Popular band who've ripped off U2

[U2girl]

Yeah. It is therefore unfair of U2 fans to suggest that every guitarist using delay owes it all to The Edge. The Binson Echorec unit was coming into its own when Dave Evans was still wearing nappies.



No one is saying that he "stole" his use of delay. We are saying that he was inspired by it - which is really the point of this whole thread. Two out of the three bands that were so lazily accused of "pretending to be U2" in the original article are only doing what is natural in the music business. The Killers' bass player is not "pretending to be" Adam because he plays root notes. He might have been inspired to play in that particular way because of Adam, yet he is by no means ripping him off. It is completly normal to be inspired by other bands that have come before you. Coldplay often take it just a little bit too far, and Chris Martin is the most-annoying Bono fanboy on the planet, but they have never actually committed a true act of musical plagiarism.



No, you don't normally guess exact delay settings by ear. You can, however, figure out the the ranges that produce certain types of sounds. Shorter (faster) delay times of 0-250 ms produce the kind of effects you hear on early U2 albums. They don't create the nice, atmospheric effects that longer delays do. Since Edge was likely going for that effect on UF, he would have been bright enough to figure out that longer delay times within the 350-400+ ms range were necessary. I'm definitely not saying he ripped off Gilmour, because that would be silly. But if he was going for that atmospheric Gilmourish delay that Bono initially informed him about, then those are the adjustments he would have needed to make.

"Every guitarist"? I thought mostly if not all this is referring to Buckland.

Well saying "The Edge was inspired to get the delay pedal from listening to Pink Floyd's Animals." is a tad more ripping off-ish, when the actual quote just says Bono happened to hear the delay in a PF song, and then told Edge he liked that sound. Edge still managed to find his own sound, and the guitar player he most often credits for inspiration is Verlaine, not Gilmour. Inspiration is fine, but there is a such a thing as taking it too far.

Well internets doesn't get its facts straight. Then again, I remember reading posts about people saying U2 is ripping Coldplay off.

 

[coolian2]

Which U2 song is Mr Brightside meant to sound like?

 

[GibsonExplorer]

U2 nuts are STILL impressed by guitar delay? Sheesh. Any fool can play guitar the way Edge does.

 

[GibsonGirl]

"Every guitarist"? I thought mostly if not all this is referring to Buckland.

But the trouble is [The Edge] is credited to bringing that sound into the mainstream, he made it popular. So yeah, use it and you will get called out on borrowing off his sound.

Ta dah.

Well saying "The Edge was inspired to get the delay pedal from listening to Pink Floyd's Animals." is a tad more ripping off-ish, when the actual quote just says Bono happened to hear the delay in a PF song, and then told Edge he liked that sound. Edge still managed to find his own sound, and the guitar player he most often credits for inspiration is Verlaine, not Gilmour. Inspiration is fine, but there is a such a thing as taking it too far.

There's nothing "ripping off-ish" at all about stating that one guitarist was inspired - in however small a way - by another. This is what is so frustrating about the whole "ripping off" argument. If you are inspired by another band, even HEAVILY inspired like Coldplay, you're not automatically ripping off said band. People (including the thread starter) generally do not understand what the phrase means. "Ripping off" means that you are stealing. It means that you are replicating another song note for note, or writing something that is musically so close to another song that you can identify which one it is (like that car advert that ripped off Elevation.) Jonny Buckland is not "ripping off" The Edge because he just so happens to use a shitload of delay in some songs. It is an effect. We don't say Edge is ripping off Jimmy Page because he uses a shitload of distortion in some songs, do we? Coldplay are certainly bloody annoying when they rave on about U2 all the time, and a couple of their songs have a definite U2-ish feel about them, but they have not actually stolen any of their music. That's the thing. They might want U2's commercial success, U2's social impact, and U2's ability to write anthems that resonate with people...but can you really blame them? I'm sure a lot of bands want that.

Which U2 song is Mr Brightside meant to sound like?

All of them! Because U2 are the sole copyright holders of songs featuring "that guitar sound" and lazy bass guitarists who spend their time "pumping out root notes"!

 

[singyourlife]

I reckon Coldplay's music has started to sound progressively more like U2 as time's gone on. I loved their debut album, Parachutes, when it first came out. Really clever chord structure and melodic development. But their latest music is all Edge stylee guitar riffs, and repetitive drum loops.

But it's not just the music. Chris Martin seems to do a whole Bono routine on stage. He kinda climbs all over stuff, and runs/prances around. And lately he's taken to laying all over the floor, and crawling across the stage. The most hilarious thing I saw him do was kick his foot up to the camera, Bono stylee.. but there was no 'Soul', or even Make Trade Fair on the bottom of his shoe. Genius.

I know they're not exactly alike, but that's one of like, millions of picture examples.

Coldplay's guitarist has even started tapping his foot like Edge. Yeah I know, you can't copyright tapping your foot, haha! But it's funny that it's the exact same foot that Edge taps.

Anything else? lol. Coldplay had a massive wall of lights thing going on, not long after U2 used theirs for the tour. Oh, and Chris Martin's started mumbling incoherently during songs. Wonder who he copied that from. Anyway, rant over. I haven't got a problem with Chris Martin. It just makes me laugh when he blatently copies Bono.

 

[Addicted To Bad]

I reckon Coldplay's music has started to sound progressively more like U2 as time's gone on. I loved their debut album, Parachutes, when it first came out. Really clever chord structure and melodic development. But their latest music is all Edge stylee guitar riffs, and repetitive drum loops.

But it's not just the music. Chris Martin seems to do a whole Bono routine on stage. He kinda climbs all over stuff, and runs/prances around. And lately he's taken to laying all over the floor, and crawling across the stage. The most hilarious thing I saw him do was kick his foot up to the camera, Bono stylee.. but there was no 'Soul', or even Make Trade Fair on the bottom of his shoe. Genius.

I know they're not exactly alike, but that's one of like, millions of picture examples.

Coldplay's guitarist has even started tapping his foot like Edge. Yeah I know, you can't copyright tapping your foot, haha! But it's funny that it's the exact same foot that Edge taps.

Anything else? lol. Coldplay had a massive wall of lights thing going on, not long after U2 used theirs for the tour. Oh, and Chris Martin's started mumbling incoherently during songs. Wonder who he copied that from. Anyway, rant over. I haven't got a problem with Chris Martin. It just makes me laugh when he blatently copies Bono.

U2 X COLDPLAY = WAR ZONE


(Yes, Chris Martin wants to copy Bono )


Oh!.no.. again ??



_________________________________________
TEACH ME - I KNOW I´M NOT A HOPELESS CASE

 

[Mr. V]

I reckon Coldplay's music has started to sound progressively more like U2 as time's gone on. I loved their debut album, Parachutes, when it first came out. Really clever chord structure and melodic development. But their latest music is all Edge stylee guitar riffs, and repetitive drum loops.

have you heard Viva la Vida?

 

[GibsonExplorer]

Mr V, it sounds like you're offering that Viva La Vida is actually better musically than Parachutes. While Viva may be better than the disaster known as X&Y, Buckland still didn't do anything to shake the perception (by guitar players like me) that he has gotten extremely lazy after Coldplay's debut. This may be blasphemy to a lot of U2 fans here, but going from what Buckland did in Parachutes to fully embracing Edge's technique/style in Viva is an embarrassing regression in skill and imagination. About the only exceptional thing Buckland did on Viva is the guitar playing on Strawberry Swing (which, by the way, would have been just as exceptional--definitely more organic--without the delay effect.)

 

[singyourlife]

have you heard Viva la Vida?

Admittedly, no. Fair play, haha. I was just having a laugh about how Chris Martin emulates Bono to an embarassing degree.

I actually like a lot of Coldplay's music, and Violet Hill sounds pretty good.

 

[singyourlife]

duplicate post, and i dont understand how to delete, sorry dudes.

 

[LemonMelon]

Anyone who claims that Coldplay is NOT interested in being like U2 is an idiot. They've said it themselves about 600 times over the past 5 years.

However, I still don't think they sound much like them at all, outside of the guitar tone.

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

U2 X COLDPLAY = WAR ZONE

It's better than THE DANGER ZONE i suppose

 

[U2girl]

ta dah ?

Ta dah.



There's nothing "ripping off-ish" at all about stating that one guitarist was inspired - in however small a way - by another. This is what is so frustrating about the whole "ripping off" argument. If you are inspired by another band, even HEAVILY inspired like Coldplay, you're not automatically ripping off said band. People (including the thread starter) generally do not understand what the phrase means. "Ripping off" means that you are stealing. It means that you are replicating another song note for note, or writing something that is musically so close to another song that you can identify which one it is (like that car advert that ripped off Elevation.) Jonny Buckland is not "ripping off" The Edge because he just so happens to use a shitload of delay in some songs. It is an effect. We don't say Edge is ripping off Jimmy Page because he uses a shitload of distortion in some songs, do we? Coldplay are certainly bloody annoying when they rave on about U2 all the time, and a couple of their songs have a definite U2-ish feel about them, but they have not actually stolen any of their music. That's the thing. They might want U2's commercial success, U2's social impact, and U2's ability to write anthems that resonate with people...but can you really blame them? I'm sure a lot of bands want that.

The reason Buckland is compared to Edge is exactly because he has the similar tone and, yes, he's using delay often. Since they talk about U2 so much, I think a little intent can be, at the very least, considered...
No one will do the exact history search which guitar player started using delay. (or, technically, whoever it was that made the first delay unit)

But in their case, it goes way beyond of Buckland borrowing from Edge. Even if they did not lift the exact chords, the heavy similarity is there. Is it that hard to get anthems, social impact and commercial success by not doing it "the U2 way" ?

 

[Addicted To Bad]

It's better than THE DANGER ZONE i suppose [/QUOTE:


which one is the worst (in this case?!)




________________________________________
TEACH ME - I KNOW I´M NOT A HOPELESS CASE

 

[GibsonGirl]

Mr V, it sounds like you're offering that Viva La Vida is actually better musically than Parachutes. While Viva may be better than the disaster known as X&Y, Buckland still didn't do anything to shake the perception (by guitar players like me) that he has gotten extremely lazy after Coldplay's debut. This may be blasphemy to a lot of U2 fans here, but going from what Buckland did in Parachutes to fully embracing Edge's technique/style in Viva is an embarrassing regression in skill and imagination. About the only exceptional thing Buckland did on Viva is the guitar playing on Strawberry Swing (which, by the way, would have been just as exceptional--definitely more organic--without the delay effect.)

I think what Mr. V meant is that Jonny Buckland isn't quite as stuck in "Edge-mode" on their latest material as he was on earlier albums. X&Y was all about the bright, slightly distorted and delayed guitars that made UF and JT famous. It's not quite the same on VLV. The guitars in "Life In Technicolor" aren't even worth mentioning, they're that far back in the mix. "Lost!" has some fairly typical lead work in it that reminds me more of Will Sergeant (another of his big influences) than it reminds me of Edge. "42" has an awesome little breakdown in the middle that sounds nothing like Edge. It's almost a little Jonny Greenwood-ish. "Yes" is standard rock guitar. "Viva La Vida" has a little lead riff in it that's heavily processed (but not very Edge-like). "Violet Hill" is just more standard rock guitar. "Strawberry Swing" doesn't sound all that much like Edge - even with the delay, because he's using it differently. "Death And All His Friends" is...borderline Edge-like. "Cemetaries Of London" and "Lovers In Japan/Reign Of Love" are really the only songs you could make an argument for.

I agree with you that he's gotten lazy, though. Where's the guy who did Spies and Yellow? Strawberry Swing and 42 (and maybe the second part of Yes - I forget what it's called - at a stretch) are just about the only guitar highlights on the album. Personally, I think that the riff in Strawberry Swing would have suffered without the reverse delay. The fact that you hardly ever hear reverse delay in popular music is what makes the song so interesting, IMO. I'm guessing he used his DD-5 for that...I have the same pedal and am in the process of figuring out what settings he used. Reverse delay is awesome, but it gives me a headache when I try to do anything with it.

The reason Buckland is compared to Edge is exactly because he has the similar tone and, yes, he's using delay often. Since they talk about U2 so much, I think a little intent can be, at the very least, considered...
No one will do the exact history search which guitar player started using delay. (or, technically, whoever it was that made the first delay unit)

But in their case, it goes way beyond of Buckland borrowing from Edge. Even if they did not lift the exact chords, the heavy similarity is there. Is it that hard to get anthems, social impact and commercial success by not doing it "the U2 way" ?

I give up. "Heavy similarity" is not the end of the world! It's not very original and kind of lame at times, I agree, but it's not worth all the constant bitching it receives here at Interference. Really, it's so fucking boring. I see "rip off" and "U2" in the same thread title, and I just KNOW that several pages of Coldplay whining are set to follow. Come on people, bring out the pitchforks when the real plagiarism happens...don't sit around feeling grumpy because some pissy little English band drools over U2 as much as you guys do. There are lots of bands I appreciate that sound similar to other, more famous bands. The Norwegian group called Airbag, for instance, sound like the result of an orgy between Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree and Radiohead. Does that mean I have to hate them? No. If the music is good, I don't give a stuff! There used to be a time when I got hysterical over other bands "copying" my favourites. I grew up and realised it was pointless to whine about it. Inspiration happens. We wouldn't have the U2 we know and love if it didn't.

 

[toscano]

Any discussion of Edge's influences has to include the late great John McGeoch

 

[coolian2]

All of them! Because U2 are the sole copyright holders of songs featuring "that guitar sound" and lazy bass guitarists who spend their time "pumping out root notes"!

Bastards.

 

[Mr. V]

I just can't be bothered arguing anymore. Edge did not invent music.