In October 2007, the Brooklyn outfit Creaky Boards was excited to see a person who resembled Coldplay’s Chris Martin enjoying their CMJ festival performance. Less than a year later, that enthusiasm has turned into frustration as bandleader Andrew Hoepfner discovered that Coldplay’s iTunes-ad-featured “Viva La Vida” had a melody that was kind of close to their “The Songs I Didn’t Write,” performed at the aforementioned concert. Did Martin go hopping from show to show at CMJ, lifting bits for his next album? Don’t be daft, say the superstars; “Viva La Vida” was allegedly demoed over a year ago. This hasn’t stopped Hoepfner from creating a video clip comparing the tracks and publicizing his band.
Oddly, Hoepfner notes that his song’s subject, listening to the radio, would probably be a better fit for an iTunes ad than Coldplay singing about the Crusades. So far he’s not seeking any financial restitution, and he’s even joking that he stole the progression from Zelda on his band’s blog. The similarity is vague enough that I think it’s pretty canny of him to use these similarities as a way of getting the Creaky Boards some publicity, instead of going the more expensive lawsuit route. Probably won’t get them closer to that Apple deal, though.
Coldplay Deny Stealing Song [Guardian]
coldplay + itunes steals viva la vida from creaky boards! [YouTube]
Sure, on a purely superficial level, it has a vague similarity to the Coldplay track. But so do roughly half the mid-tempo ballads recorded since 1972.
[blog.newsok.com]
When is the estate of Freddie Mercury going to sue this guy for moustache infringement?
“The similarity is vague enough that I think it’s pretty canny of him to use these similarities as a way of getting the Creaky Boards some publicity, instead of going the more expensive lawsuit route.”
And, at the end of the day, that’s the whole idea, isn’t it?
@Captain Wrong: Exactly. I don’t see this as anything else besides more buzz for The Creaky Boards.
The Creaky Boards song is kinda…boring, slower than Coldplay’s version and the melody isn’t a rip-off at all. This is pointless.
Dear Creaky Boards,
Before releasing your album, bottle up that creative energy exhibited in the YouTube clip to come up with a less clunky band name!
I’m sorry, but if I happened to hear these two songs back to back without reading this article, I would think nothing of it. This Creaky Boards song is terrible, the melody is very boring and lacks hooks. “Viva La Vida,” love it or hate it, is 1,000x catchier than this hack’s song.
Wait, “Viva La Vida” is about the Crusades?
this happened last month, too. but the tune in question was this a french pop singer, Alize.
[chartrigger.blogspot.com]
hmm…I used to know Andrew H. and i don’t think he’d stake this claim unless he meant it. He’s always been a pretty stand-up guy and was a fantastic bass player.
This isn’t the only song that coldplay has ripped off from someone else, nor will it be the last. A great example is the song “Talk” released by coldplay, it is NOTE FOR NOTE the same song as “Computer Love” released by Kraftwerk in 1886! Not only that, but the song “Violet Hill” by coldplay sounds amazingly similar to “a punch up at a wedding” by radiohead which was, you guessed it, released in 2004, WAY before viva la vida was written, or even a twinkle in chris martin’s eye for that matter. Which is why I have lost ALL respect for coldplay and in my book, they are right there next to Avril Levine and Millie Vanillie for biggest musical Schams of all time. And if you don’t believe me, by all means I urge EVERYONE to download “computer Love” by Kraftwerk to see the real side of cold play.
Coldplay paid Kraftwerk for the use of that melody so they didn’t steal it and lie about it as you are irresponsibly suggesting.