As a songwriter, I have accidentally written creep 3 different times

In a stunning turn of events, all three are sueing Beato for stealing their music in his new song "The Creepy Air that I get for Free"

For anyone coming to this new, a lawsuit never materialised, and Del Ray still has writing credit on her song.

To be fair Lana del Ray follows the same vocal pitch and volume changes and vocal structure as creep. It's not simply chord progression.

"I wish I found some chords in an order that is new" - Twenty One Pilots

In another 10-15 years lana should sue the next person down the latter

So, if Radiohead wins, would the Hollies get a chunk of Lana Del Rey's song equivalent to their share of "Creep"?

1957 - Elvis Presley - That's When Your Heartaches Begin. 1965 - Aline - Christophe 1969 - Carry the Weight - the beattles 1972 - Albert Hammond - The Air That I Breathe 1974 - The Hollies - The Air That I Breathe 1992 - Radiohead - Creep 2003 - Vuelve - Latin Dreams 2008 - Los Ronaldos - No puedo vivir sin ti 2015 - Mon Lafarte - Tu forma de querer 2016 - Cruel Youth - Mr. Watson 2017 - Get Free - Lana Del Rey

All Radiohead have achieved with this is to make more people aware that Creep ripped off the Hollies

It's not about the money, it's about sending a message - Joker

It’s a chain reaction. Lana “steals” from Radiohead, Radiohead steals from the Hollies, the hollies steal from Elvis Presley, Elvis steals from Vasily Kalinnikov.

"You are trying to steal what I have rightfully stolen" -the Sicilian

Today I Learned The Hollies invented the I, III, IV, iv progression. I guess a lot of people owe them money.

I'm sure thousands of songs have been independently created with identical chord structures at identical BPMs throughout history. Some Venetian was probably playing these chords hundreds of years ago on a lute.

I think Vicini in The Princess Bride said it best: “You’re trying to kidnap what I’ve rightfully stolen.”

I’ve accidentally wrote so many songs that already exist. It sucks so much. Especially when you didn’t realize it until a friend points it out and u search up the song and it’s the exact same thing

I've had musicology reports done several times over the years. Whilst I'm not a musicologist, the comparison, (from my experience) would be in both the chords and the melody (pitches and rhythm thereof). They have the same chord pattern, which wouldn't be enough. But there's parts in Lana Del Ray's melody that are identical to "Creep". As there are parts of the "Creep" melody that are identical to "The Air that I breathe". When you've got the same chords AND melody outlining the same notes with the same rhythm, that's where it starts getting dangerous, for sure. A musicologist would be able to answer this one and is probably involved already.

Hmm so can Johann Pachelbel's descendants sue the whole music industry?

Just my opinion as a non-musician music lover: I love the Hollies and "The air that I breathe." is a great song. I also love Radiohead's "Creep" and it is a great song. That said when I listen to either of them I don't hear the other, I didn't even realized there was a connection. When I first heard Lana Del Rey's "Get Free" (which was before I saw this video) I instantly thought this IS "Creep." I like Lana's song, and think of it as an extension of "Creep", but I do not think of "Creep" as an extension of "The air that I breath."

The embarrassing thing about the Del Rey song is that her pacing and inflections are a *perfect* copy of Radiohead. It's not just about chord progressions. Creep used the same chord progression as the Hollies, but their songs are utterly different. If you heard these three songs over the speakers in a restaurant or cafe you would not mistake the Radiohead song for the Hollies songs. But you would pay attention to the Del Rey and ask, "Who is this covering Creep?"

You're right, but: "To set the record straight, no lawsuit has been issued and Radiohead have not said they 'will only accept 100% of the publishing of Get Free."

Steven universe's opening has the same chord progression

The Hollies tune is close, but Lana's tune is a flat out COPY. Tempo, chord position changes, feel etc.

Update: Radiohead settled with a writing credit on Lana del Ray's song.

Maybe Radiohead doesn't need the money, but the lawyers surely do. Who really benefits from this lawsuit.

The Hollies should sue them both. Lol

Completely agree Rick... Stop. These so called copyright infringement cases are ridiculous.

The Creep part that really sounds like the Hollies, melody wise, is not the verse but this part: "She's running out again, She's running out She's run run run run"

Really neat video on this comparison! It's interesting how accusations of plagiarism happen in the music industry.

If that is copyright infringement then so is every 12 bar Blues tune ever written. Give me a break.

Even though I heard both songs I never caught myself thinking that someone stole from someone. As somebody mentioned - you can just subconsciously write existing chord progression and put a similar vocal melody without thinking too much of it, because it just sounds good

Lets just have 1 super-song "The Air That Creep Breathes Gets Free" and call it a day.

It just so happened I read somewhere a couple of days ago about how the late, great Prince became so worried if the last part of Purple Rain sounded a little too similar to Journey's Faithfully that he requested Jonathan Cain to listen to it before release. Upon listening the Journey songwriter said something like no worries, the song is gonna be huge, and all the best. The rest is history. Such class, the both of them.

The Hollies song is different than Creep, but Lana Del Rio's verses are with the rhythm of Radiohead's Creep.

Same with Nirvana's song "Come as you Are" They stole the riff from Killing Joke's "Eighties". And KJ stole it from the band Damned and their song "Life goes on"

Maybe. But Creep is definitely a “rewriting” of the Hollies “The Air That I Breathe”; so much so that they had to give the songwriter half credit on their song.

Lana Del Ray took more of the melody from Radiohead than Radiohead took from the Hollies. Just sayin'. Sidenote: If two songs aren't released around the same time, I don't think it should matter if two songs are similar. It's not like they are cutting into each others sales. These lawsuits are frivolous.

Pretty sure this is why Trent Reznor of NIN, wrote the song “I am just a copy of a copy...”.🤔.

I believe at the time (or shortly thereafter) Metallica stated that they weren't doing it for the money - they were doing it because they could afford to. ie: the bands who were in fact being impacted financially couldn't afford to (do anything.) I rather quickly went from "you greedy bastards" to "wow - that's actually kind of a noble thing to do."

I dunno, honestly I rather get free even though I heard the other one wayy before, not that there's anything wrong with creep, get free is just a little less awkward and kinda more applicable. And then of course the air that I breathe is just the best ofc

That's what you get when your guitarist(s) play nothing but campfire chords.

Rick, you didn't compared right parts of the songs, in the case of "Creep" and "The Air That I Breathe" . Crescendo part in Radiohead's song: 'She's running out again...' and vocal line/melody in that part is so obviously inspired by The Hollies song (verse, not chorus); it is probably 'unconscious theft' (if that term exists in English:)). Progression it self wasn't problem. Btw, 'Creep' is much better song, although simpler. :)

Radiohead didn't sue her. They asked to be credited as writers. The lawsuit language was thrown around by Del Rey to garner sympathy and misdirect for the fact that she directly copied the rhythm and tried to pass it off as original instead of some form of sampling.

Just to clear some things up -- Albert Hammond and Mike Hazelwood, who wrote "The Air that I Breathe," were not members of the Hollies. They wrote the song for Albert Hammond's album in 1972. The Hollies covered, and had a huge hit with it, in 1974. The Hollies did not sue Radiohead. It was Hammond and Hazelwood's lawyers. And Al Hammond has stated that he had no idea that his lawyers were doing that. It is very likely that Radiohead's members have little to do with the lawsuit against Del Rey. They will not be called on to testify is it goes to trial. Radiohead will not really be impacted by this, with the exception that their names will probably end up on future releases of the song. They will not receive a ton of royalties, and they may not even have the authority to object to the lawsuit. That's life!

so we cant use a chord progression that someone else has already used? Might as well stop making music because its all been done.

I think you're wrong here, Rick. Radiohead's publisher, Warner Music, released a statement saying that there's no lawsuit just negotiations, they didn't ask for 100% and that their goal is to get proper credit for all the writers, Radiohead and Hammond and Hazlewood included. The verse of Get Free blatantly rips off Creep's chorus (the chorus being written solely by Radiohead while the bridge of Creep was from Air That I Breathe) and Lana has outright refused to admit any similarity or inspiration and seemingly refuses to give any credit meanwhile making untrue claims about the situation. I think it's worthy of a lawsuit; proper credit seems more important than any money in this specific case.

I have to give you a big kudos for these comparisons. Before I had a hard time hearing the similarities sometimes. With what you do, you strip away all the instruments, singing and processing and just give us the basics so we can hear exactly what is at the heart of the lawsuit. As someone who can read music but for singing only (high school choir) the times you put up is also helpful. I really appreciate these videos so so much!!!

9th circuit just ruled chord progressions to be unconstitutional.

You are correct about "Air That I Breath" the chorus is quite beautiful especially the last time he says breath and it takes that chord change then the airy guitar solo comes in. That is simply brilliant! Also their other song about the long cool woman in the red dress which has an amazing guitar intro. One of the best rock song intros ever!

I can almost guarantee you that Thom and Jonny and the rest of the guys in Radiohead don’t care at all, they all hate Creep, they’ve stated that many times, they want nothing to do with the song and that’s pretty good confirmation that this whole thing has to do with their publishing team and their label because they want money out of it. And secondly, Creep is better than The Air That I Breathe by a wide margin.

Didn’t John Fogerty get sued for sounding to much like CCR?

Madness tweeted back to Boy George asking to be left out of this!

So Lana del Ray should have gone to the Hollies and offered them co-writer credits, bypassing Radiohead completely from the equation.

The issue I have with cases like these is several fold. Firstly there is the intent. If you hear two songs with the same chord progressions and similar melodies, it can be very easy to point the finger at the newer track and cry "plagiarism", however it often isn't that simple. I have sat down many times at my piano and accidentally composed songs that already exist. One that I can very specifically remember is that I accidentally composed Harry's Wondrous World from Harry Potter 1, by John Williams. Sometimes your brain hears something familiar in whatever you're playing, and works to fill in the gaps before you even notice that you've already heard the song. You're sitting there thinking you've crafted an original masterpiece and then someone goes "Nice Harry Potter music, when did you learn that?", and you suddenly realise. Given that a lot of songwriters compose based on flashes of inspiration or melodic fragments that appear in their head fully formed, it's definitely not out of the realms of possibility that Lana and her co-writers simply subconsciously rewrote the verses from Creep, and didn't realise until it was far too late. The feeling of "That sounds really great" and "That sounds familiar" aren't necessarily that different. Secondly, only the verses resemble Creep. The chorus is completely different. The lyrical content is also very different, and the song as a whole has a much more hopeful feel than Creep. The issue is that the chords used in the verse are very distinctive, immediately recognisable, and rare enough that you can pinpoint them to specific songs, which leads to you recognising even more similarities between the songs, than you otherwise would. Most pop songs use the same/similar chord sequences, and often have similar melodies, but due to the much greater number of similar songs, you don't tend to pinpoint those traits to a specific song. For example, Better in Time by Leona Lewis and Price Tag by Jessie J share many of the same similarities that Radiohead is suing Lana Del Rey for, but most people wouldn't notice them unless you played them side by side, because the songs aren't as iconic, and the chord sequence more commonplace. As people have said in other comments, there is a slightly limited number of rhythmic and melodic combinations that sound both attractive to the ear, and "poppy"; and in an unusual, non-diatonic chord sequence, it is much harder to write a distinctive melodic line that fits with the unusual chords, because there are far less options to choose from. Finally, and most importantly, cases like these set an annoying precedent for copyright law in music. This case isn't anywhere near as stupid or influential as the Blurred Lines - Marvin Gaye case, but it still will have an effect. I didn't like Blurred Lines particularly, but the fact that Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams got successfully sued for it "feeling" like it could have been a Marvin Gaye song is a disgusting travesty. I personally love it when a pop artist makes a callback to a previous era of music in the now very much homogenised world of chart music these days. There are more distinctive artists making great music than ever these days, however very few of them are in the charts, as due to the increasing pool of available music, only the music that is disliked by the least amount of people, or that by well established artists tends to make it to the top. This is why I enjoy it when a well established artist makes something inspired by a different era, because it is likely to make it high in the charts, and is guaranteed to be different to all the other indistinguishable fluff in them. However, when those artists start getting sued for the melody, chord sequence, or even the "feel", of their new song, they're likely to start shying away from doing anything like that, and will go back to just making the same risk-free music as everyone else. Lana Del Rey has a distinctive enough style that this likely won't affect what she puts out in the slightest, but other artists will take note. Now some people would argue that this will lead to greater creativity, with people actively seeking to make something new, to avoid infringing on someone else. I would argue that it is virtually impossible to create a pop song that someone couldn't claim to be plagiaristic in some aspect, simply due to the essentially codified nature of a pop song, the ability of the human mind to find patterns and similarities where there are none, and the ability of people to game the system for their own gain. As well as this, it's far easier to simply follow the majority, as if everyone is making the same music, no one can be sued for it. If music copyright law progresses much further you'll see a lot more Blurred Lines type cases, where artist who try to buck the trends of the day are immediately sued by someone else, because the distinctiveness of the song draws attention to itself, and immediately draws up comparisons with other distinctive songs.

People always compare the verses of “Creep” and “The Air That I Breathe” but the melodies are very different. Where Radiohead actually knicked the melody was in the bridge after the second chorus when Thom sings in falsetto. He’s an octave higher, but it’s the exact melody from “The Air That I Breathe.”

Lana should sue Radiohead for slander and bring in the hollies as a character witness

So what if I copied the entire song but changes the key from E to Ab and the tempo from 4/4 to 2/2 and added a fifth interval at the end of every melody line. Would it then magically be “original”?

What I learned from this: be very careful if you try to write something with that chord progression.

Best frivolous lawsuit ever: John Fogerty, the author of "Old Man Down the Road" by was sued for copyright infringement of "Run Though the jungle" ...also by John Fogerty. 🤔 So basically, the author was sued for sounding like himself. 🤣

Tbh, i think that they (lana) offered Radiohead 40% of the profit is actually more than generous. It has little elements and the same Key but Lana turned the idea into something great different.

I am not convinced at all. As other people have said: it's not only a question of chord progression. Here the tempo and the melody are substantially the same (quite different from the Hollies case). If this is not plagiarism, then nothing else can be. It's not a question of money: probably Radiohead are going to give to charity what will come from this legal dispute...I hope.

There are only so many chords, and only so many ways to put them together that sound right that it has to happen. I am not musical but I hum to myself and I was humming what Ithought was a made up tune only for someone to say I didn't know you liked Bach ! Er no..Alice Cooper yes.

Important to remember vis a vis copyright or trademark law: Part of maintaining one requires vigorous defense against infringement (i.e. use it or lose it). These lawsuits usually aren't brought due to greed (although the lawyers make sure it makes them some money), they're brought to fulfill that obligation. Makes no sense to copyright your work otherwise.

One of Rick's best posts.

Except they didnt actually sue her though

The Hollies lawsuit actually pertained to the bridge of Creep (when Thom Yorke goes into falsetto)

I believe that the I - III - IV - iv interpretation is not describing accurately the harmonic function of the chords. In my opinion C solves the tension created by B. So the B - C progression sounds to me like an imperfect cadence V - VI in the relative E minor key. And then we go back to G with a plagal cadence iv - I.

Every song has already been written.

I remember writing a song with an F, C, Am, G for a bridge, then realized I was playing Learning to Fly by Tom Petty...a song I never learned. I didn't even think about it, I just played it and it sounded great to me. No other progression wouldve worked for me in that song. Sometimes these things just HAPPEN without any intentions of ripping someone else off.

It looks like it's a bit more complex than people seem to think... according to the website oaf Albert Hammond, he said of the case against Radiohead....and i quote: "Albert Hammond (writer): I don't publish The air that I breathe, I only own the writer's end, so the publisher of the song, Rondor Music, when the song Creep came out, he felt it was a steal from The air that I breathe, and he sued Radiohead, and they agreed. Radiohead agreed that they had actually taken it from The air that I breathe. Because they were honest they weren't sued to the point of saying "we want the whole thing". So we ended up just getting a little piece of it. (Albert on the telephone with Reto, Copyright ?2002 by Reto)" Also, the Hollies (as far as i can see) have no involvement here at all. t wasn't the Hollies who were involved with the Radiohead suit, but the publishing company for the original Songwriters, Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood. The Hollies COVERED the song in 1974, two years after the original Albert Hammond release. And as a result Hammond is credited as co-writer of Creep. Further to all this, Radiohead's management claim they are NOT suing Lana Del Rey for 100%, and that a lawsuit hasn't actually been issued. Yet?

“Latitude 88 north” by E.L.O has the same exact progression in the verse.

The 3 songs may have similar chord patterns, but quite different songs as a whole. Like a blues song ;-)

However, "Creep" was such a big hit, played everywhere, that i can not believe Lana Del Rey did not recognise that chords progression. Iam surprised no one in the studio said, "dont you think that sound a little bit too much like Creep?"

So basically the music industry is a scary and irrational place haha

Albert Hammond, the composer of The Air That I Breathe should sue The Hollies, Radiohead and Lana

I feel that these are now considered to be the "Cursed chords of the industry" for those who strum these forbidden chords shall lose both time and money to the rock ghosts of the past. It is a vicious cycle doomed to repeat itself forever...it is the Inception of guitar chords.

I see a stronger case here than with other infringement suits, but still it's not really the same melody or lyrics which I feel should be the criteria. Rick, I would love to hear your take on the Blurred Lines/Got To Give It Up case. That one seemed particularly outrageous to me. The two songs have almost nothing in common other than "vibe" or MAYBE groove yet it was deemed infringement in court.

You have to defend a copywrite or you lose it.

Radiohead has some huge balls to sue someone for stealing that song

I think one important thing is that even though the melody in the Lana song is similar, it uses synth instead of guitars and the song is very minimalist in comparison to Radiohead or the Hollies.

When I heard Get Free, Creep instantly came to mind and I can't get around hearing it every time I hear that song. That said I'm not familiar with the Hollies song, otherwise I'd hear that.

She then goes on to brazenly "borrow" sing the identical melody and progression of "Last Christmas" by George Michael when she makes the Bb to G change. Anyone else hear that?

This is a part of music. Musicians are always reforming old tunes. Sometimes it's adding new lyrics. Sometimes a minor change,and update of a classic song. All the old country artists did things like this. A.P. Carter,and Ralph Peer music did a copyright on everything A.P. could find. Which was mostly old ballads that had been reworked over many years.Centuries old music in some cases. But none had a copyright so they were free to use them, change them. Whatever they liked. Take the old English or Irish tune 'The Rose Tree'. It became 'Turkey in the Straw' in the US. Then it was used in a well known Minstrel song. It then got used for a joke song that soldiers would sing on march called 'Do your Balls Hang Low?'. That got cleaned up to a tune called 'Do your Ears Hang Low?' Now use the same chords = lawsuit. I know they're trying to protect their income, but they could negotiate it.

I agree. They need to realize the important thing. They created music we all love and listen to. Why is it 100% money with these people?

At the end of the day, everyone rips off Sabbath.

You know what they call three Lawyers at the bottom of the ocean? A good start! BADA-BOOM!

you never miss a beat, man. your videos are so good to watch. Thank you!

"...there is nothing new under the sun." -Ecclesiastes

Well, the whole Metallica/Napster-thing seemed stupid back then. But I have to say.. The way the music industry has changed, they were on to something. I don't think that it was ALL about the money, but more the need to have control over their own creations.

This is such a sad state of affairs that somebody should write a song about it.

Yea I'm a serial Lana listener and I absolutely felt like I've heard the song before, but it's just so common now that you point it out

And Mozart should sue every metal band

"The Air That I Breath is a MUCH better song than Creep!" *Every Radiohead fan liked that*

I was reading the comments during the Lana switch and I was like “waaaait a minute”

I absolutely love your videos Rick. Thank you so much for the great content

This & summertime by sublime which she actually calls summertime .. I still LOVE her tho 🥰🥰🥰

Wow, that was blatant. If George Harrison lost to the Chiffons for my sweet lord, she will definitely lose on this one.

I'm a huge Radiohead fan and I agree that the Hollies song is far better than Creep, although, they're not quite the same. I disagree that Radiohead shouldn't sue though. I'm a fan of Lana too, but if you rip a song you have to fork over the cash. Those are the rules. Just because Radiohead have money they should let other people rip their stuff? Nah man, I bet Lana's got more pocket money than most of us. Besides, Radiohead were just starting out when the Hollies sued them, and no one here is ripping the Hollies for it.

I still think putting copyright on chords is stupid, if every song with the same chords as an other song got copyright striked there wouldn't be any songs left

It goes even deeper, The Hollies' version of The Air That I Breath is a cover. The original was released in 1972 by Albert Hammond, two years before The Hollies!