Idolator
If you haven't bought your copy of Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks The 80s yet, you might want to get to Best Buy this weekend, since the guys who wrote "What I Like About You" want the game pulled from store shelves. Because dammit Activision, they've earned every last residual possible from their one hit.
The suit, filed yesterday in federal District Court in Detroit, claims that the sound-alike recording of their song improperly imitates the band's sound, which the members have developed since 1979. The recording makes it "virtually indistinguishable from the authentic version" and confuses consumers into believing that the band actually recorded the music and endorsed the product, the suit says.
So Activision can use "What I Like About You" if it's replayed by their studio musicians, but not if actually sounds anything like the band that originally recorded it. This sort of thing is precisely why I went to clown blog college and not law school.
The Romantics Sue Activision Over "Guitar Hero" [Billboard]
Comments
Pretty sure if this version of the game is the same as GH3, it will say right at the beginning of the song "as made famous by the Romantics," whereas the actual band songs will say "One by Metallica."
@Hamster-Style: Yeah, they do that to tell people it's NOT the Romantics. I don't see how they have a case.
One hit? Don't forget their highest charter, the craptastic "Talking in Your Sleep" from 1983-84. Which sounds like a totally different (way shittier) band and is understandably easy to forget.
@dennisobell: by gum, yr right. i don't think i ever knew that was them! i blame drugs/blogs/age/the usual.
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