Today's Evil Beet Gossip

Today’s Coldplay Plagiarism Story

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By Chris Martin’s own admission, his band Coldplay really isn’t very imaginative.  A few years ago, he admitted to Rolling Stone, “We’re definitely good, but I don’t think you can say we’re that original.  I regard us as being incredibly good plagiarists.”

That quote may end up costing them quite a bit of money in lawsuits.  While I’m at it, let’s review just how many times Coldplay has been accused of stealing other people’s work.

Guitarist Satriani accused the band of stealing chords from his 2004 work “If I Could Fly.”

Creaky Boards alleged that Coldplay heavily borrowed from their aptly titled song, “Songs I Didn’t Write.”

Now Yusuf Islam, better known as Cat Stevens, wants in on the legal action.  He claims that Chris Martin and company have taken material from his “Foreigner Suite” and applied it to their hit, “Viva la Vida.”

Every time I hear about one of these Coldplay plagiarism lawsuits, I think to myself, “Where have I heard this before?”  I’d like to suggest that Chris Martin and his band mates pay a little more attention the next time the same question pops into their heads.

14 CommentsLeave a comment

  • ummm…WTF are they wearing? maybe chris should go to the goop website and check out fashion tips from his wife, fishsticks.

    • I believe they were trying to do a play off the Sgt Peppers costumes. Another original idea of theirs.

  • Seriously, wendie, this info was all over the news and gossip blogosphere when the song first came out.

  • This is the perfect storm; Coldplay are repeat alleged plagiarists and Yusuf Islam has accused others of stealing his material before. He (or his record co.) successfully argued in court that The Flaming Lips had stolen from “Father and Son” for “Fight Song.”

  • Give me a break. Not to defend Coldplay, but every single rap song for the past 15 years has borrowed heavily from others, even if paid for. The fact is, Puffy Combes would be working at the car wash if it wasn’t for ripping peoples music off. Coldplay is so overblown, it’s about time somebody popped their ego!

  • Coldplay have got bigtime tickets on themselves. I remember seeing them at the V2001 music festival and Chris Martin shouted out “Wow! I can’t believe it! 250,000 people and you all came to see ME!” and most people were like um no actually we’re here to see Foo Fighters / Chili Peppers / Chemical Bros / Kylie Minogue / etc etc. Get over yerselves Coldplay (and fishsticks).

  • I heart Coldplay; they’re amazing songwriters, musicians and performers. With the number of songs out there today you’re bound to get some that sound similar. The only reason why those other guys are attacking Coldplay is because Coldplay have actually got somewhere with their music and had number 1 albums etc.
    Anyone think maybe they’re just a little bitter…?

    • Yeah, because Cat Stevens never had any success whatsoever. Who in their right mind remembers his fleeting hits like “Wild World” and “Morning Has Broken” and “Peace Train?” And going triple-platinum twice and selling over 60 million albums, one of which is consistently ranked in lists of top albums of all time…well, we all know that falls into the category of “not getting anywhere with his music.”

  • Long before their auto-tune the news exploded into popculture (see Jay Leno May 14, 2009 while interviewing Katie Couric) Michael Greogry was busy being ripped by Coldplay as well. In this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyNN4LFsW74 you see him make his case against the Creaky Boards and Coldplay alike.