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AndrewfromBC

Matt's Work Plagiarised?

By AndrewfromBC, in Matthew Good

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AndrewfromBC

AndrewfromBC

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Ok everyone, here's the deal, I've been listening to Matt's music religiously since 1997, I own pretty much everything he's ever released with the exception of a few rare items, and I can pretty much sing along to any song on any album. The truth is though that you don't need to be an expert to recognize when one of MGB's biggest singles has been blatantly ripped off by another band, and then "rereleased" as a single no less.

 

So, in late 2005 my ex-girlfriend from Belgium was living here in BC, and one night I just happened to be listening to her iPod on random when the all too familiar intro to "Indestructible" started playing through the earphones. I was elated, I mean the fact that Matt's music had made it all the way to Belgium and that my then girlfriend happened to like his music too, it was perfect. But after a few bars the elation faded and was replaced with confusion, the voice was not Matt's, and the lyrics were not those of "Indestructible." Absolutely gob smacked, I lit up the ipod screen and discovered to my horror that the song was not "Indestructible," but was in fact the song "Cry" by Simple Minds, you know, like the guys who did "Don't You Forget About Me" from "The Breakfast Club."

 

At that point I didn't know what to think, but the thought did cross my mind that perhaps Matt had plagiarised these 80's one hit wonders. I of course quickly ruled that out as a possibility, afterall anyone knows that when it comes to lame old washed-up bands there are legions of middle aged women ready to defend their every work at the drop of a hat, so surely there was no way Matt could have possibly scored a hit single, even just in Canada, without someone noticing were it plagiarism.

 

The first thing I did when I got home that night was to get on the internet and check Simple Minds' discography. As I suspected it turned out that the song "Cry" was the lead single from their 2002 album of the same name, what a friggin relief man let me tell you. I later had my ex listen to "Indestructible" and tell me I wasn't crazy, she was as shocked as I was. Everything is the same, the melody, the bass line, it's really just the most blatant musical plagiarism I've ever heard.

 

I e-mailed Matt's contact address on his page at the time and of course got no response, I didn't imagine he checked it personally. That spring I graduated from high school then went off to Belgium myself for a year, and my beef just fell by the wayside. I never forgot though just how mad that made me.

 

What got me thinking about it today was reading that Joe Satriani is suing Cold Play for plagiarising his 2005 song "I Could Fly" in their single "Viva La Vida." Having listened to both the similarities can definitely be heard, but they're nothing compared to the total ripoff I'm writing about.

 

This may be old news for some of you, but having never seen any discussions pertaining to the matter in all the years I've been listening to Matt Good and reading his website, I thought bringing it up would be worth it and that the worst that could happen as a result of me writing this post is being told I'm way out of the loop. Perhaps at best Matt could have a chance to defend his intellectual property.

 

Here are some links to MGB's and Simple Minds' respective videos so you can make the comparison yourselves. If someone would like to embed them that would be fine, I've never been able to make those damn things work.

 

 

Simple Minds, "Cry":

 

MGB, "Indestructible":

 

 

I hope this has been informative for everyone.

 

 

Andrew

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the old guy

the old guy

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Bloody hell....

 

BTW, Simple Minds were not one hit wonders. they were stadium fillers in the early eighties. F*cking New Romantic shit...everyone was into them when I was at art school. 'Cept me. Thankfully, there were The Pogues...

 

Butchered my song though. I still call it "my song". It's realistically Matts song.He owns it. Or "owned" it.

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ToadMan

ToadMan

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Apparently Matt sold that song years ago much to my chagrin. I do believe it was me and Ian that came up with that riff. Sorry but I, personally,am pissed off. Never made a dime or credited fer that song.

 

You're not credited for anything... except for 'Alabama Motel Room'. Well that's what my 5 minute exploration of my CD jackets indicates.

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AndrewfromBC

AndrewfromBC

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Bloody hell....

 

BTW, Simple Minds were not one hit wonders. they were stadium fillers in the early eighties. F*cking New Romantic shit...everyone was into them when I was at art school. 'Cept me. Thankfully, there were The Pogues...

 

 

One of the benefits of having not been alive in the early 80's is that I don't have to make any distinction. That is to say that if I only know one song released by a particular group from before I was born then, as far as I'm concerned, they're one hit wonders.

 

Ignorance is bliss.

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Jane Belinda Smith

Jane Belinda Smith

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One of the benefits of having not been alive in the early 80's is that I don't have to make any distinction. That is to say that if I only know one song released by a particular group from before I was born then, as far as I'm concerned, they're one hit wonders.

 

Ignorance is bliss.

Don't get me wrong. I wish I was born deaf...suddenly found my hearing again around '75 (STONES) and remained deaf again until 1995....Sadly I only found M / MGB this year. F*ck me....I thought American music was bad enough but Europe has no one who can touch M /MGB....

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AndrewfromBC

AndrewfromBC

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Don't get me wrong. I wish I was born deaf...suddenly found my hearing again around '75 (STONES) and remained deaf again until 1995....Sadly I only found M / MGB this year. F*ck me....I thought American music was bad enough but Europe has no one who can touch M /MGB....

 

Really? I can think of three bands just from within the UK that are huge musical influences for me. In order I guess they'd be Porcupine Tree, Radiohead (not their new stuff), and Muse.

 

I agree though that Matt is definitely one of our best musical exports (even if he's only exported in very small amounts, like a great Belgian beer). Some of Canada's other recent contributions to popular music include Nickelback (the Stella Artois of our bands, massed produced shit in other words), Avril Lavigne, Simple Plan, Theory of a Dead Man, etc. You see my point.

 

It's not good to get down on your country's whole music scene though. Some of the better Canadian bands I thoroughly enjoy include Arcade Fire, Rush, The Tragically Hip, Sam Roberts, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Holy Fuck, among others.

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uglyredhonda

uglyredhonda

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The weird thing is that I checked ASCAP's database, and four people are credited with writing "Cry" - none related to MGB. Wow, did it take four people to write those lyrics?

 

You're not credited for anything... except for 'Alabama Motel Room'. Well that's what my 5 minute exploration of my CD jackets indicates.

Off the top of my head, Geoff also has a credit for "Rico".

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the old guy

the old guy

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The weird thing is that I checked ASCAP's database, and four people are credited with writing "Cry" - none related to MGB. Wow, did it take four people to write those lyrics?

 

 

Off the top of my head, Geoff also has a credit for "Rico".

And only because there were witnesses.

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