Coldplay vs. Joe Satriani

Everyone by now has heard that Coldplay is being taken to task by Joe Satriani. The British lite-rock sensation has apparently been snipping pieces of other people’s work. According to some music fans - Mr. Satriani isn’t the only victim of Coldplay’s acoustic larceny.

Coldplay, now the darling of the Grammys, seems to do a great job of following Satriani’s rif from his song “If I Could Fly” released in 2004. The band’s 2008 album Viva La Vida’s title track is demonstrated in this YouTube video as being perfectly in harmony with the American guitarist’s song.

Now they’re apparently going to court as Satriani has sued Coldplay for plagiarism for taking what he calls “substantial original portions” from If I Could Fly. But is the rip-off intentional? There have been many cases of musicians lifting work that has gone before. George Harrison famously lifted from the Chffon’s He’s So Fine in his 1970 hit, My Sweet Lord. The Rolling Stones even gave out a retroactive credit to K.D. Lang and her 1992 song Constant Craving for the Stones 1997 single Anybody Seen My Baby.

But in the case of Coldplay and its borrowing, some would say it runs a little deeper than just a single riff from a single song. Satriani may be suing for the riff but many cite Coldplay as blatantly ripping off the overall sound of U2, especially in songs like Speed of Sound and Clocks. Others say Coldplay rips off the Beatles and even Oasis.

Another head-to-head comparison illustrates Coldplay’s riff-rip of Kraftwerk’s Computer Love from their 1981 concept album Computer World.

Coldplay has since made a very polite rebuttal to Mr. Satriani’s allegations. The band stated to the Associated Press this week:

“With the greatest possible respect to Joe Satriani, we have now unfortunately found it necessary to respond publicly to his allegations. If there are any similarities between our two pieces of music, they are entirely coincidental, and just as surprising to us as to him. Joe Satriani is a great musician, but he did not write or have any influence on the song Viva La Vida. We respectfully ask him to accept our assurances of this and wish him well with all future endeavours.”

C’mon Coldplay and Satriani - I think it’s time for a good old fashioned musician trash talkin’ fued. Just like Lynyrd Skynyrd and Neil Young or L.L. Cool J. and Kool Moe D. Who can forget Skynyrd tossing in the lyric… “Southern Man doesn’t need him (Neil) around anyhow!” Only to see Neil Young later playing back-up guitar for Skynyrd in a later concert. Does anyone remember how quickly allegations that Eminem was homophobic dissolved when he did a number at the Grammys with Sir Elton John?

Think of the amazing concert they could do together after a lyrical joust - just to show everyone it’s all in good fun. Imagine Satriani doing lead guitar for Coldplay! It’s almost certain that the 52-year-old guitarist would actually infuse a bit of testosterone into the quartet.