Before GoldieBlox, Beasties plundered the "Girls" melody (fair and square)

boing
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I wouldn’t call that stealing the melody, I’d call it copying the phrasing.

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You were on a roll with Sheffield Man. This is lame, though.

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Cory, you do know the story about how The Isley Brothers ripped off the melody, lyrics AND phrasing of “SHOUT” from Navin “Pig Eye” Johnson who was born a poor White Black boy in Mississippi before inventing the OPTI-GRAB, becoming a millionaire and then losing his riches in a lawsuit? Navin “Pig Eye” Johnson also happens to write all of Lady Gaga’s songs under the pseudonym “Madonna”

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OK, I’ve officially given up trying to understand Cory’s position on intellectual property. If there’s a consistent philosophy here, I’m not seeing it.

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I think John Hartfords words of wisdom are quite relevant here.

"I tried real hard to make this song not sound like some other song I’ve written before.
If I did it’s because my style and style is based on limitations.

I tried real hard not to make this song sound like some other song some other singer-songwriter might have written before.
And if I did, that’s 'cause it’s music, and music is based on repetition."

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Yep, not sure if Cory understands the definition of melody here.

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If saying ‘Girls’ on the downbeat of the beginning of the chorus counts, then maybe. But that is the only melodic material that’s plundered. While the chord progression implied by the bells is the same progression, the bell melody is AFAIK original.

There’s just no comparison between the amount of lifting GoldieBlox did from ‘Girls’ and the Beasties did from the Isley Brothers. Goldieblox lifted: vocal rhythm, phrasing and rhyme scheme; bell melody wholesale along with idiomatic vibrato; dry drum pattern in exact same rhythm. Beasties: chord progression, monosyllable on downbeat.

As the ‘Axis of Awesome’ will show you, there is little innovation in the world of chord progression – and in this case it’s just two chords.

Making the Beasties out to be “just as bad” in this case is reaching.

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Beastie Boys’ Girls is the Blurred Lines of the 80’s.

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The melody of Bo Diddley “I’m Alright” is a lot closer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=PRRBXhVNwfU#t=36 Skip to 36 seconds if the link doesn’t take you there.

Speaking as a huge Beastie Boys fan- “Girls” is probably one of the dumbest songs they ever released.

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50 big points for the John Hartford reference! -
I’ll see your John Hartford and raise you a Mason Williams
plus one Smothers brother to be determined later

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Yeah, I was gonna say the same thing that “I’m Alright” is way closer. This post is just stupid.

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All my acid-head can make of this ongoing saga is that Cory appears to be voluntarily shilling for the Goldi-wizz-o-matic acme corp. Gotta help a carpet-bagger out, if they can’t figure how how to succeed like K-Tel on their own.

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He must really like their product.

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Good lord. You know full well copyright applies to melody and lyrics…

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It’s not copyright infringement if Cory likes it.

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The song was released over 25 years ago. How long do we want copyright to last anyway?

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The consensus here really has it. The Goldieblox is an absolute rip…Don’t forget it’s FOR PROFIT. No comparison. Though the mix track of beasties and Isleys is fun.

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It doesn’t matter how long we want it to last. At this point copyright duration is dictated by how long DisneyCorp. wants it to last. Which, if I’ve got my BoingBoing corporate allegiances straight, means Cory is all in favor!

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I think his positions can more consistently be understood as anti-corporatist, but he typically articulates them in purely IP terms, but under this framework I think they lose a lot of consistency.

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