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Avril Lavigne has reached an “undisclosed settlement” with the ’70s powerpop band the Rubinoos, who sued her over allegations that she was plagiarizing their song “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” in the chorus of her inescapable 2007 hit “Girlfriend.” The Canadian Press story on the incident is quick to note that this settlement doesn’t necessarily mean that Lavigne and her management think that she (and co-writer Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald) were guilty of any copyright infringement, and Lavigne’s manager basically said that the settlement was a way for everyone to avoid the headache of a lawsuit. But that doesn’t mean the debate over whether the two songs sound suspiciously alike can’t rage on in comment sections, so feel free to listen to the mash-up of the two tracks above!
Avril Lavigne Settles Suit, Flings A Pile Of Money At The Rubinoos
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I always felt the similarities were very surface-y and that the Rubinoos’ suit was a desperate grab by whatever lawyer was advising them.
So, given the settlement, which probably made them all a little richer, the upshot is: go, desperate grab!
I’m not entirely convinced. I admit that the choruses do sound similar, and maybe I’m just far too trusting a person, but I give her the benefit of the doubt. Though I definitely do hear a little of The Rolling Stones “Get Off Of My Cloud” in the Rubinoos’ original.
the choruses are the same, and the first time i heard avril’s song my first thought was ‘hey cool, someone’s covering the rubinoos’. still, i can believe that she’d never heard their song before… but Lukasz Gottwald sure had.
Yeah, I don’t think I buy that she’s sitting at home with a stack of old 45’s looking for her next single. This sounds more like “The producers gave me this song to sing, and they must have clip-arted it together from all over the place”
Plus, think of how many pop songs are out there. There are only but so many charming little syllable-melody-theme variations to be made. Eventually some of them have to overlap somewhere.
I think we’re all forgetting one of the key points in all of this: Avril’s song sucks. The Rubinoos song does not.
Oh man, I had no idea that Idolator commenters were such wankers compared to the people over at Wonkette. You trust a shitastic pop singer to come up with her own crap? Come on!
Of course SHE didn’t know about the song but her svengali certainly did. Stolen…if not directly then indirectly.
@galacticfuzz: It’s not a question of trust, it’s a question of not letting what we’ve built up crumble to dust. Really, it’s all of these things and more that keep us together.
ruby who’s ?
i got into a fight recently about whether the odds were better that avril might have heard the rubinoos song (because, you know, they’re both canadian) or the lush cover of the song. because, i don’t know, it seems like she might be a closet lush fan.
Avril Lavigne sounds more like Alannis Morrisette everyday.
I think the settlement was a good way to avoid a trial, which would have certainly exposed Avril’s “songwriting” technique for what it is – taking the song some producer wrote for her, adding a pout or two, and voila, another songwriting credit!
@Thierry: Remember when the Matrix said the only contribution she gave to “Complicated” was changing the lyric “take off all your stupid clothes” to “take off all your preppy clothes?”
Here’s a good side by side comparison of Avril Lavigne “Girlfriend” and The Rubinoos “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”. Plus a Blink-182 vs. Green Day bonus:
http://www.thatsongsoundslike.com/2011/08/24/avril-lavigne-vs-the-rubinoos