There's some controversy about perennial favorite band Nickelback. Mikey Smith noticed a disturbing similarity between their older hit How You Remind Me and a newer hit Someday. He synched the songs up to play together and found that they do indeed share a baseline. That really pissed him off.
Nickelback, you lazy, talentless bunch of wankers. What, did you think nobody would notice that you're recycling your hideous dirge and selling it all over again to your deluded fan base? You bastards, you're taking advantage of those tone deaf MTV brainwashed twats who are too thick to notice you're releasing songs that are EXACTLY THE SAME as ones you recorded earlier. And here's the proof, people. Listen to their first godawful hit, played through the left speaker. At the same time, an equally shite single (released two years later) will be played through the right speaker. Can you spot the difference?
He maintains that this is effectively theft by deception. While I agree with some of his points ("deluded fan base" and "tone deaf MTV brainwashed twats" to be precise) my overall impression of his argument is "So what?".
In order to be popular a group must produce an identifiable sound. Think of any band that has had more than a single hit and you should have no trouble finding similarities in their songs. In this particular case they are recycling a base line. In three chord rock. How do you not recycle a baseline when you've only got a handful of them to work with?
They aren't talentless wankers, they are wankers of limited talent. Successful wankers of limited talent. Rich successful wankers of limited talent. Rich successful wankers of limited talent that get a whole lot more pussy than Mikey Smith.
And they deserve it. They made a sound that people like. They're smart enough to keep making the sound that people like. Eventually people will get bored with that sound and they will either come up with a new sound that people like or they will descend into obscurity like almost every other band in the history of music to resurface only as guests on Hollywood Squares or the occasional Trivial Pursuit question.
I agree.
Who cares...all that shit sounds the same to me anyway.
I couldn't agree more.
AC/DC comes to mind. I'm sure you could do the same thing with most of their songs, but that doesn't diminish what they've created. To me AC/DC is fundamental 100% pure rock & roll.
Heck - you could even go farther... 50% or more of all rock and roll tunes use G, C & D chord paterns. Tis must mean they're all stealing from each other!!! (The percentage quoted above comes directly from my butt - but any musician will agree.)
Anyhoo... If it works (and judging by album sales it's working) then more power to them.
Question: I'm no music expert so what is the difference between a bass line and a baseline?
One smells a bit fishy.
The other is made out of chalk and connects the bases.
You make very good points, Jim. But regardless of what bass line is recycled to achieve a signature sound, the least a band can do is try to change the harmony a little.
I don't listen to much of this stuff myself, but I've caught it enough on the radio. In the back of my head, I thought both of those pieces were the same song. Are they cheating anybody? Hard to say. Both songs are moderate hits and people are obviously into them. Still, in the whole scheme of things, who gives a damn. Nobody is any worse for it.