17th, 2010 at 12:59 am
Where the he’ll did this Eddie grant come from??? I’ve never heard of his music till just now… Poor guy, the truth is, he just wants some money, Damon albarn is too original to copy some 80’s disco stew. I can already picture “grant” sitting there listeneing to every song on the radio untill he hears something that sounds remotely similiar to his “famous” music of the wonderful 80″s so that he can make a fit and be remembered for the guy who pressed 3 chords up and down the keyboard FIRST. Hahaha what a sad old man. Makes me wonder If his music is trully “original”
March 17th, 2010 at 10:27 am
if this is the case then all blues songs should be credited to robert johnson get a life eddie electric ave grant
March 17th, 2010 at 11:14 pm
if this is the case then there should be a lawsuit concerning “disturbia”, “just dance”, and “good girls go bad”. Those are all more similar to each other than these two songs are
March 19th, 2010 at 11:37 am
If Damon stole it from Eddy Grant, then Eddy Grant stole it from Marvin Gaye’s vocalizing at the beginning of this song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmZ03Q7AoaU
April 17th, 2010 at 5:36 am
I’m glad you wrote this post, as it gave me another view point, I had not thought about.
June 30th, 2010 at 6:41 am
Eddy Grant is a good friend off mine and I do not like the way everyone spoke about him. He is a hard working artist and if he believes that they stole his song then they did do so. Do not speak bad about people you dont know.
July 15th, 2010 at 1:24 pm
Agreeing and furthering comment by Kid ZD
Honestly, I feel like more and more of these types of conflicts are going to rear their ugly faces, only because sampling and taking what other people have done IS the future (intentionally or unintentionally.) That being said, both types of sampling are INEVITABLE, but especially the latter. I personally don’t consider these two tracks close enough to be plagiarism, but it’s only going to get worse as time goes on, chord progressions will get repeated, and badass lyrics/beats/rhythms/harmonies will want to be remixed. If you haven’t hurrrrrd creative commons, it’s going down.
BRING ON THE FREE TUNES!!! KEEP GOING TO SHOWS!!! KEEP BUYING VINYL!!!
If you like a band, and you’re not having trouble feeding yourself/paying for rent. Buy some music. It’s that simple.