Thursday, July 12, 2007

Great Composers Steal, Mediocre Composers Borrow

This may be old news, but I for one had never noticed that the intro to "Last Night" by the Strokes is pretty much a blatant rip-off tribute to the opening of Tom Petty's "American Girl." Of course the song itself isn't as good as its predecessor, but a nice intro is a nice intro.




That said, I think we can agree that those guys are just so adorable. Or as Triumph the Insult Comic Dog said to them at the MTV awards last year:

The Strokes...look how cute you are! You're like the Monkees with a drinking problem!

PS: A coveted PowerPop No-Prize will be awarded to any reader who can guess the clue the clip provides to the subject of tomorrow's edition of Weekend Listomania.

[h/t Olexicon]
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17 comments:

  1. Kid Charlemagne7/12/2007 12:34 PM

    Great songs that feature opening riffs stolen from other great songs?

    ReplyDelete
  2. steve simels7/12/2007 12:39 PM

    Nope. Not even close.

    Think visual.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kid Charlemagne7/12/2007 12:42 PM

    Think Visual

    Bad records by the Kinks????

    ReplyDelete
  4. steve simels7/12/2007 12:46 PM

    Hah.

    Put the clip up when you get a chance.

    And then just look at them...

    You'll get it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous7/12/2007 12:58 PM

    Bands whose musicians don't sing.

    Bands that throw their equipment around.

    Band that play stoned? (wait, the list of bands that DON'T play stoned is shorter)

    And did anyone catch the Les Paul special last night on PBS' American Masters series? He's 92 and he still performs weekly.

    ReplyDelete
  6. steve simels7/12/2007 1:11 PM

    Emma:

    No, no and no.

    But that Les Paul show was something else, wasn't it>

    The look on BB King's face when he talked about how much he liked the way Paul plays...priceless.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Kid Charlemagne7/12/2007 1:30 PM

    The thing about Les is that he plays better than most guitarists even with a very bad case of arthritis.

    ReplyDelete
  8. TMink7/12/2007 2:45 PM

    Game show videos?

    Well, what a great clip and song. So now I have to go buy some Strokes as well as some Apples in Stereo.

    Thanks guys, you are turning me on to some good stuff.

    Trey

    ReplyDelete
  9. Kid Charlemagne7/12/2007 3:23 PM

    Bands with bad hair?

    ReplyDelete
  10. TMink7/12/2007 3:51 PM

    Bands wih bad hair. Wow, the 80s alone would be overwhelming. So many choices.

    Trey

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous7/12/2007 4:03 PM

    Bands with guitarists who are the sons of singer/songwriters (in this case, Albert Hammond, Jr.)?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous7/12/2007 4:04 PM

    Hey, I'm anonymous!

    Cancel my blogger account forthwith.

    -Jay C.

    ReplyDelete
  13. steve simels7/12/2007 4:28 PM

    I'll say again --

    thinks visual.

    HEh heh....

    ReplyDelete
  14. TMink7/12/2007 6:45 PM

    Hmmm, subliminal visuals of a fake starfield and tic tac toe?

    Videos that start in silhouette?

    Great panning or trac shots?

    I am not getting it and floundering.

    Trey

    ReplyDelete
  15. steve simels7/12/2007 9:26 PM

    For what it's worth, the mystery will be resolved just the other side of midnight, EST.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Kid Charlemagne7/12/2007 10:17 PM

    You little tease...

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous7/13/2007 8:55 PM

    Heh - I used to have Last Night go right into American Girl on my workout mix.

    ReplyDelete