Top 20 Most Infamous Rip Off Songs Ever

Hey, haven't we heard that tune before? For this list, we’re looking at songs that don’t just sound a bit similar; they sound so similar that in one way or another they triggered some sort of legal action. Our countdown includes Sam Smith “Stay with Me”, Vanilla Ice “Ice Ice Baby”, Mark Ronson “Uptown Funk”, and more! What copycat song do you think is the most infamous? Let us know in the comments below

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#Music
#Ripoff
#Pop

[WatchMojo]

Which of these musical ripoffs do you think was most blatant? Let us know in the comments!

[bioniccrouton]

This video had more music playing in its twenty minutes than MTV has played in the past twenty years.

[brianarbenz]

One of Yoko Ono's songs was alleged to be a copy of the Emergency Broadcast tone.

[outofcompliance]

When I write songs, I often notice other songs creep in. It is really difficult to be truly original.

[MikeyRB]

Hey, thanks for having a real person hosting and narrating!

[GapingLotusX]

The John Fogerty getting sued for plagiarizing himself is one of my favorite musical tidbits.

[dolphquick]

Anyone remember an interview with Vanilla Ice explaining that the difference between "Pressure" and "Ice, Ice Baby" is that little "ding" in his song? I was thinking "Really dude? You're going to run with that"? Apparently he did.

[Komainu]

11:06 "My songs tend to sound like my songs" Fogerty you LEGEND.

[hummingbird]

If you think about it,
writing original material
has got to be very difficult
to accomplish in a business
with already a million
other artists out there.
Kudos to those who
had abundant, original ideas.

[connierosario]

I can't even fathom the number of times in my life I heard an intro on the radio, exclaimed, "I love this song!", only to find out it was a totally different song.

[Music]

Robert Plant admitted "As musicians, we're all beggars and thieves". Their are only so many chord progressions that can be original in totality.

[laneshuler]

That Ghostbusters one was crazy he didn't even try to hide it🤣

[averyvincent]

One of my favorites is the argument over "Halo" by Beyoncé vs. "I'm Already Gone" by Kelly Clarkson. The thing is, they were both written by Ryan Tedder of One Republic, who used the same riff on "Secrets." And here's the punchline: they're all just Pachelbel's "Canon" in D.

[grenbby]

How could you forget Rick James “Super Freak” vs MC Hammer “U Can’t Touch this?!” Rick James had to sue him.

[spiderwing]

You all going to forget that Chuck Barry straight stole “Johnny B Good” from a high schooler named Calvin Klein. And he stole it at a prom from what I hear. 😤

[bennybongosbigolebonanza]

I love how Ghostbusters asked Huey Lewis to do a song and when he declined they just said, mkay, we’ll just rip off your hit then that’s cool. 😂

[garybiggs]

Jethro Tull's "We Used To Know" became The Eagles mega hit Hotel California.
Ian Anderson gave them a nod with a Well Done Boys without even a thank you.

[DavidAntrobus]

Given his name, it's ironic that Tom Petty seemed to be the least petty of artists.

[uncensored]

The thing that pisses me off about the Down Under lawsuit was that the original creator of the kookaburra song was still alive during the height of Down Under's popularity and had no problem with it. She died a few years later and the rights were eventually picked up by some company who then sued Men At Work.

[The_Ubatron]

The court case against Men At Work for the 'Kookaburra' riff in 'Down Under' was nasty because the owner of Kookaburra was not the writer; they were someone who'd bought the rights... How this person could buy and own another person's creative IP is a bit perverse, but to then sue another artist who was merely quoting what he assumed was part of local folk culture... was just about getting the payout and nothing to do with creative credit. Greedy.