Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Battle of the Bands, Ginormous Egos Edition

I was driving a few days ago, and decided to listen to some KISS, and a funny thing happened.  I heard the song "Deuce," which until that point, I'm pretty sure I had heard a total of one time.  The opening riff started, and I had to rewind it, listened, rewound one more time.  Well, that was interesting.  Check out the opening riff of the song, and see if you recognize the initial guitar sequence:


The clip is from a 2010 concert in Europe, but the song itself is from KISS' eponymous debut album, in 1974.  





Then, in 1988, some guys in spandex and hair extensions released this song:  



You may have noticed the song playing in the background of the opening portion of the video, before Poison's song starts.  It's by KISS, interestingly enough.  

Apparently, among guitar freaks (the kind who read guitar forums and debate the merits of chrome versus brass knobs, as it relates to amp feedback when using the whammy bar), this has been a topic of minor debate for some time.  The greatest argument that it was not a lift of someone else's music is that KISS never filed any type of lawsuit or restraining order against Poison.  But when you listen to both songs, it's not an obvious copy, and it could quite easily be unintentional (the Poison guys have obviously listened to KISS before, and subconsciously it could happen that a few notes mirror someone elese's).  And besides, maybe they're all buddies, who knows?  





Maybe not - in 2009, KISS released this song, called "Never Enough:"  


Pretty funny stuff.  KISS got to stick it to Poison, while also getting to hear all the Poison fans complaining that KISS stole not just a riff, but most of the melody of, arguably, Poison's most famous song.  But one that they would not ever come after KISS for mimicking, due to a song first released in 1974.

Maybe they really are friends, and they're just having a goof on all of us.  If they comment here, we can all find out.

And that, my friends, is the stuff that fascinates me today.

Cheers.

*****












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