It’s tough to be completely original in music; we get that. There are so many bands and so many styles that virtually everybody is going to end up sounding like somebody else at one point or another.
Some people though, take that excuse to the extreme, and basically make their fortune off other people’s sounds. The “best” of the bunch rip off several bands in the span of one damn album, and sometimes within the same song.
10. Skillet
A fairly new band to the mainstream crowd, these guys come roaring out of the gate quickly with two singles that are basically somebody else’s. It probably took the average radio fan several listens before realizing Monster wasn’t just Three Days Grace writing a sequel to Animal I Have Become. But since they’re almost exactly the same song, from the beat to the heavy sound to the theme to the way the guy sings, then the listener can be forgiven.
Things got even more confusing when they released their next single, Awake And Alive, featuring synths, violins, and pretty female vocals designed to make us forget about the ugly male vocals immediately preceding them. And yet we were supposed to be shocked when we found out it wasn’t Evanescence.
We were shocked however, to find out they are a Christian band. Pretty sure shamelessly aping several bands in one shot falls under the “thou shalt not covet” thing that God was so against.
9. Union Underground
This early 2000’s metal band had a couple radio singles get frequent play, though you’d swear it was two other, better, bands if you didn’t catch the DJ beforehand. Their first single, Turn Me On Mr. Deadman, was little more than a Powerman 5000 outtake, right down to the creepy spoken-word verses and screaming choruses. Their next single, Killing The Fly, slowed things down and added oddly-familiar harmonic vocals. Coincidentally, it couldn’t have been more Alice In Chains if Layne Staley himself had written the damn thing.
In addition, they loved The Beatles and wanted to let you know it. “Mr. Deadman” was supposedly a saying that was revealed by playing the Beatles song Revolution 9 backwards, and another song of theirs, Revolution Man, was about Lennon himself. The only thing they didn’t do in tribute to Lennon was create original and interesting songs.
8. Natalie Imbruglia
You hate to bag on someone as adorable as Natalie, but she sadly doesn’t have an original musical bone in her body. Her biggest hit, Torn, was a watered-down cover of an Ednaswap song, and the rest of her debut album alternated between being an Alanis Morrisette tribute and a beginners guide to Portishead-style trip-hop.
Her Alanis phase was never more prevalent than in the song Intuition, which features a chorus that sounds EXACTLY like the chorus to Alanis’s Hand In My Pocket. Though she came close to topping that with another song, Big Mistake, which combined slow trip-hop verses with an angsty-rock-chick chorus, complete with Alanis-style yelps to end each line. Natalie had a few more hits, but never came close her initial success ever again; perhaps her approach was a Big Mistake after all.
7. Jet
Approximately 25,381,726,349,738,482,374 bands rip off AC/DC; few get a multi-record deal and make millions while doing it. Jet is one of those bands, shamelessly aping AC/DC’s guitar sound, riffs, even their knack for NOT playing their instruments for several bars, just to make us wet in anticipation for the next riff. We’re looking at YOU, Cold Hard Bitch.
Adding to their Angus Young fetish is their love for the White Stripes or, more accurately, how Jack White sings the typical White Stripes song. Listen to Are You Gonna Be My Girl and try to tell yourself that isn’t exactly how Jack sings 95% of his songs. You can’t.
6. Puddle Of Mudd
Bands like this could easily be re-named “Intro To Grunge 101,” as they basically ape anything that made the genre great, only they do it less great.
From Alice In Chains’ slow grind, to Pearls Jam’s vocal growl, to Creed’s far-inferior version of Pearl Jam’s vocal growl, Puddle Of Mudd specializes in taking the best of grunge angst and summarizing it all up as “Ah love the way you smack my aaaaaaaaasssssssssssss”.
But lest you think all they do is rip off the grunge they so love, fear not: they also love to rip off the musicals they so love! The verse in their hit single She Hates Me features a bouncy guitar and lyrics sung in almost the exact same way as Grease’s Summer Lovin’. Unlike the original, however, he doesn’t have to tell us more, tell us more: since the girl in Mudd’s song f’ing hates him after only a week of dating, we can only assume he didn’t “get very far”.
5. Godsmack
Lead vocalist Sully has one Hell of a Boston accent, but he sadly has not put it to use during his songs, preferring instead to take the path traveled by every band he liked growing up. For the most part, Godsmack sounds like Alice In Chains, complete with the occasional dual vocal harmony, mixed with Metallica’s power and overall guitar sound. Hell, even their name is a rip-off, as God Smack is an obscure AiC tune from 1992.
But wait, there’s more! Sully is a Wiccan who’s very much into spiritual spookiness, so the band occasionally channels Tool and other mystical rock bands, with tunes like Voodoo, Spiral, and Sully’s entire solo album. But the Voodoo video did have a naked tribal woman in it, so they have that much going for them at least.
4. Wolfmother
Tons of garage bands out there take the sounds of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, among others, and make them their own. Luckily, nobody hears them unless they literally walk past the garage at the wrong time. Not so with Wolfmother, who have taken their fascination with the heavier side of classic rock to the umpteenth degree.
Literally every note out of their repertoire is lifted from a classic 70’s band, whether it be Led Zeppelin’s wailing vocals, Black Sabbath’s fascination with fantasy and the occult, or Deep Purple’s simple, yet irresistibly catchy lyrics. Even their look (gigantic afros, psychedelic videos, trippy concert posters), is copied straight from bands that did it better thirty years ago.
Listening to Wolfmother’s Woman or New Moon Rising is only useful if you want to immerse yourself in the greatest bands of the ‘70s, but just don’t have the time to listen to them all.
3. Sum 41
Sum 41 is just amazing. In just a few short years, they have managed to rip off not one, not two, but THREE completely different genres of music. If that weren’t pathetic, they’d probably deserve some kind of medal.
When they first appeared, they gave us songs like Fat Lip and In Too Deep. Here, they either copied the frat boy hip-hop of early Beastie Boys, or somehow managed to water down Blink 182’s pop-punk even more so than it already was. Later on, they took a line from Fat Lip that mentioned how much they love bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, and decided to rip off 80’s metal as well. Each successive album got slightly more metal, and when the band tours, they are known to open up for themselves as an 80’s metal band called “Pain For Pleasure.” They even “let” PFP record songs on Sum 41 records, which just goes to prove a point: if you’re going to rip off multiple bands over multiple genres, you might as well be clever and meta about the whole thing.
2. Lenny Kravitz
When you think “shameless rip-off artist,” one of the first names that come to mind is Lenny Kravitz. From his debut in the late 80’s to, well, today, Kravitz has made a name for himself by doing basically what Jimi Hendrix did, only on a much, much smaller and far less interesting scale. So naturally, Jimi checked out after four years, and Lenny has hung around for over twenty.
When he’s not creating entire songs like Are You Gonna Go My Way or Fly Away, which are entirely based on one slightly Hendrix-y riff that Hendrix would have almost certainly tossed out for being too boring, Lenny is also ripping off the very essence of Prince. But no matter how many instruments Lenny plays by himself, or how often he attempts to create Prince-style sexy slow jams like You Belong To Me, and no matter how many girly shirts he wears even though they’re two sizes too tight, Lenny Kravitz is very not Prince. Now, if he starts using more U’s, UR’s, and 2’s in his song titles, then he might have an argument.
1. Kid Rock
The ultimate rip-off artist, Kid Rock has been pretending to be every genre ever heard of since the late-90’s. He alternates between being a poor man’s Bob Seger, a poor man’s Lynyrd Skynyrd, a poor man’s Johnny Cash, a poor man’s Metallica, and a poor man’s Grandmaster Flash, among countless others. Bottom line, if you are a classic rock, southern rock, hard rock, or old-school hip-hop artist, Kid Rock probably sounded like you at one point or another.
Kid Rock’s magnum opus when it comes to ripping off artists more original than he would have to be 2008’s All Summer Long, where he sings about listening to Sweet Home Alabama, just in case we’ve forgotten what a good song sounds like. He does this by ripping off that EXACT song in the chorus, while producing a completely Xeroxed copy of Warren Zevon’s Werewolves Of London and passing that off as his own.
For his crimes and outright plagiarism, Kid Rock received the ultimate punishment: one of the biggest hits of the year and millions of dollars in his bank account. Life isn’t fair at all.
117 Comments
You don’t know a fuck about music.
In addition, the chorus of Puddle of Mudd’s ‘She Hates Me’ is an almost direct lift of Suicidal Tendencies ‘I Saw Your Mommy’
The author of this article is clueless.
This is a terribly researched top 10. You can’t rip off a “sound”. A “sound” is not copywrite-able or trademark-able. In all of these there is no mention of specific melody, lyric or chord progressions lifted from other bands. Also, many of these bands came from the same environment as the bands they are accused of ripping off. They play what the audience wanted at the time.
Lenny Kravitz is clearly influenced by Jimi Hendrix. However, Hendrix music is likewise (heavily) influence by delta blues, albeit played through an overdriven fender Stratocaster. So the claim that he ripped off Hendrix is a joke as by extrapolation Hendrix ripped off Muddy Waters.
There is a difference between quotation and thievery. GET a point of reference.
This will take you a lifetime of study. Gawdammit, will ya stop yappin about all these “pop” groups. It’s FLUFF. Consumer driven jive.
The DELTA Blues is what you all should be examining…and examining till ya can’t examine it no more. GET a point of reference before you get all jumped up about Friggin Blink whatever whatever. Somebody mentions Skip James and you stare back at them with a dumb assed bovine blank look.
“Whoozat? Some old Blues guy”?
All you surface dwelling morons out there who think you know what it is you are speaking of. DO your homework. LISTEN. Listen to The Delta Blues.
Skip James and Robert Johnson, Tommy Johnson and Son House. There is a difference between THIEVERY and QUOTATION. LISTEN, and LISTEN GOOD. Gawdammit, you gotta stop dwelling on lightweights like Lenny friggin Kravitz, and Prince and whoever else came alone last week. Get back to the REAL roots of our disposable and fawning dollar driven “music” and get real. Lemme let you know somethin though…this shit takes TIME and EFFORT. If it has been recorded, it is CURRENT. (It will take you a LIFETIME to get to the bottom of this subject) Seek and ye shall find. You gotta dig deep to find THE TRUTH. Do not get side tracked by consumerist BullShit. Remember YoungBlood, somebody is ALWAYS tryin to get over on you by sellin you somethin.
Why are one direction not on this list they have ripped off Queen Blondie The Who The Clash and Def Leppard
Man, everywhere I go it seems people are always complaining about “Skillet ripping off 3 Days Grace” because “Monster sounds just like The Animal I Have Become” and I don’t get it. I’ve listened to both, a few times actually. Other that the fact that they both talk about becoming evil beasts and have the lines, “The darkest side of me”, they are nothing alike! Seriously! You wanna hear rip off? How about Rihanna’s song “S.O.S.” and “Tainted Love” by Soft Cell? Or “Ocean Floor” by Audio Adrenaline and “Tiger” by ABBA? And I thought this was “10 Musicians Who Make Their LIVING Ripping Off Other Musicians”? This is their 2nd newest album as of yet. They’ve already established themselves before this “ripoff” took place. Honestly, I think an artist better deserving of Skillet’s spot on this list is Madonna, the QUEEN of copyright infringement. I can’t even count all of the lawsuits she’s been involved in just FOR copyright infringement.
It seems to me that with Sum 41 you have confused ‘ripping off’ with ‘being in the same genre as someone else’. Is it stealing to have a similar style? or can there be only one pop-punk band? In that case let’s choose between Sum 41, Blink-182, Good Charlotte and of course early-days Greenday, one of these is original apparently, the others are all just shitty rip-offs. Plus Kid Rock’s ‘All Summer Long’ was a tribute to ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ and how it made him feel, it’s not like he tried to hide the fact he used the riff as he directly references the song title. This list is made by one of those annoying metal heads who has decided that no band can be anything like another and that anyone who started performing after 1980 is terrible.
Lady Gaga recently heard Evanescence’s “(Do) What You Want” and decided to take a break from Madonna and Christina Aguilera to copy the title of the song and paste it onto her crappy new album.
Lady Gaga recently heard Evanescenceâ??s â??(Do) What You Wantâ?? and decided to take a break from RIPPING OFF Madonna and Christina Aguilera to copy the title of the song and paste it onto her crappy new album.
I have been playing guitar and piano for 7 years and am trained in music theory, and let me tell you, this list is complete bogus. Just because a band has the same style or draws influence from another band doesn’t mean they’re stealing. Stealing would be taking a chord progression or melody from another song and then playing it in a different key/ tempo, to make it hard to recognize by the general public. There’s a difference. Also, whoever says The Beatles stole music has no idea what they’re talking about, The Beatles were from the 60’s and all the music before them was simple blues and doo-whop dance stuff, their style was not only unique in sound, but also in composition.
Musician tend to happily reproduce influences of the musicians they like, not ripp-offs. Good ones make us proud of the artists they love by reminding us of them and the music they made by giving a touch of original and arrangements.
I love what Puddle of Mudd do and Lenny Kravitz too (specially on his first albums).
Finally….worst list on this site.
This may be the dumbest thing I’ve ever read on the internet. clearly this person doesn’t understand music and the role influences play
You really need to read my top 10 hat list, it is far dumber than anything on the Internet, even this list.
How can you not have P. Diddy, Puff Daddy, etc. whatever he claims his name is on this list? Please explain yourself.
Rip off or influenced by? Every good musician is the sum of all the music he/ she loves. Of course some will jump on a trend to make a living but that’s true of all industries. Btw im pretty sure god smack started out as an Alice in chains cover band so it’s no surprising they sound like AIC. That’s why they picked a Alice in chains song title as their band name. Not every band is going to the most original groundbreaking band in the world. Give some credit to their ability to play together and function as a business. If you think a band is subpar then don’t listen to them and they will disappear quickly.
Wow this is some crap. First thing I read was that Animal I Have Become and Monster are the same songs, not only do they sound nothing alike but I’m sure more than one person in this world feels like an animal or a monster. The other one that pisses me off is Sum 41, they’re amazing and just because they play punk rock doesn’t mean they copy Blink. In fact they’re much better than Blink not to mention Blink has songs that sound like AFI and the Sex Pistols. Every artist has some songs that sound like other songs, deal with it. Before You write another piece of crap like this do your homework and learn about what you’re pathetic hands are typing
#1 Animal I Become and Monster sound absolutely nothing alike. They only sound a like because you keep telling yourself they do and they do not. Put them side by side. Not similar at all.
#2 Just because Skillet uses Synthesizers and violins how does that make them rip off Evanescence? Skillet has been around since the late 90’s(96) and was using synths before Evanescence was even thought of. Lots of bands use violins and synths.
Where’s Nirvana? They ripped off tons of bands. Smells like teen spirit was a rip off of more than a feeling by Boston and Venom’s song Countess Bathory. Come as you are was straight ripped off from Killing Joke’s song”Eighties”
I have an interview from a guitar magazine from the 90’s where the whole band said they listened to certain bands all the time to come up with songs. Celtic Frost, Venom, Pixies, Killing Joke, Vasolines, Beatles, Fungazi. They ripped them all off.
Are you serious? You think that listening to other bands for inspiration is ripping them off? Get a clue man, you don’t understand what it is to record in a studio and write original music clearly so don’t comment on something you don’t understand.
You’re kidding right? Even the LYRICS of Awake And Alive sound like a rip-off of Evanescenceâ??s Bring Me To Life.
Also Evanescence has been around since 1994 creating, writing, recording, and producing music and EPs. What’s your point?
Nice list in general
I don’t agree with those haters who state that Elvis should be here. He didn’t write his music so… And to be honest Michael Jackson stole many things as well (Moonwalk move, hat-like style, even dancing).
Also, I would add modern copycats – BEYONCE & LADY GAGA!!!
Wow…really?!? Michael Jackson didn’t rip off anyone, his entire life he listed his influences by name and never tried to take personal credit for any of the things that you mentioned ( none of which are musical and are merely style related, or related to his dance moves) where it wasn’t his originality being used. He took his influences, such as the backslide aka moonwalk, street dancers, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, Charlie Chaplin and Fred Astaire, all of which he constantly acknowledged and elevated it into something of his own. As far as dancing, he had many of his own signature dance moves as well as influences and it is no coincidence he was inducted into the Dancers Hall of Fame. Something that no Rock and Roll or R & B star has ever achieved before or as of yet, he is the only one from the genre to have been given that distinction and most deservedly so as he is looked up to and revered by other dancers.
Your mention of Michael Jackson is totally unfair in this context, this is about music and his name does not belong in this context. There are people who have been credited on his albums who really never expected to be or even should have been…he was always very fair in that respect.
Fact: Elvis never wrote any of his music, if you want to go there, his style and supposed dance move..yes I said move, was taken from other Black artists as well. You could even argue he took his hair style from Jackie Wilson as well.
Fact: Michael Jackson wrote AND composed the majority of his music and most of his hits…with the exception of a few songs, he co-wrote the rest. Producing and co-producing his music prior to Quincy and after. Some of his biggest hits during his time with Quincy came as fully produced demos from his own studio, written and composed by him, that were not much different from the final product…something that gets overlooked when people are trying to give Quincy all of the credit. If it were up to Quincy, we would never have gotten Billie Jean or Smooth Criminal, Jackson had to fight for those and other winning situations as well. Jackson was not a bystander or merely following orders in those collaborations. He was also responsible for most of his choreography, although he did work with other choreographers. They would be the first to say that he was the driving force as far as ideas and how to implement them.
Michael Jackson was an exceptionally original artist who when inspired by others was well known for acknowledging it throughout his life…he was a huge fan boy of the above mentioned artists and others and wore that admiration on his sleeve.
He doesn’t deserve the knock you are giving him which is completely out of context, as I already mentioned.
If the topic is rip offs I dont see how in the hell Elvis isnt on this list
I hate it when people say someone ripped someone off. I like most of the bands in this list esp. Kid Rock. Aside from All Summer Long I wouldnt say he copied anyone. Maybe he sounds similar but copied…
Don’t forget Marylin Manson. That pathetic excuse for a musician only ever does cover tunes of the Depeche Mode, The Eurthymics, Soft Cell and countless other bands. In fact only ike three of his songs are even original. I’m surprised he didn’t make the list.
All he ever does is cover everyone else’s music because he’s too lazy to pick up a pen and write his own lyrics. I write lyrics that suck big time but at least they’re ORIGINAL lyrics coming out of my own mind. And I’m not even a musician and I’m already more original then he is.
Oasis anyone?
While Lenny is nowhere near the artistry and raw talent of Jimi, I think he coulda been spared a place on this list. Some of the others mentioned are god awful, Lenny’s not that bad.
Yeah he did not rip off Jimi, he ripped of Dr. Suess! “I wish that I could fly so very high into the sky like a dragon fly” might as well sing about one fish two fish red fish blue fish and the cat in the hat.
Don’t forget to mention Justin Bieber who ripped off Jesse McCartney’s music…
Where is Bullet for my valentine?
They ripped off a lot of songs.
This list is bogus. I don’t consider ANY of these bands rip offs, even Puddle of Mudd, the bro-y Nirvana, who definitely still has their own style.
There are plenty of other bands that may not be as big, but rip off bands full on. Whoever wrote this should try not to write pretentious lists like this cause then it just makes people think you are a jerk and ruins future music bc then musicians think the way to go is making bizarre bogus avante garde BS that just doesn’t sound good.What happened to music actually, uh, SOUNDING good.
I noticed a lot of commenters feel the Beatles should be on this list. Can anyone explain why? They did covers early in their career (doesn’t count) and pretty much paralleled their contemporaries for their whole career. A lot of back and forth between the Kinks, Stones and the Who, but again, I say this doesn’t count either. I can still like Zeppelin and they were blatant rip-off artists, so I would like to know who the Beatles supposedly ripped off so I can start to appreciate them too.
I do know one little “rip-off fact” that the Beatles perpetrated: The Kinks were actually first in dabbling with the sitar. But, again (for me anyway,) contemporaries barely count.
Whoever wrote this article is slighty biased, and horribly incorrect about what constitutes “Ripping off” someone’s song. These people are using other bands as influence, not blatant plagiarism. You want a good copycat, look no further than Vanilla Ice. that bastard Sampled Queen’s main riff from “Under Pressure” With absolutely no permission.
Not a very good list.
Where are Timbaland, The Verve and P. Diddy?
Not to mention that Kidrock ripped off Metallica’s “sad but true” song in his American Badass song.
oh THANK YOU for calling out Kid Rock!!! Finally a vindication of what I’ve been saying for years.
Although there is obviously marketing genius inside this guy when he shamelessly rips of every ongoing trend whether it’s music, craft beer, patriotism and so on and gets away with it while making millions in $ and fans as well. Damn, hats of to you Kid Rock, you’re one intelligent charlatan.
PS fun site
Why not rename this list to,” Pissy little 12 year old musical Luddite complains about bands past the 80’s,” cause that’s all you’ve accomplished here.
I think you don’t understand the difference between ‘copied off of’ and ‘influenced by’ in some cases
The problem I have with this article is he lists a band or musician and then states that they are ripping off multiple bands. I would consider that just being able to hear the influence of different bands. In my opinion only a few bands belong on here who have blatantly copied another bands sound and style, Jet being the most obvious.
Skillet isnt ripping off anyone. Skillet and 3 Days Grace are friends and have done tours together. Animal is about drugs, Monster is about sin. Skillet has been around since 1996 and have the best fans around. Do I say that every rapper ripps of another rapper for talking about sex, girls and drugs? No. Do I say every country singer rips off another for talking about dating and break ups? No.
That is right, Skillet is NOT ripping off from Three days grace.. and second, what the heck with Awake and alive sounding like Evanescence? No way do they sound close… Must of been smoking something when you listened to that song.
Regardless artists become friends they gain inspiration from each other. It can happen and probably has when another artist took from another but that isn’t normally the case. So really get your facts together before you
You’re kidding right? Even the LYRICS of Awake And Alive sound like a rip-off of Evanescence’s Bring Me To Life.
Um, no it doesn’t. Again, every genre has music that is inspired by something. . I don’t claim to know what bring me to life is about. But I know what A&A is about, and it’s about faith in God and not letting this world change that. The lyrics of both don’t have anything in common, I think you mean the idea, the story of it.
But actually, that would be wrong. The story would be like monster.
Bring Me To Life’s lyrics are about feeling dead, feeling fake, like no one knows who you are and you don’t like who you’ve become. And then you do find someone who understands you and you’re calling out to them to save you.
Monster’s is about the same thing, except it’s about sin and you don’t want people to find out.
Awake and Alive lyrics, the only thing it has in common with Bring Me Into Life, is it says “You breathe into me at last”. That’s it. And if you understood Christianity, you would understand why. God did in fact breathe life into Adam when He made him. And Jesus breathed on someone to cure them. The band RED in fact made a song called “Breathe Into Me”. The rest of A&A is about already being saved, while BMTL is about asking for it.
Having the same idea of a song isn’t ripping them off. We go through the same trials and have the same dreams. That’s WHY all genre’s have lots of break-up songs, cause we all go through it. Skillet wants to make music that impacts this generation. That’s what A&A is about. Telling us that we don’t have to do what people say, think what they think, and believe what they believe. Skillet has been around before 3DG, before Evanescence, before LP, etc. And just listen to their new album and tell me they don’t have their own ideas.
the writer must have country music as their top genre. no country artists on the list, and country all sounds the same.
Skillet had three albums out before three days grace. enough said
How in the world could you omit Emerson, Lake & Palmer !!! They made their careers from lifting music from historically known classical composers. For example : “Pictures At An Exhibition” ( Modest Mussorgsky), “The Nutrocker” (Peter I.Tchaikovsky), “I Believe In Father Christmas” ( Sergei Prokofiev), “Toccata” (Alberto Ginastera) , “Hoe down” and “Fanfare For The Common Man” (both by Aaron Copeland), “Peter Gunn” (Henry Mancini) and I am sure that I have missed a few……
What about coldplay? Joe Satriana sued them for plagiarism and theres at least one other song I’ve heard that was a blatent rip of some american one hit wonder band I forget the name of. I dont listen to alot of their stuff, but im presuming coldplays technique is to plagiarize songs and replace the vocal or guitar melody with piano. Thats exactly what they did with the songs Ive mentioned
Um, the black eyed peas.
Some of this is valid. But you forget we are all human. An artist creates nothing they simply make an arrangement no painter invents colours they simply find new ways to put ones they’ve seen to express something they wish to convey. How dare Mr. Cooper of Skillet have a three days graceish voice. How dare he as a human being have similar insights into human nature as another human. You talk about wolfmother ripping off the 70’s have you ever really listened to a zeppelin song. They were so diverse because they tried a little of everything they drew inspiration from other places just like wolfmother did from them. D’yer Mak’er is just them taking a reggae vibe and making it their own. thats what music is.
Ok, don’t forget.
Elvis
Jimmy Hendrix
The Beatles
Led Zepplin
Van Halen
Eric Clampton…do I need to go on
just to name a few that have done well with “other peoples music”
give me a break
yes. eric “clampton” is such a rip off artist…
although no list of rip off artists can be complete without stone temple pilots. ripped off pearl jam to get their first hit, and weiland sounded just like eddie vedder. I can remember the big controversy aboit whether the vocal style came from weiland or vedder first… when stone temple pirates second album came out and suddenly he sounded like weezer or soundgarden (ob, btw, did i mention that weezer and soundgarden had big records that came out between their first and second albums?), and vedder still sounded like vedder, i guess that question got answered. seriously, this band jumped on the grunge bandwagon and helped ruin the one time in music when the charts were ruled by something other than mtv. if pearl jam had made a video for black, ten maybe we dont have to put up with stone temple pilots, their secind rate copycats, allowing mtv and the big corporate rock to have a foothold in a movement that had come organically from he underground… and it was a short jump from stone temple pilots to bush, and from bush to silverchair, and from silverchair to nickelback/puddle of mudd/etc. once you can sell people watered down versions of grunge, then its an easy move to sell them whatever you want to sell them… so yeah, nickelback/creed/puddle of muss leads to backstreet boys/n sync/brittney/katy perry etc.
thanks weiland.
Some of this was obviously correct, especially Kid Rock’s All Summer Long. However you have to keep in mind that people are legit allowed to copy 4 measures of a song without it considered copyright infringement. Sure it sucks but he’s not doing anything wrong.
For the rest of the ones you mentioned, I think you mean “inspired”. Except Skillet. That one is the only really fitting one in this whole top 10 list really.
This article sucks. Musicians become inspired and influenced by other artists, and the product you hear slightly resembles those artists by nature. If musicians should avoid being INFLUENCED by any other artist, then almost all of the greats listed in this article as being ripped off WOULDN’T HAVE EVER EXISTED!
This was just a top ten list of bands that this guy doesn’t like. It has nothing to do with bands that copy off of others or copyright infringe…. You could teach a college course on Led Zeppelin and licks and lyrics that they stole and yet you’re just complaining about Lenny Kravitz cause he is a black guy that plays the guitar, so he must be ripping off Jimi Hendrix… Give me a break.
I really can’t believe you were allowed to post this. You have shaken my faith in the Internet.
i disagree with a few but #1 kid rock so true! and i old love kid rock
also, p.o.d ~ saliva
All this rip off talk is garbage. We have 12 musical notes to play with, so ripping off actually harmony and melody will happen accidentally no matter what. In terms of feel and sounds, the only people bitching about this aren’t real musicians. That’s because, if you were, you would know that the way you feel music is how you play your music, and there are so many damn people out there that you are bound to feel music a lot like other people. Ditto with the way you hear things. This is a good thing, actually, as that is how you get yourself a real and cohesive band. So, yes, some things may sound similar, or even identical, but calling these bands rip-off artists is garbage. How about, instead of hating on people like Lenny Kravitz, who is a freaking great song-writer and musician, just accept the fact that they are better than you,. We are influenced by all around us, so why waste your time complaining about it? Just say you don’t like their music and move on.
I also find it funny when people talk about how they could what these guys are doing. It’s incredibly hard to be a good, rocking musician and entertain on stage at the same time. The good ones just make it look easy.
Coldplay ripped off joe satriani,
True
she hates is supposed to sound like summer lovin the song is running in a sort of paradox, where in grease it’s like puppy love here it’s a swift fall from grace
With the ridiculous number of bands and artists our nowadays, you’re GOING to get bands that sound alike. You cant have a million bands, all with a fully unique sound. That’s why there are genres and sub genres that bands fall into. Listen to a bunch of bands that are classified as one type of music, you’ll find two that sound similar.
this list have some issues, first of, some of the bands are style related or almost copied, but there is an extraordinary list of ripp offs like the shameful shakira, who use exactly the same parts of “high and dry” and shine on your crazy diamond”, “I´m too sexy” of rigth said fred has the exact same jimi hendrix´s solo in “3rd rock from the sun”, Oasis is really missing , the same than Coldplay not only on the latest scandals , but also in the past related cases with french songs, i dont think that paying tribute is a bad thing, we migth like it or we migth not, but desecrating the voice of the artist is shamefull, like last Kanye West album (one of the greatest pieces of shit in this century) or the lasts records of madonna and the infamous black eyed peas, or this stupid rich girl “Lady gaga”, music has to be back in musicians , not in pimps and whores, can you imagine paul anka, the tempations, aretha franklin , ravi shankar or led zeppelin sayin brellla brella he he and taking of their clothes?, nooo, they were real musicians. they don´t need that,. still , good list.
You are such a hater. I am a fan of “real” (live band) music, too, but in putting down newer music you are losing sight of the real beauty of music and artistic expression, which is that there are no limits. Completely subjective, so any definitive statements (like ripping on Kanye’s album) you make are rendered moot. You are just looking for an argument instead of loving music, and that’s a shame. As an artist you make me sad.
I can’t believe OASIS wasn’t on this list. I would’ve expected them to be in the Top 3, with their blatant rip-offs of the Beatles & T.Rex (to name a few).
Good point
kravitz and hendrix are nothing alike…i cant see that all…. most of these are original bands so what if theyre inspired by a type of music. sum 41 just sucks period.
I kind of miss the Kings of Recycled Elevator Music: Coldplay. Why don’t I manage to make money like they do: knick a riff, brew a sound soup out of it, have Chris Martin drone a few lines over it and another song is finished.
Also Jack White and Jet have little influence upon each other. JET are from Australia (as are AC/DC) White’s from Detroit. Because they came out in the 2000s and fall under the like heading neo-garage doesn’t mean they sucked from the same or each other’s teet. Unfound, provincial claims like that are just needlessly belittling.
Good concept. Just don’t knock Jet without listening to more than their debut (they have 3 studio albums to date). They’ve expanded their sound a great deal.
I still like Wolfmother, because I like the bands they sound like. And besides, you forgot that they sometimes also sound like Mountain. 🙂 Kravitz ok, too, even if he’s no Hendrix… but who is?
kanye west…
I feel it is redundant to argue or make a list of rip-off artists, because music is subjective, and mostly unoriginal. Every band takes influence from bands they enjoy and will inevitably use their sound. It just happens to be more prominent in some bands or artist. And either way does it matter? The songs sound good either way, in my opinion. oh well, just my opinion. Have a great day 🙂
I don’t agree with some of the entries on the list, copying a music style or genre and making music of your own within that style, is not ripping off an artist. So what if the “sound like” a band. Adema sounded like Korn but they created some fantastic music. If this is the case than wouldn’t that mean every Blues band rips each other off, as well as, Jazz, Rock, Country, etc. ???
A few of the bands/artists you mentioned you did say they took a song and changed it up and passed it off as their own – in this case YES put them on the list, but the others that “sound like”??? C’mon man that’s what music is. One band creates, multiple bands define, and the rest refine. It’s sort of a tribute to the bands that define a genre or the the band that created a new sound. Yes no one will ever be as good as the originator but that doesn’t mean they are not original. Think about it every instrument is only capable of the notes it can produce, meaning every guitarist are limited to the same parameters, and yet there are millions of unique and original songs. The artists create new music within a set sound range, which is exactly the same as staying within the Grunge, Alternative, or Jazz parameters, or even within the style parameters that ACDC has created.
I completely agree with you 100%. This list is ridiculous, as every band ever should be listed except a couple dozen. In the writers perfect world where no one band sounds even remotely similar to another, there would have to be an unimaginable amount of radio stations dedicated to all their styles of music. Every band would copyright their “sound”, and I’m sorry, but life wouldn’t be the same and i probably wouldn’t listen to music as much if the only metal band was Metallica, the only “rock” band was Led Zepplin, and the only rapper was Grandmaster Flash. End of story. Stop making inconceivably irrational lists like this. Thank you. Good night.
Also, if you think the lead singer of Skillet’s voice sounds the same as Three Days Grace, you probably also like Justin Bieber’s music. Also, Skillet was formed in 1996, with John Cooper (the lead singer) being the only original member. I can tell you his voice is exactly the same. Three Days Grace did not get signed to a major label until 2003. Skillet was signed to forefront records in 1996, getting much more exposure for 7 years before anyone knew what the h#@$ Three Days Grace was. I personally love these two groups, having 3 records of both bands.
“Honorable” Mention, though he’s barely mentioned at all these days: Blackie Lawless/WASP. Visually, he’s ripped off Alice Cooper, but you can definitely hear “borrowing” from The Beatles, The Who and (for one album) The Doors. Well, at least he has taste. LOL
And Jet always sounded more like Humble Pie to me.
worst list on this site. agree with the puffy comment
There are at least 8 other lists that were named the “worst list” on the site. According to a Google search, here they are: http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Atoptenz.net+%22worst+list%22 – Do you still think this is the worst list?
Yes. Worthless.
Nickelback. The only band that can rip ITSELF off.
#1 The name Godsmack came from a saying that Suly’s mother (or Grandmother) use to say “Everyone will get their godsmack.” As in everyone will get whats coming to them. #2 How do you make a rip off list and not put Sean Combs at #1?? He hasn’t ever made anything original….
Wearing shiny suits while making a few million off your dead friend isn’t original?
You have your “facts” a bit out of whack. Tony Rombola gets “credit” for the name: “We thought of Godsmack when I got a cold sore and Sully said God smacked you for saying that stuff about my mother. ” The grandmother story would actually been much less stupid. Even if it were all true, I present the following:
Godsmack had an album called “Faceless”, AiC had an album called “Facelift”. Godsmack have a song called, “Love, Hate, Sex, Pain”; there is an AiC song called “Confusion” that contains the lyric, “Love, sex, pain, confusion, suffering…”. Godsmack’s logo feature’s the band’s name inside a stylized tribal sun, Alice In Chains had a logo which featured the initials “AiC” inside a stylized, tribal sun. Listen to Godsmack’s “Voodoo”, and then listen to “Long Gone Day”, a song by Layne Staley-fronted supergroup Mad Season; the resemblance is uncanny.
Me and my friends call them “Metallice In Chains”; I think it pretty much sums them up.
Also, any list of ripoff artists that does not contain Marilyn Manson is flawed; he drained the Alice Cooper well dry then moved on to David Bowie when it was time for a change. Oasis also deserves a spot; Noel Gallagher always said he’d like to settle down someday and be in a Beatles tribute band. My question to that is, what does he think Oasis is?
Sir Robin you are nitpicking completely unimportant facts that have no bearing on reality. Being inspired by people does not mean you are ripping them off. I am a producer and musician and I have zero problem with anyone on this list because I know all these accusations come from people who don’t have a clue about what it is to record in a studio and make a good sound. Just enjoy the music you like and respect the fact that people have different tastes.
There is a huge difference between being influenced by a band and stealing your name, sound, and logo from a band. They are talentless losers who can’t create their own music so they just borrow other band’s work instead.
Amen to that
Led Zeppelin. The most fraudulent cover band ever. Their first album consisted almost entirely of songs stolen from other artists. Songs from later albums stolen in whole or in part from others include Whole Lotta Love, the Lemon Song, Stairway To Heaven, When The Levee Breaks, and Boogie With Stu. That’s just off the top of my head.
How about every single winner from shows like america’s got talent, x factor, whatever else got talent.
Elvis would be a great addition. You know who would be a better addition? Every single rap artist on the planet.
But they don’t try to pass the samples off as their own, do they? They take samples and the creative part, arguably, is their rhyming to the beat of the sample.
A very fine rebuttal, sir! Everyone always tries to knock rappers but fail to see the creativity that Jay-Z, Kanye West, J. Cole, Lupe Fiasco, Common, Mos Def, etc. possess
Don’t mistake me for a fan of rap or hip-hop. I’m not. It’s just that I can’t stand when people write off an entire genre based on their limited exposure to it. I can recognize the skill and art involved in creating a great rap without loving it. It’s just not my bag, baby!
That doesn’t mean that “rap is crap”, as some want to say.
Moot points: the list is about MUSICIANS. Rap isn’t music, it’s spoken word.
You are a real idiot if you think Rap isn’t music. It is more rhythmic that tonal, sure, but the rapper is still using an instrument (their voice). Who let you write an article about musicians and music if you don’t have a clue?
Rap is crap you moron
Elvis never stole anything at all. He didn’t write so he wouldn’t be able to. Led Zeppellin, however just ripped off loads of old blues tunes that most people had never heard of at the time. Thanks to youtube everyone can now hear them and know how little (if any) talent that band had!
Point of order here: it is entirely true that Led Zeppelin did, in fact, steal any number of their material from other artists (and not just blues artists: “Dazed and Confused” was nicked from folkie Jake Holmes, “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” is a folk song previously done by Joan Baez, the intro to “Stairway to Heaven” strongly resembles Spirit’s “Taurus”, etc). That said, to imply that they were less than monstrously talented in what they did with the material they lifted, or that they weren’t stunningly original in the material they did compose, is absurd.
LOL!!! Good Point! If all those Artists that were sample got paid, they’d be rich!!!
Elvis stole the black man’s music.
ROFLMAO
Good Point…
Elvis stole specific songs, he introduced black music to white kids. by your logic Eminem stole black man’s music. What? are black people supposed to stop listening to Hip Hop?
What about weird Al? Like all his songs are ripped off other people
weird al is a comedian who does that knowingly by the artists he pokes fun at..and every album he mixes in his own original music and a brilliantly done polka medley of a certain genre of songs…i am not a fan of all of his music but he is certainly not pretending to pass off all of his music as his own..even the artists he makes fun of say that they know they’ve made it when weird al makes fun of them..it’s almost like a badge of honor for them
Thanx, Captain Obvious.
I think he was joking.
I couldn’t agree more about “Monster” sounding like Three Days Grace. I’ve said this myself ever since I first heard that song. But you think “Awake and Alive” sounds like Evanescence? Really? The female singer sounds nothing like Amy Lee. It just sounds like Three Days Grace with some random female guest vocalist.
Your’re right, Jen Ledger’ voice and Amy Lee’s voice are distinct to me.
Itâ??s not so much the female vocals or vocalist sounding like Evanescenceâ??s Amy Lee as it is the LYRICS of â??Awake And Aliveâ?? sounding like a rip-off of Evanescenceâ??s â??Bring Me To Life.â??
The main sound from skillet was around before three days grace or evenescence…so using their own sound in songs that sound similar to other songs they probably never listen to doesn’t really sound like stealing the song. Plus I would never buy a three days grace disc or song, and avoid evenesence at all costs, might listen to them though if I wanted to punish my ears and brain with some awful trash that on it’s best day couldn’t make it into the category of substandard music. But hey just my opinion and this article and all the above are other’s opinions which we are all allowed to have. I just like mine best
It’s not so much the female vocals or vocalist sounding like Evanescence’s Amy Lee as it is the LYRICS of “Awake And Alive” sounding like a rip-off of Evanescence’s “Bring Me To Life.”
You forgot Led Zeppelin and The Beatles, they too ripped off other musicians.
Rip Offs? Lenny?? LOL!!! This writer is a joke!
Last I saw…Prince and Lenny are friends! So, If he wanna sound a little like his buddy and Idol, ROCK ON!!!
Last I remembered JIMI been gone for 30+ years. If this Brotha wanna try to be like him, Please let him Try!!! We need as many JIMI Hendricks we can get!
P.S. I would LOVE to see LENNY do a Whole album of JIMI!!!
First of all, You must Be Yanks….
Ever heard of Oasis,
Only band I know who can rip off Ac/dc (Angus guitar) The Who (Drums) Led Zepp (Bass) And Stone Bloody Roses/Sex Pistols (whine, Sorry I Mean Vokills (Voacals)) In One Song I.E. – Fags n booze, Known to you as ‘Cigurettes and Alcohol’, in fact every hit the’ve had I could Hear Who they ripped Off, from Chuck Berry, Johnny Kid And The Pirates, Johnny Kid And The Heavy Metal Kid’s, Love, Beatles, The Who, Cream, Deep Purple, Hendrix, Genesis, Priest You name it they ripped it…
you sure Kravitz is’nt Hendrix’s lovechild…
If You can’t hear Hendrix in Lenny’s music
A : U R Deaf ( can’t Sign in e-mails as in Sign language) B : U Don’t Know Hendrix
C : U don’t Know Kravitz. Or D : Your Just A Muppet
Beatles ripped off Love ( Arthur Brown (R.I.P.) who was possibly forming a Supergroup with Jimi Hendrix, Ginge Baker , Jack Bruce and another Guitarist (top of his list where Marc Bolan, Jimi Page, Jeff Lynn & Eric Clapton, Peter Green) Then Jimi Hendrix O.D.’d , Arthur went on a bender, played with his gun and got 8 or 9 years cos it was a re-offence ( same gun, same garden ) Bolan played chicken with a tree ( and lost big time) Page stayed with Zeppelin and wrote a song called ‘Kashmir’ which the lead riff was ripped off a jam session with Pete Green (Fleetwood Mac), the Move, Yardbirds and several other bands, which was why several bands would refuse to play the same festivals, (Now… Where Did Pete Green get that L.S.D.??? that fugged up F.Mac) Lynn formed E.L.O. Clapton stayed solo….
so Dj , get yer petrol out cus i just pissed on yer torch…..
This is so silly. These people aren’t ripping anyone off, they just hear things they like and play them. Beethoven ripped off Bach then. What a chode of a writer, don’t even bother with this topic if you are serious about music.
you should listen to the music you critize a little closer and figure out the meaning of the word “covet” before you try to use it in a sentence.
you forgot black eyed peas! they should be #1