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Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The Gus Knorr Show – 11/16/11

    It's Gus!
    Me in lovely Venice Beach, CA

    Hey everyone! After a one week absence, I’m back in the basement studio of Johnston Hall and on the air for another great episode of The Gus Knorr Show. This week’s theme is songs that have been involved in lawsuits, primarily plagiarism-related ones.

    • The first one of these songs tonight is My Sweet Lord, by former Beatle George Harrison.
    • Next up, the song that Harrison was accused of plagiarizing when recording My Sweet Lord, it’s He’s So Fine by the Chiffons.
    • A Beatles song that also resulted in a lawsuit is next, and it’s Come Together.
    • The song that Come Together was said to have plagiarized from is the next song, which is You Can’t Catch Me by Chuck Berry.
    • Switching gears for a little bit to a newer song, here’s indie rock band The Hops, with a track from their new album, Won’t it Be Fun, Lights.
    • Followed by a new single by Portugal. The Man, it’s Got it All (This Can’t Be Living Now).
    • Moving off to songs that have been involved in lawsuits, it’s the theme from the 1984 movie Ghostbusters, by Ray Parker, Jr.
    • The Ghostbusters song was claimed to be too similar to the next song, which led to another plagiarism lawsuit. Namely I Want a New Drug, by Huey Lewis and the News.
    • Next up is a parody of I Want a New Drug, I Want a New Duck, by “Weird Al” Yankovic. Interestingly enough, this parody didn’t lead to any lawsuits.
    • We’ll switch up to a couple of new songs which, to the best of my knowledge, have not been involved in any copyright infringement suits yet. The first one of these is a new single by The Static Jacks, Into the Sun, off their debut album,  If You’re Young.
    • Next up is another song from a debut album. It’s Simple Girl, by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., off their 2011 album, It’s a Corporate World.
    • Moving back to lawsuit-related songs, it’s Oh, Pretty Woman by Roy Orbison, which led to an infamous parody and Supreme Court case.
    • This infamous parody was by rap group 2 Live Crew, simply titled Pretty Woman, and is the next song. (NOTE: The opinions in said song are that of 2 Live Crew and its members, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of anyone involved with Marquette Radio.)
    • Next is a song from the 1960’s which led to a lawsuit from the artist of an earlier song from the 60’s; it’s Hello, I Love You by The Doors.
    • This lawsuit was filed by Ray Davies of The Kinks, in relation to their song, All Day and All of the Night.
    • Another song which eventually led to a lawsuit concerning a later song by one of its band members, which is Creedence Clearwater Revival, and their 1970 single Run Through the Jungle.
    • Fifteen years later, John Fogerty, a former member of CCR, was sued, because the next song, The Old Man Down the Road, was said to have plagiarized Run Through the Jungle. This led to a Supreme Court case, Fogerty v. Fantasy, which Fogerty won against his old record label, Fantasy Records.
    • Next up are two songs which have been sampled by Vanilla Ice without permission. The first one is Under Pressure, by David Bowie and Queen, which was sampled for his 1990 single, Ice Ice Baby.
    • The other one was an adaptation of the 1976 Wild Cherry single, Play that Funky Music.
    • This week’s Wesley Willis Song of the Week is one of his very few cover versions of another song. Done with the punk rock band The Wesley Willis Fiasco, it’s a cover of Amie, originally by Pure Prairie League.
    • The final song of the night is the A.C. Song of the Week, in memory of their recently deceased frontman, Seth Putnam. This song is simply the band members singing over the Steve Miller Band song, Abracadabra, but singing “Sabbra Cadabra” in the chorus, referencing an old Black Sabbath song. This wasn’t involved in a lawsuit, simply because it’s an obscure song that was released on a compilation album of previously unreleased material.

    That’s The Gus Knorr Show for this week. I might be on the air next week, but because it’s the day before Thanksgiving, I might be home by that point. If that’s the case, listen to The Gus Knorr Show two weeks from tonight, on November 30. Thanks for listening!

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