Metallica's Inspiration/ Theft

[SentinelSlain]

Let's get it all in one thread, just for fun.


(1984)

(1981)






I'm not sure about the last one and I'm sure there are more NWOBHM songs that have the same riffs as later metallica songs.

 

[Dak]

Jealous limey. I don't even......

 

[skeptik]

You missed one of the biggest examples:



Although it's not the biggest shock in the world that they would basically make a pastiche with their first song that they wrote ("Hit the Lights").

 

[SentinelSlain]

Yeah I've heard that song before and heared the resemblance the first time, I just forgot about it now.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

I've never really been able to hear the similarities between the Excel intro and Enter Sandman's. Kind of barely, but not really.

Seek & Destroy taking its main riff from Diamond Head's Sucking My Love is the most blatant one to me, and the same song's solo section (the backing riffs and how they fit the solos anyways) is from some Saxon song. Angel Witch's Angel of Death probably gave For Whom the Bells Toll its chorus as well.

Don't really see the point of singling out Metallica when there are other major bands guilty of equal or worse.

EDIT: And the Great White similarities are basically just the first two notes.

 

[King Richard]

This whole thread is nonsense. Who cares? Every band/musician is influenced by someone and more often than not you can hear their influences, how is that any different? Answer: it's not. Move along, nothing to see here.

 

[rms]

What's the accusation on that Bleak House song? And by the way that band rules so hard.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

What's the accusation on that Bleak House song? And by the way that band rules so hard.

Sanitarium about 15 seconds in.

 

[Avigrus]

Some of these are a massive stretch..

 

[CF87]

This whole thread is nonsense. Who cares? Every band/musician is influenced by someone and more often than not you can hear their influences, how is that any different? Answer: it's not. Move along, nothing to see here.

^

 

[PhlegethonVeins]

Inspiration, yes. Theft...far from

 

[viewerfromnihil]

Oh please, if only you had some rooting musical theory you would understand how simple all of it is to begin with that the notion of an individual "stealing" a riff would seem entirely preposterous, even if they did "steal" it. Not to mention the fact that music as we know it today is the result of a nearly infinitely long chain of "stolen" music dating prior to recorded history.

 

[Nekromantik]

I'm sure a lot of black metal fans are familiar with this similarity.

At around 1:50, it sounds like a riff in The Unforgiven. Apparently, this demo is from '88 and I believe Metallica recorded their song in '90. I think it's highly unlikely that Metallica stole from a Darkthrone demo, but it makes for an interesting coincidence.

 

[Umodian]

You missed one of the biggest examples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdKYBt8Efcs

Although it's not the biggest shock in the world that they would basically make a pastiche with their first song that they wrote ("Hit the Lights").

It goes further back than that. At least the intro. (Not to say that this is the first ever use of such an intro of course)



Then there's Slayer's take on it...



It's funny how rarely Metallica's influence on Slayer is mentioned. I think it's safe to say Slayer would've been radically different were it not for them.
Would like to think that's a bit of a nod from Slayer to Metallica, but what do I know.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

People like to compare the intro and ending riffs of Creeping Death to the intro riff of Metal Storm/Face the Slayer, although there's a live Exodus bootleg from 1983 of Die By His Hand (the song that evolved into Creeping Death) containing a similar one, and they're all simple riffs with mild-at-best similarities, so...

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

Inspiration, yes. Theft...far from

This.

This whole thread is nonsense. Who cares? Every band/musician is influenced by someone and more often than not you can hear their influences, how is that any different? Answer: it's not. Move along, nothing to see here.

... and this.

 

[SentinelSlain]

I said inspiration/ theft. I don't have a strong opinion on which it is. I would readily admit I know little about music theory, although I have taken music lessons in the past, on the keyboard and the flute.

 

[Misfit74]

Excel rules.

 

[matt schrauben]

With so many artists and records out there and only so many notes, it's mathematically impossible for there not to be similar riffs/songs or whatever. Even if they are almost identical in some cases, they could very likely be totally coincidental.

 

[OptimatumBand]

Metallica is such a target for things like this. People try to take away the greatness they achieved in the 80's because they are so "overrated". They brought a raw sound that nobody had really heard yet. The examples presented here might sound similar, but give me a song that sounded like "Creeping Death" or "Disposable Heroes" or "The Frayed Ends of Sanity" and several other songs in that era. I would like to see where they got those riffs from?