Music Trivia -> Song Lawsuits -> Latest Entries
Songs that have resulted in lawsuits, either for lyrics or for borrowing too much of the music.
The 20 most recent entries are listed below. There are 26 entries in this section.
"The Band's Legal Woes," Triumph
In a Much More Music interview Rik Emmet recalls that all of the members of Triumph had lawyers involved in settling the hash about who owned the rights to what Triumph songs? The interview ended with Rik commenting that he "wished that Triumph hadn't ended on such a bad note of having to get lawyers involved in settling their differences."
Celeste
""Run 2"," New Order
John Denver sued the group, proclaiming the guitar break sounded to similar to his composition "Leaving on a Jet Plane". The case was settled out of court, but as such, the single was pulled out of print and has never appeared on any album. The versions on the compilations "The Best of New Order" and "Singles" that proclaim to be "Run 2" are actually "Run" a song found on their album "Technique" which "Run 2" was a remix of for single release.
Ryan
"Suicide Solution," Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy claimed he had originally wrote this song in memory of AC/DC singer Bon Scott, who died of hypothermia in his car after drinking heavily the night earlier. In 1984, a teenager only known as John M. shot himself in the head while listening to the song. John M.'s parents blamed the song for their son's death They hired attorney Thomas Anderson and sued Ozzy for wrongful death. The judge ruled in Ozzy's favor, citing First Amendment rights.
Rocky
""How Deep Is Your Love" ," Bee Gees
In 1983 , the Bee Gees were sued by a Chicago songwriter named Ronald Selle. In "Selle vs Gibb " Selle claimed that they stole the melodic material of his song " Let It End" , and used it on "How Deep Is Your Love ". The group lost the case , but the verdict was overturned a few months later .
Matt Nicholls
"Our Lawyer Made Us Change The Name Of This Song...," Fall Out Boy
In actual fact, although Fall Out Boy did have a song originally going by the title "I Liked You A Whole Lot Better Before You Became A F***ing MySpace Whore", this one had originally been titled "My Name Is David Ruffin And These Are My Temptations". A clever play on words of course, but courting legal disaster (no pun intended) with the classic Motown vocal group.
neptunevsmars
"Our Lawyer Made Us Change The Name Of This Song...," Fall Out Boy
In actual fact, although Fall Out Boy did have a song originally going by the title "I Liked You A Whole Lot Better Before You Became A F***ing MySpace Whore", this one had originally been titled "My Name Is David Ruffin And These Are My Temptations". A clever play on words of course, but courting legal disaster (no pun intended) with the classic Motown vocal group.
neptunevsmars
"Band Name," Styx
Dennis DeYoung took Tommy Shaw and James Young to court over ownership of the band name Styx when the band split up. Tommy and James won. Dennis could use the name only if it said "Dennis DeYoung and the music of Styx."
Dan Gould
"My Name Is," Eminem
Eminem's own mother filed a lawsuit against her son over the lyric "99% of my life I was lied to I found out my mom does more dope than I do." In her lawsuit Mrs Mathers claims that she never did do drugs of anykind around her son. But soon she repeatedly dropped and reinstated the lawsuit.
Celeste
"Hawkwind," Hawkwind
Founding members David Brock and Nik Turner had a court battle over the band's name Hawkwind. Dave Brock stated that he came up with the name deriving it from mythology. Nik Turner stated that it was a nickname given to him because his nose was like that of a beak, and he had tremendous flatulence, causing someone to call him Hawkwind, and he therefore name the band. I go with Dave Brock in every way. He is Hawkwind.
Wade Brock
"Love Is A Wonderful Thing," Michael Bolton
The Isley Brothers were awarded a sum of 5.4 million dollars in damages in a plagiarism lawsuit against Michael Bolton. The Isley Brothers were also awarded future royalties for the song. Michael Bolton appealed the decision, and lost the appeal.
Celeste
"Return To Innocence," Enigma
The chanting was stolen from a Tawainese couple. They got sued for it.
Mads
"U Can't Touch This," MC Hammer
Hammer was sued for not crediting Rick James for using "Superfreak" to make this song.
Martha Hankins
"The Rutles 1," Neil Innes
Neil Innes was sued by the Beatles' Apple Corps. to have Lennon/McCartney added as a credit toward the "sound-alike" Rutles/Beatles songs.
Bobbe Miller
"Ice Ice Baby ," Vanilla Ice
Vanilla Ice was accused for stealing the bass line for his song "Ice Ice Baby" from the song "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie. This case never went to trial, although rumor has it that the copyright holders of Under Pressure threatened suit and settled with Vanilla out of court for an undisclosed sum.
Shelby
"So Hott," Kid Rock
Somebody is suing Kid Rock because he claims that the beginning guitars in "So Hott" are the same as it is in his own song "Slow Death", and that he also did the same repetition of singing "so hot" three times, as he did in "Slow Death"
tictacs941
"Purity and Frail Limb Nursery," Slipknot
Purity was based on a story singer Corey Taylor found on the internet. The band's Roadrunner Records debut was released and then the band was sued for using the story and sound samples from the website on which the story originated. They re-released their debut album with the two tracks replaced by the song "Me Inside".
Spikejones2012
"our lawyers made us change the name of this song..," Fall Out Boy
okay so the original title of this song was "i liked you much better before you became a myspace whore" but when they went to record their lawyers saild that the song was offensive or that they couldn't mention myspace or something gay like that and so they decided to change it to "our lawyers made us change the name of this song so we wouldn't get sued"
*Music*Addict*
"Old Man Down The Road," John Fogerty
Fogerty was actually sued by Saul Zaentz, the owner to the rights of Credence Clearwater Revival songs, for plagiarizing "Run Through The Jungle"--a song which John Fogerty wrote.
Agrimorfee
"Bittersweet Symphony," The Verve
The string intro was sampled by an orchestrated version of The Rolling Stones "The Last Time". When the song was released, The Rolling Stones Record Company filed a suit against The Verve and told them that they sampled 'too much' of the song. And as a result, the song was credited as Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
Paul Warren
"Stars are Blind," Paris Hilton
Numerous comparisons were made of the background tune for "Stars are Blind" and "Kingston" by UB40. The similarities were striking enough to result in a lawsuit.
BulldozerBegins
New entries in this section are currently reviewed by lpg unit. Previous editors (if any) are listed on the editors page.
The Top Ten Contributors To This Section
| Celeste (site rank #9) | 5 |
| Paul Warren (site rank #10) | 2 |
| neptunevsmars (site rank #32) | 2 |
| Shelby | 1 |
| Rocky | 1 |
| Dan Gould | 1 |
| Spikejones2012 | 1 |
| BulldozerBegins | 1 |
| Matt Nicholls | 1 |
| tictacs941 | 1 |
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