(thing) by yerricde Thu Jan 04 2001 at 17:51:45
More examples of seemingly unfair use:

Yes! We Have No Bananas!

"Is It Scary" by Michael Jackson on album Blood On The Dance Floor: HIStory In The Mix has a verse identical to a verse in "Ghosts" by Michael Jackson on the same album except for "ghastly" instead of "ghostly" in one place. (Source: http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:www.exclusivelymj.com/BOTDF.html+ghastly+smell+around) "Is It Scary" also uses the same chord progression (E+B E+C E+C# E+C) as the theme from James Bond.

Video game music rips off popular themes also. In Acclaim's Forsaken 64, the "Pure Power" track has a riff disturbingly similar to the Bond theme's. (This may be considered inspired instead of stolen.) And much of FaceBall 2000's theme song (get the SPC at http://www.zophar.net/zsnes/spc) is taken note-for-note from the old Sesame Street theme.

"Tribal Dance" by 2 Unlimited, "Jump" by The Movement, and the first Mission: Impossible remix (not Limp Bizkit's M:I 2 version) all sound like each other. The theme from freepuzzlearena (available at http://pineight.com/fpa.htm ) parodies this by combining all three pieces seamlessly. 


MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE
tempo=400
55 0 0 55 0 0 55 0 0 55 0 0 58 0 60 0
55 0 0 55 0 0 55 0 0 55 0 0 53 0 54 0
55 0 0 55 0 0 55 0 0 55 0 0 58 0 60 0
55 0 0 55 0 0 55 0 0 55 0 0 53 0 54 0

0 0 0 0 0 0

TRIBAL DANCE
tempo=500
65 0 0 65 0 0 65 0 0 65 0 0 66 0 63 0
65 0 0 65 0 0 65 0 0 65 0 0 70 0 68 0
65 0 0 65 0 0 65 0 0 65 0 0 66 0 63 0
65 0 0 65 0 0 65 0 70 0 70 0 68 0 68 0
65

0 0 0 0 0 0

JUMP
tempo=520
65 0 0 65 0 0 65 0 0 65 0 0 68 0 70 0
65 0 0 65 0 0 65 0 0 65 0 0 70 0 68 0
65 0 0 65 0 0 65 0 0 65 0 0 68 0 70 0
65 0 0 65 0 0 65 0 0 65 0 0 70 0 68 0
65

0 0 0 0 0 0

DOSARENA THEME
tempo=520
65 0 0 65 0 0 65 0 0 65 0 0 66 0 63 0  #t.d
65 0 0 65 0 0 65 0 0 65 0 0 70 0 68 0  #t.d/jump
65 0 0 65 0 0 65 0 0 65 0 0 68 0 70 0  #jump/m.i
65 0 0 65 0 0 65 0 63 0 63 0 64 0 64 0 #m.i/t.d
65

0 0 0 0 0 0
[player available at noding music].

As is noted in the example for Six Degrees of Facial Bacon, The Verve were sued for using too much of a Rolling Stones sample (from the orchestral version of "The Last Time") in "Bitter Sweet Symphony," resulting of the transfer of all rights in the song to the Rolling Stones' people. (A Google search for rolling stones last time verve symphony will pull up references.)

Fair use, or copyright theft?

Clone wrote: "Things will clear up when the copyright on old tracks goes." Wrong. The precedent set by the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act indicates that copyright won't go, in the United States at least.
I like it!