L.A. musician and avowed Hives fan Jason Shapiro has filed a plagiarism suit against the Swedes because he says “Tick Tick Boom”‘s guitar riff sounds too similar to his “Why You?,” which he recorded with the Roofies in 1997 and with Three Way in 2002. He even took the songs to a musicologist for analysis. You be the judge (and jury): The Roofies vs. The Hives.
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yep, it’s pretty similarly bad.
wow. this sounds exactly like somebody wants to cash in.
(it does sounds similar though)
wow. this sounds exactly like somebody wants to cash in.
(it does sound similar though)
“sued by remaining fan”
Considering the amount of absolute garbage this site promotes/advertises for, I don’t think Stereogum should be allowed to make judgment calls or take clever stabs at bands.
Stereogum, please stick to the recycling of press releases that you do so well.
yet another idiot coming out of the woodwork who takes the time to not just read but comment on a blog they think is subpar.
AGREED!
For the record, not just am I a huge fan of the Hives, but my favorite album of theirs was “The Black and White Album” (even though my friends who are fans- OMG, Stereogum, there are at least two of us!- were not into it).
The Hives are law, and Stereogum is… dumb.
^^
apparently you should have said “second to last remaining fan”
Idk.I really liked the hives before their newest album…but the new one was pretty meh.
It does feel really weird for a pastiche band to be accusing another of unoriginality. I mean, I’m sure another earlier band has as legitimate a case against both of these bands.
black and white album kicked ass.
They were a fun band to photograph…lots of acrobatics and mugging for the camera, but I can’t say I’ve listened to them on purpose (other than three songs at the concert) in a very long time.
thom yorke should sue the shearwater guy over the snow leopard
“Remaining fan”? Fuck you, Stereogum. Seriously. Shove your pretension up your ass. I can take a little bit, but I’m just tired of it. You’ve covered The Hives before, and you seemed perfectly fine with them then. But now? Oh, apparently it’s not cool to like them anymore, so you’d better throw out a snide remark to entertain the kids. Drop the bullshit. It’s not funny, it’s not clever.
Um, it’s a joke. Calm the fuck down? Do you know what a joke is?
lol yea just a nice play on words to provoke those who can’t take jokes. anyway the hives are thieves and the vines will always be better.
-amen
Hey now, I still like The Hives. Even though their latest is a bit less than great…
Anyway, if this guy has a case against The Hives for taking his riff, then The Hives have a case against themselves, and The Nuggets also have a case against them. I’m not quite sure what I’m getting at, but I guess I mean that The Hives are pretty much unoriginal, and everybody knows that, and nobody really cares, because The Hives are great at what they do. This guy’s band (with a TERRIBLE name. Both of them.) stopped existing almost 10 years ago. He just wants money and he’s too lazy to work for it. Why else do people sue these days?
Never heard of The Nuggets. They any good?
I heard they sound a lot like The Hives amd the Roofies. MAybe some Stooges too.
I just realized that Nuggets wasn’t a band. Wow, I’m real up on things. My bad.
now i love the hives, but that’s what the hives get for making their last album suck so hard! !!!!!
Their both equally as shitty so you fucking cares?
in defense of The Hives, the guitar part is pretty simple, I’m sure numerous other musicians have thought it up and played it at some point in their lives.
you guys didn’t hear? the hives are totally not fashionable anymore!
Eh, it’s not like the guitar on The Hives’ first hit didn’t sound way like Veruca Salt’s “Seether” from back in the day, and you didn’t hear them whining about it.
Come on guy! What Would Veruca Salt Do?!
i like their version of Song 2.
“you’re DOOM”
“remaining fan” thing was lame. the hives are great
Wow. That is essentially a 2 chord progression. They are trying to claim one interval in a certain key for themselves? And both songs suck anyway. What a douche.
“Oh, apparently it’s not cool to like them anymore, so you’d better throw out a snide remark to entertain the kids.”
Yeah, it’s a little annoying, and happens a lot on this site, usually based on the easy, boring, and predictable “cool/too big, therefore no longer cool” arc as opposed to the actual music. Especially considering that some of the artists that ARE considered cool by the site people are pretty godawful.
My god learn some English people. If you actually understood that stereogum are in fact just commenting on the irony that the person who sued the Hives is in fact still a fan, maybe you wouldn’t be so pretentious and quick off the mark to criticize them. And i’m not just saying this because i don’t like the Hives because i have aaaaaall of there albums. There is no opinion in this article and is an obvious example of writing to inform. SO PLEASE REFRAIN FROM FALSLY ACCUSING STEREOGUM OF OPINIONATING THEIR ARTICLES!
The Hives are better than 99 percent of the bands you opine about on this taste-maker web-site; I guarantee you their music will (and has) age (d) better than Fleet Foxes, Santagold, and Blitzen Trapper combined. Just because a group doesn’t have some completely irrelevant no wave influence or have Barack Obama tattooed on their head doesn’t mean they don’t have fans.
Whoa whoa there. Santogold, maybe. I’ve never listened to Blitzen Trapper. But Fleet Foxes? Word?
The Hives are indebted to a kind of music that exploded in the 60s/70s. Fleet Foxes take in strong elements from music that is centuries old. I think you’re way off with that one. Saying that a punk band will outlast a folk band just isn’t a sustainable argument based on actual historical status. A beautiful voice and an acoustic instrument is far more time-worn than a yelp and an electric guitar.
_
Anyway, people need to get off the weak shit of insulting Stereogum because they insult something you don’t like. Again and again, people respond to snide comments about a band they dig with snide comments about bands they don’t dig. It’s just a ridiculous circle.
The Hives were once an international sensation. Their stature has diminished to the point where they are approaching cult status. That’s all. I love quite a bit of their shit. But popularity-wise (and apparently quality-wise, since so many people are dissing on their new stuff, which I haven’t heard), they’re not as high up as they used to be. Of course it’s a joke, of course it’s hyperbole. I thought it was funny.
Oh, and yeah: These songs sound really alike.
Agreed.
The chords of the two songs are the same, and they change at approximately the same times, but the down beats are different. The rhythms are a bit different, too.
I saw the hives back in 2004 and let me say, their concerts are well worth the ticket price. Extremely fun show, energetic and well performed songs. I thought tyrannosaurus hives was a pretty good album with a few very very catchy songs. Meh… I haven’t listened to anything new since.
Everyone has been dissing The Hives since their release of Tyrannosaurus Hives. Critics said T H was too similar to their previous album, Veni Vidi Vicious. Then both critics and fans were dissing their newest album, The Black and White Album because it was so different compared to their previous work. What’s is so bad about change? Why buy an artists new album if you want the same old standards…just put their old cds on repeat. Personally, I think The Black and White album was new and exciting, it’s nice to see a band evolve. But after talking to The Hives about their plans on making their next album (which they’re starting in the next few months)…it seems that they’ve lost some of their confidence from tons of people starting to hate them and they will return to what they know best…fast and hard hitting punk songs…let the old fans rejoice I guess.
And about this Jason Shapiro ordeal…he should grow some balls and make a hit song himself instead of trying to take a chunk of money from someone else?s hard work.
I don’t know why people are criticizing the guy making the lawsuit. If one of your songs (if you could actually play an instrument and had some talent) was ripped off by someone else you’d sure as hell be pissed about it. Listen to the songs back to back. It’s a pretty blatant rip off, intentional or not. The guitar riff is the same, same tempo, similar melody. I bet he wins the lawsuit.
fuck the haters hives rock…
Fuck all this noise. Shouldn’t we be talking about our love/hate of the Hold Steady and Radiohead? I must be an anomaly because I like The Hives AND The Hold Steady AND Radiohead. I guess I should find a new music blog.
thanks stereogum, the hives are garbage
you guys are totally awesome
EmanuelV- I understand what you are saying about the Hives and the fact that folk music has been around considerably longer. This are all valid points, and my point certainly wasn’t to offend any of Fleet Foxes fans. That being said, the punk/ hard rock scene will be the music that lasts from the 70s- now from rock n’ roll. Besides Dylan (who stopped being folk in the mid- 60s), and if you are generous Neil young and Paul Simon, what substantial folk band has there been in the last 40 years? My point- folk has lasted longer than the pulsating hard rock/ punk genre, but that is because it has simply been around longer. That’s like saying the Bible is better than Shakespeare because more people have read the former. I would also suggest that a majority of decent contemporary music would cite punk as an influence over, say, a Hank Williams. Regardless, my initial point was not to spit on stereogum, a site I feel is usually pretty level headed in these affairs, especially comparatively speaking to other sites (pitchfork rings a bell). It was to suggest that just because the Hives have gotten popular enough to work with Pharrel Williams doesn’t mean they have become irrelevant.
If this dude was really a Hives fan, he’d be suing Randy Fitzsimmons and not them. After all, he’s the one that writes the songs.
stereogum covers some of the lamest bands around and yet they’re too cool for the Hives? did pitchfork tell you not to like them anymore?
i vote in the way of the plaintiff .
erm, im a hive and i dont appreciate people on blogs dissing our honey making dwellers.
oh wait, i just read it. the Hives suck arse and have no honey whatsoever.
You guys are awesome!I enjoy reading comments more than the article itself!:DDDDD
Let’s listen objectively. If we were to compare the millions of rock songs out there to each other, we could make comparisons like this all day. The two guitar riffs are similar but NOT identical, and that’s enough to make this lawsuit moot. Pelle’s opening vocal melody is the same as the Roofies, but it’s a different song from there. Come on, this is garage band music – there are only so many possibilities.
I am a Hives fan, and the work they’ve done in the past is enough to keep me loyal, despite the rough spot they’ve hit with the last few years. Veni Vidi Vicious is classic and that’s MY opinion. Who cares what anyone else thinks? That album is enough for me to keep listening to what they do. I was not a big fan of the last two albums.
As for people comparing them to the Vines? What’s the genesis of that? Those bands couldn’t be more different. Stop comparing them. They both rock in their own way. Except, when I see the Hives, it makes me smile, and when I see the Vines, I’m concerned for the lead singer’s health and emotional mood – but they’re both fruits of rock and roll.
Long may it live.
why do people bother coming onto a website they hate?
The lawsuits are always so weird. What is the point? All music has been written.
Tick Tick Boom was used to promote the movie Get Smart wasn’t it?
I think if this guy was such a big fan, he would have heard the song a long time ago, before it was on television commericials all the time.
Or wait, was he not a fan? Maybe I didn’t get the joke.
I love how you say LEARN SOME ENGLISH PEOPLE…and then go on to make tons of grammatical errors in your comment. That’s real irony to appreciate.
That being said…I generally agree with the sentiment. How stupid are the people hanging around a blog they hate just to comment about how they hate it? Stereogum is great.
Hey you guys, remember when everyone got all worked up over a joke? Lol, we were so silly. Thank god we grew up, right?