NME News

Coldplay sued for plagiarism by Joe Satriani

Guitarist claims the band ripped off one of his songs on their last album

December 5, 2008 | 21 Comments
Coldplay news RSS feed
More Coldplay news, reviews, videos and tour dates
Post this on Twitter or Follow NME

American guitarist Joe Satriani is suing Coldplay for plagiarism, after claiming that the band's recent single 'Viva La Vida' ripped off his 2004 song 'If I Could Fly'.

Satriani says that the band used "substantial original portions" of his song on the near title track of the group's latest album 'Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends'.

The guitarist is seeking a jury trial, and wants to be awarded "any and all profits" Coldplay have made from the song, reports BBC.

'Viva La Vida' was written by all four members of Coldplay. It was released as a single in May 2008, going on to top the UK singles chart and the Billboard Hot 100.

'If I Could Fly' appeared on Satriani's 'Is There Love In Space?' album, released in 2004.

Share this story:
Del.icio.us
Digg
Furl
Reddit
Bebo

Follow NME on Twitter

More News:

PREVIOUS Maximo Park man to play 'solo' London show

NEXT Watch The View's new 'Horror' video now

Buy NME Magazine right now

Subscribe here or get this week's issue delivered to your door

Comments (21)

Add a comment

mozafan

Dec 5, 2008

Satch is a legend, I love him even more now!!

FreddyNietzsche

Dec 5, 2008

HadnÂ´t they copied this song from another band? I think I even saw the news about that here a few months ago. Anyway, I heard the Satriani song and I have to say it does sound very much alike...

Fivestrings

Dec 5, 2008

This is absolute horse shit. I've heard the song: very simple, straight forward chord progression that could have (and probably has been) written dozens of times before, and will be reproduced countless more times in the future. There is nothing fundamentally special about the "If I could fly" song. And in the hypothetical case that they did steal it, they've done something quite original with it: e.g. I can't hear any string arrangements in the Satriani song, whilst Viva La Vida is nothing but strings. Anyway, plagiarism? My arse!

IndieWriter

Dec 5, 2008

yeah like Coldplay have even heard that twat, playing it faster doesnt make it better you bald idiot

indie_rock_and_roll_for_me

Dec 5, 2008

Are you freakin kidding me!? Look, I have disdain for Coldplay as much as the next guy, but I do know that when an American guitar hack releases 600 albums with 72,000 bloody guitar solos, he runs the risk of using every chord progression/melody line imaginable. Coldplay's only guilt here is writing a song with an overdone 4-chord progression. Coldplay plagiarized themselves with The Scientist and Politik. Get your bald head outta your ass 'Snatch'.

nologosgh

Dec 5, 2008

about fucking time

wellduhobviously

Dec 5, 2008

I'd have kept my mouth shut about any similarity between my music and Coldplay's.

Fuckedupshit

Dec 5, 2008

They definetely stole it, the vocals are sang in exactly the same pitch and sequence as sat's guitar, definite forge.Just wondering why it took him so long to sue, considering that there is a video on youtube of this thats been flying around for ages.OHHHH!!! and coldplay suck!1111one!111!

Lord of The Flies

Dec 5, 2008

Hey, I'm a bored Pigeon Detectives fan & I have nothing better to do with my time than to read articles about bands I don't like & then slag them off. Coldplay are boring blah blah blah...Aren't I cool?PS. Pete Doherty for President

kurtusmelurkus

Dec 8, 2008

I'm intrigued... doherty for president of what?

sealofmadness

Dec 8, 2008

i just had a listen to the Satriani song, and whilst the chord progression is basically the same and one of riffs does sound like Chris Martin's vocal pitch, in essence the Satriani song is just some guitarist wanking off for 6 minutes whereas Viva la Vida is- dare i say it on this site?- actually a good song in it's own right, not some guy showing how awesome he is at guitar.

john73carr

Dec 8, 2008

and one of the songs of x and y sounds like kraftwork, not sure which song but somthig of kraftworks best of and the coldplay song with the video of them on the moon with a robot

chubbyfacejohn

Dec 8, 2008

Haha, and the song always reminded me of New Order's Bizarre Love Triangle.

Moriyosi

Dec 8, 2008

Of course, the fact that indie nobodies Creaky Boards claimed ownership of that exact same chord progression not too long ago kind of undermines Satriani's case.

whoisloganryan

Dec 8, 2008

So I recently listened to both songs back to back and they do sound extremely similar.A lot of you are right about its almost impossible without copying previous chords from another song but in this song it seems to much a like.Now I love Coldplay and I am not saying they did it intentionally because they very well could of. But what I think happened is that sometimes when you are writing a song whether it be chords, beats, or vocals you'll hear something that sounds extremely good because you might of heard it somewhere before and not really remember where you heard it. Your brain tells you that its new and it is why you like it so much and not realizing that it sounds this good because it has been done.

Stefania22

Dec 8, 2008

I agree with Fivestrings...but I'd like to add that there's an even more clear case of 'weird similarities' at Coldplay's expenses with Eyes Wide Open by Ashlee Simpson (!), it sounds a lot like Square One in more than one place...

phazer81

Dec 8, 2008

Joe and the guys are the best, always friendly and fun but always professional. Obviously someone from Coldplay or their associates heard Satch's song when it came out, waited a few years, then got them to record it. Joe's been Grammy nominated 15 times but never won. They rip one of his songs , get it nominated and they will probably win. Apparently good guys always finish last. Shame on Coldplay.

callaby

Dec 8, 2008

haha wellduhobviously made me laughshut up lord of the flies, pigeon detectives are the on the same level of rodents in the music world and pete doherty is a spent force

Fivestrings

Dec 8, 2008

Reaction to Stefania 22: Ashlee Simpson stole it from Coldplay. Her album was released in March 2006, whereas Coldplay's "X & Y" was released in June 2005. That explains a lot, I'd say...

Lord of The Flies

Dec 8, 2008

Callaby, you're not a fan of sarcasm hey? I was just making reference to the usual social reject that usually floods Coldplay & Oasis topics with their unwanted opinion because they have nothing better to do with their time.

Elly5

Dec 16, 2008

Satriani will never win this case. Apart from the melodies sounding 'similar' at best - the underlying rhythm which is what makes the Coldplay composition the better in this case is missing from the Satriani track, if that distinctive rhythm was present in the Satriani track I wouldn't say so much. Besides, Satriani has said in the past - "We all use the same twelve notes." Every once in a while there are going to be similarities and no court should allow in favour of Satriani, it would open the flood gates to almost any coincidence .