Top 20 MORE Rip Off Songs

In an homage to David Bowie, the Britpop band Blur took a few cues from the legend’s work on the “Lodger” album. Their single “M.O.R.” bears a close resemblance to Bowie’s song “Boys Keep Swinging.” Most of the music revolves around the same chord progression. The basic musical idea originated from Bowie and producer Brian Eno’s experiments in the late 1970s, which also included the similar sounding “Fantastic Voyage.” Damon Albarn and his bandmates boldly saluted the music icons and eventually had to give them credit. Following some legal efforts, the songwriting team for this track received an adjustment.

Lizzo has seen tremendous success with hits like “Truth Hurts.” The empowering anthem allows the artist to showcase her independence in iconic lines. But it resulted in an accusation that the singer lifted a key line from Twitter, along with separate assertions regarding proper songwriting credit. Justin and Jeremiah Raisen claimed that their demo “Healthy” was the basis for this track. The brothers said that they worked with the artist on the idea, which allegedly shares lyrical and musical similarities with her eventual single. Lawyers denied this connection, but credit was later given to Mina Lioness for inventing the “100% that bitch” mantra in a tweet. Lizzo also sued the Raisens for apparently harassing her about their authorship claims.

Collaborating for the soundtrack of “Black Panther,” The Weeknd and Kendrick Lamar recorded the song “Pray for Me.” The track prompted the band Yeasayer to sue for copyright infringement. Claiming that the work borrows from their single “Sunrise,” the rock group says that there’s a comparable vocal part in both efforts. The act even argued that the accused artists replicated aspects of the original recording for their own benefit. Pushing back against the allegations, The Weeknd and Lamar asserted their innocence. Two years after the newer composition’s release, Yeasayer ended the lawsuit and left the songwriters with full credit.

The early 2010s saw the return of Miley Cyrus as a pop star, releasing the hugely successful single “We Can’t Stop.” Some of the lyrics involve a line that singer Flourgon recognized. With a few basic differences, both tracks share the same central idea. The Jamaican singer felt it was too close to his own song “We Run Things” and followed up with a massive lawsuit. He initially hoped to receive damages in the neighborhood of $300 million. After Cyrus agreed to settle, the artist also known as Michael May won an unknown amount of money.

Lil Nas X is one of the boldest and most provocative artists of his era. He’s also been embroiled in multiple cases of copyright infringement, with this one being lesser known than the attention surrounding his hit “Old Town Road.” The single “Carry On” borrows more than just a title from Bobby Caldwell’s song of the same name. Once the publishers of the older singer found out about it, they promptly served the rapper with a multi-million dollar lawsuit. The younger performer allegedly didn’t ask for permission before releasing the track on his mixtape “Nasaratti.” As of mid-2023, the pending suit still hadn’t been resolved.

Radiohead was sued for plagiarizing part of their breakthrough hit “Creep,” but that didn’t stop their publishers from going after Lana Del Rey for chord structure similarities between “Creep” and “Get Free.” The publishers stated that they were merely asking for the writers of “Creep” to be added as co-authors. The singer said she made an offer to them for a percentage of the royalties, but the rock act allegedly attempted to take away all of it for themselves. The suit was later settled, according to the “Get Free” performer. While some of these events are still unclear, there hasn’t been any subsequent change to the credits for Del Rey’s track.

After songwriter D.L. Byron heard the Rascal Flatts’ track “No Reins,” he was convinced that the group had taken a cue from one of his biggest works. The author of Pat Benatar’s “Shadows of the Night” felt that the songs were too similar to be a coincidence. Byron then sued the country group, feeling that the trio reinterpreted the chorus for their own tune. Representatives for one of the bandmates released a statement that denied any alleged plagiarism of the 1984 hit. Listeners will likely find themselves siding with the Benatar collaborator after hearing the introduction of the more recent release. All these years later, it seems that there hasn’t yet been a proper end to the lawsuit.

When you’re dealing with the blues, it’s not uncommon to find patterns between songs. This was the case with ZZ Top’s classic single “La Grange.” The publisher for John Lee Hooker’s track “Boogie Chillen’” asserted that the two were especially close, filing a lawsuit against the band as a result. It’s undeniable that the blues legend inspired countless artists. In the case of ZZ Top, a case could be argued that they subconsciously used Hooker’s riff. The reality of the situation was that the music was considered public domain for its origins. Unable to convince the proper authorities, the suit was officially dropped in 1995.

Following the release of their album “Nevermind,” Nirvana shot to fame and even received scrutiny for their songs. Such was the case for their single “Come as You Are.” British group Killing Joke thought the grunge band ripped off their guitar riff, leading to the threat of legal action. There was definitely a potential case to be argued with the help of musicologists. After the death of Kurt Cobain, the possible suit didn’t go forward, with the plaintiffs looking to move on with their lives. All that remains is the knowledge that Cobain himself knew the two pieces were perhaps too similar.

Arguably the most lauded rock composition ever, “Stairway to Heaven” is the epic of all epic songs in its respective genre. Led Zeppelin and fellow rockers Spirit were in close enough proximity that they would’ve been exposed to each other’s music. The latter band had an instrumental called “Taurus,” which has a guitar part that’s not unlike the beginning of Zeppelin’s track. They sued for copyright infringement in 2014, entering into a multi-year war over the rightful authorship of “Stairway.” Robert Plant and Jimmy Page seemingly didn’t have a memory of the plaintiff’s music and ultimately the powers-that-be sided with the more famous musicians.