Earlier this week, U2 were slammed by American electronic musician Taylor Deupree when he blogged that artwork for the Irish superstar band's upcoming No Line On The Horizon is "is nearly an exact rip-off of mine and Richard Chartier's Specification.Fifteen, which came out a couple of years ago."
Well, now Deupree is changing is tune.
"Stop wasting your time," says Deupree
Although it is certain that both albums make use of an image by famed Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto, Deupree, in a new blog, writes, "You're still looking at this??"
"Who cares!?! This post was intended, half in jest, for the 300 faithful readers of my blog to show them that something we had done was just done by a band as massive as U2. Aren't there more important things to worry about now? Stop wasting your time here. Go do something that matters."
"Aren't there more important things to worry about now? I'm going to shut up now" Taylor Deupree, who previously branded U2's artwork a 'rip-off' of his
Dupree adds: "I should note that it seems people are focusing on the phrase "rip-off' which, in hindsight, was the wrong word to use, as a 'rip-off' by definition implies intent (and I don't believe there was any intent). 'Rip-off,' it seems, can't be done unless U2 was aware of our cover...which, I highly doubt they were."
Never interested in money
Deupree stresses that he was never interested in legal damages, adding "this minor ordeal has become more a question of a project that was small, intimate and experimental (and the chance of a lifetime for a small artist) vs the massive pop culture machine. In the end we all know who wins. So I'm going to shut up now."
As far as controversies go, this one went bye-bye fast.
