Coldplay May Get Served Lawsuit At Grammys

Coldplay may get served legal papers at this weekend's Grammy Awards.

Last year guitarist Joe Satriani alleged that Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" borrowed a little too heavily from his "I Just Wanna Fly." Satriani's lawyer Howard King is planning to blanket the Grammys with servers to hand the band a plagiarism lawsuit.

Fox News reports:

King says, "We have warned their British lawyers that we have hired a fleet of process servers lined up to dog the band everywhere they go this weekend in the hopes of serving them."

King even promises to have camera crews roaming around with the process servers to get the whole thing on tape.

Coldplay denies the charges.

Read about Satriani's complaint here.

Hear a song comparison:

Comments

[Dogmanger]

To the pretentious on this forum engaging in the the cheap and easy exercise of musical snobbery- show some integrity- put your money where your mouth is and name the artists you admire. It's so amusing , on any topic apart from politics, how many of you behave like Republicans and conservatives!

[TigerShoes]

The feel, the swinging rhythm, the peculiar dissonance of dropped notes, most of the background chord-work, and the distinct melodic phrasing ARE CATEGORICALLY IDENTICAL. Coldplay's lazy style in general is like a monotonous, sea-sick dream at best, occasionally wandering out of somnambulism into an actual tune, but Satriani has been pumping out vibrant, crystal-clear, sky-soaring melodies of this caliber for decades. Coldplay is like a child at a piano, stumbling upon a simple Mozart phrase. Joe Satriani is a musical genius.

[JeauxSchmeaux]

Very well put!

[jcwtts1]

way better than I could have put it. Absolute lift. Pay them and lets all go home.

J

[Melpomene42]

That may be true, but I think it's still going to be difficult to to prove that a few measures of identical chord progression and rhythm constitutes downright plagiarism.

[guntotinganglion]

I agree, Joe Satriani is a true musical genius. I've been fortunate to see him many times, first in 1987 before Surfing With the Alien hit, and every time he produces jaw dropping music, with tight compositions and innovative solos, along with remarkably strong melodies.

I gave Coldplay a shot, mostly because a friend is a big fan, but not to be funny, they left me cold. There's no meat on the bones of their music, only dirge and repetition. At some level, music has to grab you...and there's nothing to grab onto for me with Coldplay. I tried...I really did, but there wasn't a single notable melody in any of what I've heard. Sad but true, at least from my perspective.

I trust Joe in this challenge. He is an honorable guy who has never been in it for the money. With all his success, he can't have generated a 100th of the sales that Coldplay has for one album, over his entire career. I trust he's comfortable and making a good living, but he isn't the superstar that Chris Martin is, and I doubt he'd want to be. But, when push comes to shove, and another musician uses your creativity to further their fortune building, it's time to take a stand. And Joe is THE MAN...and if Joe says it's so, it's so. He has more musical talent in the little finger of his right hand, than the entire band Coldplay in all their fingers.

[atoonce]

It's a pretty basic chord progression, I don't hear plagiarism.

[jcwtts1]

There is another YouTube where they meld them and it is a perfect fit.

J

[The Ham]

Sorry to burst your bubbles gang, but Coldplay directly ripped off Satriani.

The example video above is not accurate at all.

Not only did Coldplay's guitarist directly steal the intro directly from Satriani, but their lead singer also stold the melody directly from Satriani's guitar.

This is not going to go away and you will all see Satriani vindicated in the end.

He is known as one of the greatest guitarists in the world and has taught many Grammy award winning artists to play guitar. Many of which have sold tens of millions more albums than Coldplay.

Once this goes to court and people hear the actual comparisons, there will be no doubt.

Furthermore, I liked Coldplay's song a lot and didn't believe it at first either.

I could see where the intro could be a coincidence, but not two parts.

They just blatantly stole the music and that's just wrong, whether you like them or not.

[zenwhenicanbe2]

That's some hardcore elevator music you got there Joe!

[newdreams]

And Chris....

[robertny49]

I thought of Jefferson Starship when I heard this song. Actually the melody comes straight from Cat Stevens - originally. Joe Satriani is really being an idiot since he stole the melody himself. How pitiful.

[RepugsOut08]

You're right. It's the Cat man's melody. I sang the Cat Stevens' lyrics with the main melody Satriani plays, and it's a perfect fit with Cat's old song from his "Foreigner" album.
Satriani best keep his mouth shut lest he be sued by the Cat man.

[jalowe1957]

I wonder if they will be served a lawsuit via a singing telegram?

[focks]

Satriani is just pissed because nobody listens to his truly boring, irrelevant music.

[zenwhenicanbe2]

Agreed

[foodtube]

They should serve them with a lawsuit for sucking.

[ElPerro]

Actually, I think the lawsuit should be filed against those who make this pablum popular by purchasing it.

[realitycheck7]

true

I would fa rt into a mic for an hour if I could sell 10 millions albums doing it

[foodtube]

fair enough

[albiceleste]

This is a farce. There are a dozen songs that all have the same notes, pretty much. It pretty much tells me that neither artist, in this instance, was very original.

Like Eddie Van Halen says, there are 12 notes really..you do what you can with them.

Satriani is a great guitarist, but he needs to get over himself.

[ElPerro]

GOOD.

These guys are as lame as they get.

[beOk1]

jealous much..?

[realitycheck7]

the only thing Satriani should be jealous of is perhaps Gwenyth Paltrow

[albiceleste]

She's a twig! Nothing to be jealous of there in my book....

[DemAbroad]

"...roll the dice" over the venerable "Duke of Earl" chord progression? It's not plaigarism; both songs are just mediocre and highly derivative.

[albiceleste]

Amen.

[johnscarton]

At this point doesn't Joe Satriani have to sue The Creaky Boards for plagiarism as well? Regardless of how little money they have, wouldn't not suing them be (and this is by no means a legal argument) tacitly admitting that it is possible for more than two people to independently write similar songs? Most everyone here (arbitrary taste used as social positioning aside) seems to be absolutely convinced that Coldplay could not have come up with the song on their own. So aren't The Creaky Boards necessarily as guilty as Coldplay and shouldn't they be sued and mocked as well? Also, can anyone think of any other niche instrumentalists whose work was note for note plagiarized by two bands almost simultaneously?

[massive]

You got the title wrong. Joe Satriani's song is called If I Could Fly.