Satriani Trolling Coldplay?

hassleham

When I was listening to the new Joe Satriani album, I couldn't help but notice the similarity in the main melody with Coldplay's Viva La Vida..



After the lawsuit between him and Coldplay over If I Could Fly, is this a sly way of getting his own back?

thecolourbox

Blimey that sounds like I recorded that

jpw

I had a giggle when I first heard it as I thought exactly the same thing. re If I could fly; Didn't they settle out of court on basis of never discussing it in public, sounds like admission of guilt, surely Coldplay could afford better lawyers than Joe..

underdog

Jesus I'd rather listen to coldplay than that.

dindude

His playing sounds very binary there, each note is either on or off and nowhere in between - like a toy keyboard.

SidNewton

Personally I think Satriani is off his head if he thinks Coldplay/Chris Martin sit around listening to his albums so they can steal melodies.

hassleham

@SidNewton ;
So you think they didn’t steal it? It sounds so similar though.

SidNewton

hassleham said:

@SidNewton ;
So you think they didn’t steal it? It sounds so similar though.

In all fairness fella I can't say but I feel it's purely coincidence and for someone with Joes extensive knowledge of music theory he is well aware of this being likely. Joes core audience is other guitarists, not guys like Coldplay. I doubt they ever heard his song.
For me he was being opportunistic with his claim.

cpcompany

As uncool as Coldplay are, I can't imagine them listening to the even more naff Joe satriani and ripping off his songs. He makes Chris Martin look like Iggy Pop.  

stickyfiddle

SidNewton said:

hassleham said:

@SidNewton ;
So you think they didn’t steal it? It sounds so similar though.

In all fairness fella I can't say but I feel it's purely coincidence and for someone with Joes extensive knowledge of music theory he is well aware of this being likely. Joes core audience is other guitarists, not guys like Coldplay. I doubt they ever heard his song.
For me he was being opportunistic with his claim.

Exactly. 

Ultimately there are only 12 notes... 

ICBM

stickyfiddle said:

Ultimately there are only 12 notes...

But that becomes an astronomical number very quickly if you do the maths - far in excess of the number of songs that have ever been written or ever will be written. A simple eight-note melody has over 400 million possible sequences, before you even get into note value differences. (12^8 = 429,981,696.) Add a couple of chord changes into it and you're immediately into the billions or more.

The problem is that the vast majority of them don't sound very musical. But the fact that there are only 12 notes by itself does not provide an excuse for unoriginality...

bluechargeboy

ICBM said:

A simple eight-note melody has over 400 million possible sequences, before you even get into note value differences. (12^8 = 429,981,696.) Add a couple of chord changes into it and you're immediately into the billions or more.

I feel that we should send this to Rob Scallon as a challenge.

AlexC

That doesn’t sound anything like Livin La Vida Loca.

Jalapeno

AlexC said:

That doesn’t sound anything like Livin La Vida Loca.

Excellent work sir ! Excellent.

Freebird

ICBM said:

stickyfiddle said:

Ultimately there are only 12 notes...

But that becomes an astronomical number very quickly if you do the maths - far in excess of the number of songs that have ever been written or ever will be written. A simple eight-note melody has over 400 million possible sequences, before you even get into note value differences. (12^8 = 429,981,696.) Add a couple of chord changes into it and you're immediately into the billions or more.

The problem is that the vast majority of them don't sound very musical. But the fact that there are only 12 notes by itself does not provide an excuse for unoriginality...

You are still bound by the key, the tonic and the dominant, and the need for resolution. Didn't the Hollies sue somebody who sued somebody else? It's all getting a bit rediculous just because they stumbled upon a sequence of notes first, that somebody else would have probably discovered anyway. Those who were around in the 60's and 70's had a distinct advantage when collecting sequences of notes. Human evolution is littered with parallel discoveries, everybody will get there eventually given time.

Yep, I'm not really a big fan of copyright. Everybody should get a turn with those notes and let the listener decide who they want to hear playing them.

stickyfiddle

Freebird said:

ICBM said:

stickyfiddle said:

Ultimately there are only 12 notes...

But that becomes an astronomical number very quickly if you do the maths - far in excess of the number of songs that have ever been written or ever will be written. A simple eight-note melody has over 400 million possible sequences, before you even get into note value differences. (12^8 = 429,981,696.) Add a couple of chord changes into it and you're immediately into the billions or more.

The problem is that the vast majority of them don't sound very musical. But the fact that there are only 12 notes by itself does not provide an excuse for unoriginality...

You are still bound by the key, the tonic and the dominant, and the need for resolution. Didn't the Hollies sue somebody who sued somebody else? It's all getting a bit rediculous just because they stumbled upon a sequence of notes first, that somebody else would have probably discovered anyway. Those who were around in the 60's and 70's had a distinct advantage when collecting sequences of notes. Human evolution is littered with parallel discoveries, everybody will get there eventually given time.

Yep, I'm not really a big fan of copyright. Everybody should get a turn with those notes and let the listener decide who they want to hear playing them.

Yeah, exactly. Ultimately if we're limiting to pop music in major & minor keys there are a finite number of combinations, and it's no surprise that those writing music for a living sometimes come across the same set of notes & chords that sound good.

IIRC the Hollies sued Radiohead, who may or may not have sued Lana Del Rey. Which is pretty childish since they're all millionaires.

Though I am quite amused at how Stevie Wonder almost sued Noel Gallagher for the track Step Out, which was then removed from What's the Story.. at the 11th hour so Noel didn't have to share the album royalties. 

ICBM

stickyfiddle said:

Though I am quite amused at how Stevie Wonder almost sued Noel Gallagher for the track Step Out, which was then removed from What's the Story.. at the 11th hour so Noel didn't have to share the album royalties. 

It's a shame the writers of all the other songs didn't get him to pull those too...

Octahedron

Joe Satriani's new album, much like the majority of Cold Play's back catalogue, is a brilliant sleep aid!



I've only been able to find it in me to listen to the album once - it wasn't exciting. I really hoped that the Glenn Hughes & Chad Smith backing would have made it a intriguing listen. Sadly, that didn't happen.

hassleham

I’m surprised by the amount of hate for JS here! I enjoyed the new album. No it wasn’t as good as his older stuff but still enjoyable and his tone and expression is awesome.

Philly_Q

Octahedron said:

I've only been able to find it in me to listen to the album once - it wasn't exciting. I really hoped that the Glenn Hughes & Chad Smith backing would have made it a intriguing listen. Sadly, that didn't happen.

Well at least Hughes doesn't sing on it....

I haven't really listened to Satriani since he still had hair.... so I investigated the new album.  Not crazy about it on first listen... I get that he's going for a more basic, retro approach but I think it all sounds a bit subdued.

Spotify has now led me back to Shockwave Supernova, which I'm liking better.

Octahedron

hassleham said:

I’m surprised by the amount of hate for JS here! I enjoyed the new album. No it wasn’t as good as his older stuff but still enjoyable and his tone and expression is awesome.

I don't hate Satch. I've seen him live a few times, I own the entire back catalog - I don't think I could be called a hater. I regularly sport a bright red Surfing With the Alien tee!



But this album just wasn't that interesting.

Shockwave Supernova was pretty great. The melodies on this one just don't really stick with me in the way that they did with the previous albums. As with all bands/artists, they're always going to have some hit'n'miss too.