Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida,” title track from their latest full-length, has been a lightning rod for plagiarism concerns since it landed last year. Joe Satriani was the first to pipe up, accusing the British balladeers of copying his 2004 instrumental track “If I Could Fly” in December of 2008. That development seemed to inspire Yusuf bka Cat Stevens to take a closer listen, whereupon the legendary singer-songwriter became convinced the very same Coldplay song stole licks from his “Foreigner Suite.” While Yusuf stated that he would wait until after the Satriani case had come to a conclusion to decide on legal action, Rolling Stone is reporting this morning that Yusuf has backpedaled and backed off, saying ” “I have even copied myself without even knowing I have done it. I’ll write down what I think is a good melody and realize it’s the same as something I have already done. I don’t want them to think I am angry with them. I’d love to sit down and have a cup of tea with them and let them know it’s okay.” Now if only Satriani felt the same way.

In his opening column, Michael Cranston — the IM Solipsist — voices meta-concerns of how to be interesting in a market already grossly oversaturated in blogs and opinions to Tripwire Editor Derek Evers.

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I don’t know if I would be.
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Yusuf Islam (nee Cat Stevens) played the El Rey in Los Angeles Monday for an acoustic, invite-only show. Most of the tracks played live were off his new full-length Roadsinger, the singer’s second release in thirty years.
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Coldplay has said enough is enough with all the copy-catting banter that has been circulating around their song “Viva La Vida”. As we previously reported, both Cat Stevens and Joe Satriani have accused the pop-rock musicians of ripping off their music. The band has adamantly denied the accusations and now Will Champion, the band’s drummer, has a message for them both: “there are only eight notes in an octave and no one owns them.”
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Chris Martin and co. seem to have mastered the art of the generic pop-rock song when they wrote the title track for their last album Viva La Vida. Why else would the British alt-rockers keep finding themselves under scrutiny from other musicians accusing Coldplay of ripping them off? First it was Joe Satriani, claiming the foursome stole the melody for “Viva la Vida” from his song “If I Could Fly”, but now Cat Stevens has joined in on the drama, claiming the band actually ripped off the melody from his song, “Foreigner Suite”.
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