radomositylicousnessathon -- Unofficial Chris Cornell Forum

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, [2], 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 13:17:39 03/31/06 Fri
Author: 23
Subject: radomositylicousnessathon

So I was listening to PJ's Yield when I went to pick up chinese for lunch (spicy trio and hot & sour soup - GOOD!), and Given to Fly came on. Such a beautiful song that evokes its mood so perfectly. This kind of longing and hope with a background of melancholy. Anyway, I read an interview back when that album first came out and the interviewer asked Mike McCready (who "wrote" the music on that song) if he intentionally borrowed the guitar riff from Led Zeppelin's Going to California. He said something like "Wow. You're right. I totally stole that riff. I guess I just listen to so much classic rock that it seeped into my brain somehow."

And it did.

My question? I know life isn't fair and never will be, but it's kind of fucked up that The Beatles and Zeppelin used up so many of the great melodies and riffs? I mean, there have to be a finite number of combinations of musical notes, and some of them are going to resonate better with the human mind & heart than others. And so many of The Beatles' and Zepps' (and a few other select R&R acts from the 50s, 60s & 70s) riffs do. So what are the songwriters of today left with? Lots of scraps. Lots of slight variations on what came before (see The White Stripes) in an attempt to tap into the same place those artists were able to tap into.

I guess the same goes for stories.

Fucking Shakespeare.

That is all.

(like the subject title said, random)

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[> Re: radomositylicousnessathon -- chico781, 13:28:47 03/31/06 Fri [1]

That's a good point. I'm not a musician so I can't always tell if a riff is stolen or anything but you read this sort of thing all the time and musicians always talk about The Beatles and such in great regard for their song writing abilities. I'm sure eventually someone will be able to write some kick ass shit again, though.

[ Post a Reply to This Message ]
[ Edit | View ]

[> Re: radomositylicousnessathon -- Jes, 13:44:45 03/31/06 Fri [1]

Listen to a rap channel for an hour and tell me what percentages of the songs have "scraps" from older greater songs. They are especially bad for that. But even Audioslave has done that - stealing from Pantera who stole from someone else. I think some of it is just mistaken! Like you're messing around with your guitar and you play something you don't remember hearing before (but you did) and thinking you created it. I watch my son come up with his songs and have seen that happen to him. But I guess that's away from your point.

Dirty dirty boy Shakespeare. Naughty shakespeare. He was the Henry Miller of his day (I know that's an understatement).

[ Post a Reply to This Message ]
[ Edit | View ]

[> Re: radomositylicousnessathon -- tg, 15:11:13 03/31/06 Fri [1]

Funny you should mention it. I was watching Vh1 DISCO and all the old artists were talking about that. They use so many samples in rap and one guy was saying that if some tune from the 70's was so good then why come up with a different bassline or whatever when you can just simply use it.

I think BB King said that all art(music) even blues or rock is all a copy of something else, nothing is original.

That Killers song "All These Things That I Have Done" that song reminds me so much of the Ramones or even The Sex Pistols. The latest Audioslave when I first heard it was such a Zeppelin rip off. It was also so blatant that I was sickened by their lack of newness.

[ Post a Reply to This Message ]
[ Edit | View ]

[> Re: radomositylicousnessathon -- chrys, 15:20:29 03/31/06 Fri [1]

you know, this dumbass that i dated in hs told me once that new things, i THINK he meant writings but im not sure, are only 10% new and 90% borrowed.

this is interesting you bring up now, b/c i'm staring to go through copyright stuff for my book, and it's quite the process. as it shows on my myspace, my chapter titles are lyrics, and i will have to ask permission, and probably pay, to use them. i am scared to find out how much. in the actual text i do some quoting too, and am trying to either delete that or change to paraphrasing if/when possible.

and still i have a huge list.

CC is biggest on there, so far.

i'm not a huge Zep fan so i don't know what to say about that, but i do love given to fly. always felt kinda weird for loving that song cuz so many i knew thought it was mediocre, but i really love, there are some just awesome parts.

"well fuckers, he still stands"

also, there is a quote by some famous writer, maybe hemmingway, something like, "if it's good enough, i'll steal it."

[ Post a Reply to This Message ]
[ Edit | View ]

[> Re: radomositylicousnessathon/yield -- rdtwo, 15:32:52 03/31/06 Fri [1]

(except for the very end of the song)absolutely love all those yesterdays. it's up there with my fave pj tunes.dam the beatles and zep. zep i consider(based on the combo of drums, bass, guitar, singer rolled into one) the best rock band there's ever been. how many countless groups have taken the drop d chord from the black sabbath catalog. that
is without a doubt the greatest riff ever conjured up. carry
on..

[ Post a Reply to This Message ]
[ Edit | View ]

[> Re: radomositylicousnessathon -- Robert, 15:47:33 03/31/06 Fri [1]

Twan, That's why I listen to so much jazz and world music. Everything in the western scale has been done to death, except some of the more augmented and dimished chordal stuff. When you start working through the modes, you can start to sound too "prog" too. Simple pentatonic melodies are timeless, and instantly catchy. Sooner or later, everybody will cop everybody if we all stay in the same bag.

I can tip you off to some things I've "liberated" over the years. The intro vocal meoldy to Beautiful in Spring is me riffing on an old Carly Simon melody (That's the Way I Always Heard it Should Be). At least, that's where I obtained the idea for the melodic line over the diminished arpegio in the right, and the augmented arpegio in the left, which by themselves would create quite a dissonant chord...which = prog to the average listener.

Then there's The guitar part in the hook of Big Sleep. It's a syncopated Zep thing turned around backwards that I copped from The Song Remains the Same concert footage (I think...). From Innocense is a straight rip of Four Sticks rhythmically. Take It guitar part was something I always heard in my head playing behind the marching band in McCartney's Let 'Em In, just in a different key. Crushing Beuty is a rip off of Ten Years Gone...just took the intro chords from that song and started dicking with them until they were turned around a bit.

There's a funny story about given to fly that Ed told once. Plant came to see them on a tour stop, and before PJ went on, Plant asked Ed "So, you gonna play my song tonight?" lol. ed dedicated it to Plant when they played it that night too.

The real trick is to tap into the heart of what makes those riffs work. That's Why I can listen to Cochese and hear 10 different songs (Including Cornell's own Get on the Snake), and not be too bent up about it.

[ Post a Reply to This Message ]
[ Edit | View ]