Being the world's second biggest band seems to get you nothing but trouble these days. At least, that's how it must seem to Coldplay, who are being sued by shred-guitar godhead Joe Satriani for plagiarism. Ol' Crazyfingers maintains that the ubiquitous title track from the band's latest album, Viva La Vida, is a rip-off of his 2004 instrumental tune "If I Could Fly."
Those of you with memories that extend further back than the last CNN news cycle may recall that Coldplay has already been down this road, when New York indie band Creaky Boards claimed the same damn song to be derivative of their tune, entitled (ironically enough) "The Songs I Didn't Write." The leader of that band claimed that one of the Coldplayers attended his gig at CMJ pre-Vida and thus a theft was born. However unlikely anyone may have found that scenario, it seems more difficult still to imagine that Chris Martin was busy catching up on his Satriani catalog during the writing of the album in question, but you can be the judge by checking out this handy YouTube comparison, which is a clear example of why God made the internet.
[Reuters]
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They certainly sound very similar. What I don't get is, the album's been out for a while...why no lawsuit until now? It's taken him that long to figure this out? Seems like it should have hit him the first time he saw that iPod ad.