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Joe Satriani speaks about Coldplay lawsuit
A MusicRadar exclusive interview
Joe Bosso, Sun 7 Dec 2008, 9:58 pm UTC
As previously reported on MusicRadar, Joe Satriani is suing Coldplay, claiming the UK band's Grammy-nominated song Viva La Vida uses one of his melodies.
In court papers filed on 4 December 2008, Satriani's legal team alleges Viva La Vida, the title track of Coldplay's current album, copies "substantial original portions" of his song If I Could Fly.
Satriani's song was included on his 2004 album Is There Love In Space?
Speaking exclusively to MusicRadar on 6 December, Joe Satriani recalls the exact emotion he felt when he first heard Coldplay's Viva La Vida.
"The second I heard, I knew..."
"I felt like a dagger went right through my heart. It hurt so much," Satriani says. "The second I heard it, I knew it was [my own] If I Could Fly."
As it turned out, Satriani wasn't the only one who noticed the similarity between If I Could Fly and Viva La Vida.
"Almost immediately, from the minute their song came out, my e-mail box flooded with people going, 'Have you heard this song by Coldplay? They ripped you off man.' I mean, I couldn't tell you how many e-mails I received.
"Everybody noticed the similarities between the songs. It's pretty obvious." Joe Satriani
"Everybody noticed the similarities between the songs. It's pretty obvious. It's as simple as that - when you listen to a song and you say, 'Wow, that's a real rip-off.'"
What makes the situation especially painful for Satriani is that If I Could Fly isn't just any song. It's a composition he'd been laboring over for well over 10 years before he recorded it.
"I started writing it on the Flying In A Blue Dream tour back in 1990. But because of the way I write, sometimes songs take a while, as this one did. In 2003 I started demoing it in earnest. I played it on the acoustic guitar on a demo so I could sing the melody, then I demoed it on electric to get the sound. And the performance turned out to be so spontaneous, so right and so emotional, that it wound up being a keeper."
Joe Satriani is suing Coldplay, alleging Viva La Vida uses his melody from If I Could Fly
Satriani feels "really hurt"
Since If I Could Fly came out in 2004, Satriani has been gratified by the reaction it's received from his fans, many of whom have called it one of his most captivating songs.
"That was the intent all along," he says. "It was a love letter to my wife, Rubina – a simple, direct expression of feeling.
"That's what really hurts about this whole thing. That I spent so long writing the song, thinking about it, loving it, nursing it, and then finally recording it and standing on stages the world over playing it - and then somebody comes along and plays the exact same song and calls it their own."
"Coldplay didn't want to talk about it. They just wanted this whole thing to go away." Joe Satriani
Since it was announced on 4 December 2008 that Satriani is suing Coldplay for alleged plagiarism, seeking a jury trial and "any and all profits" connected to Viva La Vida, his life has been turned upside down.
"This has been the weirdest thing I've ever been involved in," he says. "The media attention has been bizarre and surreal. I really can't explain how I've felt over the past day or two."
User comments (107)
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Well, ok so I have done hours upon hours of research. Joe Satriani is just pure amazing. His music. It is just really nice to listen too. Yet, So is coldplay. They both have a power to calm you down and they are prodigies in our modern world. I couldnt put one over the other because of their, differences in style. They are just both great.
As far as I view this, Coldplay made a mistake by getting extremely rich off a song that was possibly stolen in small parts. Though, a lawsuit...thats a little far. The point is that music has been around so long that it is almost 100% impossible to create a piece of music that has no similarity with any other song. Chrord progressions are the base of a song. They determine tone, rhythm, and lyrics. You cant steal them because they were invented before any person alive today was born. So first of all, the progression is only the same in two parts of each song. Which is perfectly fine. The overall rhythm and mood of the songs are different in many ways. Why would Coldplay copy a song that puts out a mood that is completly different than the mood of their song though. Yes maybe the melody is similar, but not exact, and their importances to the song are different too. Satriani put it as a transition in the first half of his song. Maybe chorus but i would call it transition. It doesnt remain. Coldplay uses it as the main melody of the song. The most recognizable. Coldplay has been writing for years, so if they were seriously copying Satriani's song on purpose, why would they put it as a Chorus???
Though Satriani has a point, that he originally wrote it, there is such a small chance that coldplay would copy them. I mean the people that support Satriani hated Coldplay before this, and those who support Coldplay hated Satriani. They are all saying that in these comments.
I view this as a coincidence because it is not entirely similar, and put out different melodies. If Viva la Vida meant something along the lines of "Life is beautiful" or something happy, maybe I wouldnt think it a coincidence as much, but Coldplay woulnt be listening to "If I Could Fly" before they wrote a song about "Death and All his Friends"
My second opinion is that people are making a WAY bigger deal about this than needed. Music is created before written. You cant say that you wrote the melody because if somebody did hours upon hours of reseach, they would find that there were proly 2 to 3 people in the history of the world who used the same exact melody before Satriani. It is ok to have similarities because that is what music is. It is the bending of reality and pictures placed into sound. If somebody made a collage of pictures all painted by other artists, would it still be their work? I believe so. Music is bits and pieces of work done before them. -
As far as I know, only those who can create pure music have the ability to recognize them. Whether it's metal, blues, rock, or any genre for that matter, as long as it's pure expression, it's still music.
Joe Satriani is one of the living VIRTUOSOS in the modern world. The way I see it, typical people or musicians(as they claim to be) do not recognize him, as much as TYPICAL CORNEY BANDS are recognized, because as an artist/musician, he expresses himself in a unique, and complex way. I'm a doctor, not an addict(DAMN THAT BITCH WHO SAID THAT ONLY ADDICTS, and the likes LISTEN TO JOE! Apparently, she probably did not went to COLLEGE! doesn't she know the WORD THESIS and RESEARCH! BITCH, YOU DON'T HAVE THE SLIGHTEST CLUE!) . But I still prefer his song over bands like COLDPLAY, and the likes.
Every time, I listen to his instrumentals, there's always a meaning in every note he projects, whether it's a bend, a.harmonics, tapping, and or HIS FAMOUS LEGATO.
He doesn't even have to put a lyrics to express himself.
How can a band attempt to claim a work of a VIRTUOSO artist like JOE? I mean, their balls must be that tough for them to enter a PATHETIC REALITY! I haven't heard anyone in this lifetime who can play like JOE! If you ask me, if we have MOZART, BEETHOVEN, and STRAUSS, in the past, We have guys like JOE SATRIANI, STEVE VAI, ERIC JHONSON, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, and the G3 guys in the present.
Artists like COLDPLAY in my opinion, are only equivalent to Joe's TOENAIL when it comes to MUSICAL COMPLXITIES, INNOVATIONS, AND GENUINENESS(no wonder they copied the work of an artist, they're level IS way too far!). If you can't figure that out, utilize your acoustic nerve, go fetch yourself an IQ, and SUTURE your ORAL LABIAS.
the bottom line is.................. FUCK THOSE WHO MESS WITH ARTISTIC MUSIC! FUCK THOSE COUNTERFEITS! FUCK THOSE NARROW MINDED BITCHES(that BEAUTY222). -
oops sorry for the spam that was an accident
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just to add to what dan 28 was saying, when joe's not working hard in the studio he's touring by himself and also with other great musicians such as G3, deep purple, rolling stones, dream theater, mountain just to name a few and the list goes on and on. Satch's profile is a hundred time more impressive than cold play's. I dont think cold play's even fit to open for Satch in a concert, so for all you cold play fans , there's nothing wrong with trying to defend them, but just show Joe the respect that he deserves.
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just to add to what dan 28 was saying, when joe's not working hard in the studio he's touring by himself and also with other great musicians such as G3, deep purple, rolling stones, dream theater, mountain just to name a few and the list goes on and on. Satch's profile is a hundred time more impressive than cold play's. I dont think cold play's even fit to open for Satch in a concert, so for all you cold play fans , there's nothing wrong with trying to defend them, but just show Joe the respect that he deserves.
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Hey Beauty222, In response to your quote "Just because they have more talent and play better than u doesn't mean u have to go and try to make free money when they work there asses off for their songs."
If they were so talented they would write their own songs and wouldn't need to copy his song.
And you were saying no ones heard of him, have you heard of Metallica? I think they are bigger than Coldplay and have sold many more records then they have. Well Joe taught Kirk Hammett (Metallica guitarist) guitar.
And heres a list of Joe Satriani Albums as shown on wikipedia:
* 1986 - Not of This Earth
* 1987 - Surfing with the Alien
* 1989 - Flying in a Blue Dream
* 1992 - The Extremist
* 1993 - Time Machine
* 1995 - Joe Satriani
* 1998 - Crystal Planet
* 2000 - Engines of Creation
* 2002 - Strange Beautiful Music
* 2004 - Is There Love in Space?
* 2006 - Super Colossal
* 2008 - Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock
Thats a hell of a lot more than what coldplay have released and it looks like he released 5 in the time Coldplay released 4. looks like coldplay need to work harder hey Beauty222.
And Joe has plenty of money.
Should do some research next time Beauty222. Save yourself from sounding like an idiot. -
As a workaholic composer in the likeness of Frank Zappa (I do it for fun), I must say that this song was stolen - whether Coldplay did it consciously or unsconciously.
I have written over 80 songs and never published a singe one of them. On many occasions, I have heard songs that are nearly identical to what I've written.
There's and ancient unseen sound frequency I call the "source". This "source" is prevalent in pretty, melodic music that is not theoretically complex. The disputed rhythm sections of both these songs are not theoretically complex - both tap that "source". It is entirely possible that Coldplay didn't steal the rhythm from Satriani.Yet, the two melodies are so similar - I think there's probably about a one in a billion chance that this is purely coincidental.
A melody and a rhythm are two different things. Two songs can have identical rhythm sections, with completely different melodies. In the disputed section of these songs, both the rhytm and melodies are identical. In my opinion this is more that fishy, it's blatant piracy.
I think Coldplay needs to come clean if one of them listented to "If I could Fly" before they wrote Viva whatever the fuck. I believe one of the songwriters has heard the song at some point, and either consciously or unconsciously stole it. Greed and pride would be the resons for the members of Coldplay not admiting to this possible piracy.I am a firm believer in coming clean The faster you do it, the easier it is on everyone.
I think Coldplay needs to come clean ASAP -
Haha I've always hated coldplay.
Their music is boring and repetitive.
And hey, beauty222, no matter who you are, how famous you are, or how good you are, you don't steal another persons song. That's pathetic.
Songs are not easy to write, at all. But if you have the priviledge of writing a song and taking pride in it, there's nothing worse than watching someone pretend it's theres. It's not really about the money, not that I give a shit if you believe that or not, obviously your just a dumb teenager, especially if you don't know who joe satriani is. Honestly. Everyone does. well anyone with an ear for music. I'm not even a die hard satriani fan or anything, and even I know this is bullshit. GOOD LUCK SATRIANI. KICK THOSE DEAF SONSOFBITCH'S ASSES -
I bet they will pocket "come on baby" now and name it some thing like, "Un pasito pa'delante maria " =))))))))))))
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I hope this whole thing will not effect Joe's work... Damn you coldplay.. just give Joe a big big apology and vanish from sight.... WE LOVE YOU JOE ! WE ARE ALL BEHIND YOU....YOU ARE THE GOD OF MUSIC AND EVERYONE IN THE UNIVERSE KNOWS THAT.. GOD KNOWS THAT !... So they stole from you.. We all know it... Me, Emir, as your hugest fan of all time, i give you my support all the way... These coldplay guys (pathetic) are out of their minds, but that's ok.. Let's leave them alone shall we... They will get what they deserve at the end... (Damn you one more time again, for taking Joe's precious time which probably he would be creating another wonderful piece...) Hey coldplay, by this pathetic thing you've done, at least i hope you've learned something from the master...
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