Green Day's '21 Guns' Copies Old Song (Is any music original anymore?)

I heard Green Day's song '21 Guns' yesterday and had it stuck in my head all day long.

The chorus goes:

'One, 21 guns. Lay down your arms. Give up the fight. One, 21 guns. Throw up your arms into the sky, You and I.'

But later in the day, I caught myself singing different lyrics to Green Day's chorus tune without realizing:

'Oh, oh telephone line. Give me some time. I'm living in twilight. Oh, oh telephone line. Give me some time. I'm living in twilight.'

That is when it hit me that Green Day's chorus is very similar to one of my favorite songs, 'Telephone Line' by Electric Light Orchestra.

Compare GD's chorus (beginning at the 48 second mark):



To ELO's chorus (beginning at the 1:58 mark):



They're very similar. One genre is alternative and the other is disco so the style of songs are different but I was surprised to see how similar they were and even my subconscious picked up on it.

Does anyone else hear the similarity?

It reminds me of a video Johnny Anonymous posted a while back (warning: some language):

reply to post by AshleyD


Most of the songs that are listenable are just remixes of ones a decade or more older.

The writers just aren' trying anymore, the artists can't sing, When was the last time you hears a pop star who could actually sing and had a bit of operatic training under their bel;t before they cut a cd?

Wow that Axis of Awesome video was something! It just goes to show how it's always good to listen to different kinds of music! I had seen similar situations where let's say a band like...Nickleback I think it was, had 2 of their songs from different albums on the same beat.

Personally I'm more of a fan of rock, metal and punk music(Pink Floyd to Black Sabbath to CCR to Slipknot...) and I have a really hard time liking pop music unless the song is REALLY catchy.

But these other genres of music do offer more creativity, IMO at least..

This reminds me of a video I saw of comedian Rob Paravonian, he goes thru a bunch of songs that have came out from the 1970's to present that use Pachelbel's Canon in there work. One of those songs is be Green Day as well, lol. Below is a link to the video, its very amusing.

www.youtube.com...

First time I heard that Green Day song I taught : Hey this is a cover song!
I guess I had telephone line from ELO in mind...

I think it's horrible to see how much music now is totally a rip off. I even heard song that are exactly the same song, but with new lyrics. They should be shot lol

If you can't make music, don't go into music. But people these days want to be popular and they don't know how or why.

Well at least, some still make music like me .

90's Punk Rock

Alternative Rock

Pop/Club

Rock Pop

Industrial Rock

Spend a couple minutes to listen, people that do take the time really like my songs
Although, if it's like last times I posted, not a single soul will go...

It's really hard to live from music, especially if you look whats popular on radio, yuk.

That axis of Awesome video was fricken AWESOME

I was absolutely pissin myself, their Aussie how come Ive never heard of em before?

Thanks, Guys. JA gets credit for bringing the 'Axis of Awesome' video to my attention.



I also just fast forwarded Green Day's Song and Electric Light Orechestra's song to the critical parts and played them at the same time. The sync was almost perfect lol:

GD: One, 21 Guns...
ELO: Oh, Oh Telephone Line...

GD: Lay down your arms...
ELO: Give me some time...

GD: Give up the fight...
ELO: I'm living in twilight...

Etc. ELO's is a little more mellow but it's the same tune. lol

Here are some more famous examples that I didn't discover myself but it shows how songs share music:



What happens to me a lot is I will hear the opening sequence to a song on the radio and swear it is one song, but it turns out to be another.

Song share opening sequences all the time.

Here is a famous example:



Compare to the opening sequence of:



Another famous example is Cheville's 'Send the Pain Below' compared to the Deftone's 'Be Quiet and Drive.' Although it's close, I wouldn't say it was exact but a lot of people think so.

Not that I would defend green day as I feel they are fairly talent free but, I would not call it a total rip off.
Sure the chorus has the same melody for a few seconds, but it fades back into the same green day droll.
Paul McCartney looking, bad pokemon hair, emo singing drivel, Etc. just gets the lil girlies going though.
Speaking of bad hair, wtf was going on with ELO's hair?
Too much of that electric light must have fried their ends!
My Goddess! 70's hair may have been worse than these kids today.

reply to post by User8911

I even heard song that are exactly the same song, but with new lyrics.

LOL. Here are 2 examples I can think of off the top of my head:

Redone song from stalker to dead friend. lol:
STING'S EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE



PUFF DADDY'S I'LL BE MISSING YOU



Very similar chorus:

ANGEL OF THE MORNING



SHAGGY'S ANGEL

They sound really similar once I catch the tune. Weird!
But not surprising, unfortunately. It seems musicians from all different genres like to snatch & grab melodies or song clips from others these days.... What made money once can make it again, right?
It's sad, makes me wonder what would've happened if Floyd & Zeppelin started belting out each others tunes

It does make me wonder though about the use of, say, Solfeggio Frequencies in mainstream music.

Knew I heard the chorus somewhere else.
Think waaaay back to Mott the Hoople.
Skip ahead to about 2:00ish
Same sound yet again.

My Morning Jacket recently did the same thing on their new album. However, the orginal song they used is a bit more obscure. i dont think most people would have ever known. But they when they put out a sneak preview of the new song, they did mention it as their inspiration and gave a link to the song, so its not like they were trying to pull a fast one.

reply to post by Cheesefacedogbone


LOL I missed, I heard the first track and guessed...
Best drum solo evaaar on the live cut.

reply to post by AshleyD


Dang, I always knew shaggy was a rip-off.

Covering good songs is ok, but taking the exact same thing, changing the lyrics and making it "your" song, sucks.

Depeche Mode cover

Here is another one

Stardust - Music Sounds Better with You
VS
the rip off Doman & Gooding - Runnin'

Music definately does copy itself all the time.

Let's take pachelbel canon in D.
You'd be surprised how many popular songs use the chords. Crazy.


Parovian does a great job showing how many songs use it in this rant.

And this thread wouldn't be complete without the following example:

Remember that the song 'ABC' and 'Twinkle Little Star' is the exact same melody.

Oh and Axis of Awesome here shows you that you only need 4 chords to do most Pop Music

Songs Included are :
You're beautiful by James Blunt,
Forever young by the Alphaville (covered by Youth Group),
I'm yours by Jason Mraz,
Amazing by Alex Lloyd,
Wherever you go by the Calling,
Can you feel the love tonight by Elton John,
She will be loved by Maroon 5,
Pictures of you by the Last Goodnight,
Cigarettes will kill you by Ben Lee,
With or without you by U2,
Fall at your feet by Crowded House,
Am I not pretty enough? by Kasey Chambers,
Let it be by The Beatles,
Under the bridge by RHCP,
Horses by Darryl Braithwaite,
Down under by Men at Work,
Waltzing Matilda,
Old Australia's funniest Homevideos intro,
Taylor by Jack Johnson,
2 become 1 by the Spice Girls,
Take on me by A-ha,
When I come around by Green Day,
Save tonight by Eagle Eye Cherry,
Africa by Toto,
If I Were A Boy by Beyonce,
Self Esteem by the Offspring,
Apologize by One Republic,
U + Ur Hand by P!nk,
Pokerface by Lady Gaga,
Barbie Girl by Aqua,
Kids by MGMT,
Scar by Missy Higgins,