The Future Is Now

[cool 2 hate 681]

i always thought this pennywise song kind of sounded like it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJymuj3dE6I

[XYlophonetreeZ]

I usually think people make too big a deal about supposed ripoffs. But yeah, the issue does seem to get raised more with the Offspring than other bands. Particularly on RFRG, I think some of the criticism is merited- not just because they wrote songs that resembled others- but because ALL of the songs that they resembled were recent hits.

I guess this was in the other thread, but I read that article about CC being "The sucky sound of desperation," and they pointed out all of RFRG's similarities. I've gotta say, since I don't listen to stuff like MCR or Panic! At the Disco, I didn't notice them on my own (except for Rise and Fall/American Idiot). There is a lot of similarity going on there, except I totally disagree with the contention that "Kristy" sounds like "Wake Me up When September Ends," or that "Fix You" sounds like "Chasing Cars."

The article did change my opinion of RFRG a little bit. I initially liked it a lot because it was the first time in a while that they'd stepped out of their own comfort zone and did things that were new for them. Sadly, though, they were far from being new for the overall music scene today.

In the Offspring's defense, though, I think Brett was the one who looked stupid after the whole "All I Want" debacle. I wouldn't be surprised if they put that song on the record half-jokingly given the climate between them and Epitaph. Also, count me among the camp who thinks "Aging Orange" is one of the Vandals' funniest songs.

[jacknife737]

I can't be the only one who doesn't care either way?

Even if some songs from the band are influenced by others, more often than not i much prefer the Offspring's incarnation of the riff/melody/whatever preceded it. Dexter wears his influences on his sleeve: (ie Bad Religion and Nirvana were especially prevalent in the band's earlier work): and that's perfectly fine by me.

[_Lost_]

I hear lots of other bands being accused of the same thing regularly. shit, i read an article on cracked comparing Green Day songs to everything they "ripped off" including American Idiot (uncannily like Dillenger four's Doublewhiskeycokenoice. Tell me you don't hear it). The difference here is that while Madonna has been sued and lost around a dozen times for songs she's copied, the Offspring hasn't been sued. So, while their songs might be comparable to others, the writers of whatever song it sounds like either don't hear it or find it flattering.

I think we mostly hear about it more because The Offspring have kept a lot of ties with the punk rock community and while most of you swear up and down that you listen to all kinds of music, I'm willing to bet most of your iTunes library is made up of old/new school punk or punk related bands. Their fame and fortune extends beyond a lot of these bands because they went mainstream and like it that way. Thus, they become the targets for accusations that could easily be pointed elsewhere.

A lot of the time, I guarantee that this that or the other person was not directly thinking of the song they sound like. it was just somewhere in the back of their head when the mood struck them to write. I don't ever want to be in a position where I have to check the backlogs of the thousands and thousands of songs I am familiar with, just so I can be sure I didn't "copy" someone else's song. While You Will Find A Way was exceptionally similar to Times Like These, I don't believe for a second that it was intentional and when the band was hearing the feedback about how similar it was, it was changed to lessen the similarities.

Ultimately, why on earth do people care so much? Its not your album that's been "stolen".

[tylercosgrove1989]

I was unaware that the term "rip off" has such a cut-and-dry connotation of evil intentions and anal sex. I just used it to mean that the songs sound similar.

Thats not the way I ever interpreted it.

[malepunker]

"Nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed".
by Antoine Laurent Lavoisier

http://www.antoine-lavoisier.com/

[dorkrockcorkrod]

I can't be the only one who doesn't care either way?

Even if some songs from the band are influenced by others, more often than not i much prefer the Offspring's incarnation of the riff/melody/whatever preceded it. Dexter wears his influences on his sleeve: (ie Bad Religion and Nirvana were especially prevalent in the band's earlier work): and that's perfectly fine by me.

And don't forget the TSOL influence on their first album and demo tape.

Yeah, I think it's silly when people will bitch about...say...Rise and Fall sounding exactly like American Idiot (which does indeed already sound like Doublewhiskeycokenoice by the almighty D4) - to me, that song simply sounds Green Dayish. It doesn't sound like American Idiot in specific. And Days Go By does have a bit of a similar riff to Times Like These, but it's not nearly as crunchy as that song if that makes any sense. The Future is Now really does sound very very similar to Savior though, but I don't really have a problem with that. There are only so many riffs to go around. Hell, Self Esteem sounds kinda like Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana during a couple parts, but I wouldn't call it a rip off really.

Also, this is my first post.
haaayyy

[disclaimer_07]

Welcome to the forums, dorkrockcorkrod.

I love the Rise Against song and I've probably heard it a million times. I agree that The Future is Now has a similar vibe to it but I wouldn't call it a rip-off. It's just a typical fast punk rock song with a similar structure.

I would actually love it if The Offspring sounded a bit like Rise Against. Or wasn't it Rise Against that kinda sounded like The Offspring in the first place anyway?

[Chainsaw]

There's only so much you can do with A F C and G. Of course the songs are going to resemble each other. When I try to write music myself I often realize I've just ripped The Offspring or some other band off, it happens.

[Llamas]

I was unaware that the term "rip off" has such a cut-and-dry connotation of evil intentions and anal sex. I just used it to mean that the songs sound similar.

Ever looked up the word "ripoff" or verb "to rip off"? Very negative meaning. As a verb, it generally means theft. Theft isn't a good thing.

(The following post is made by an educated music theory nerd, so please spare me the 'you have the tiniest knowledge of music' spiel).

Yes, you're right. There are only so many notes, and only so many configurations of them. Apologists love to make this point, as if it's some novel concept that everyone else is oblivious to. Yes, of course, new music builds upon concepts that have been part of the melodic canon forever. It's a time-honored tradition that has been around forever. The criticism that is leveled against the Offspring is not the usual "oh, these three notes are the same three notes as in another song", but that they go out of their way to emulate hits from other artists to achieve success in the charts, whether by directly copying specific musical elements (such as the painfully transparent "Rise and Fall"/"American Idiot" rip) or by following a template ("YGGFK" was obviously fashioned so as to appeal to the Fall Out Boy / PaTD fan contingent).

Something that a lot of Offspring fans seem to overlook (or are being willfully ignorant of) is the fact that these accusations have been with the band for a long time. You don't really hear it about other bands that often, at least not to this extent. Back in the Ixnay days, there was outraged about how much "All I Want" sounded like Bad Religion (yes, I know the "Protocol" story, save it), how much "Me & My Old Lady" sounded like Jane's Addiction, etc. The following year, "Why Don't You Get a Job" shamelessly replicated the melody to The Beatles "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da" (I'm honestly surprised no legal action was taken); years later, "Want You Bad" blatantly ripped off The Descendant's "Coolidge", "Defy You" outright stole from Staind's "Outside" (the bridge melody) while copying the nu-metal format that was popular at the time. RAFRAG is filled with these lifts. You've heard them all, so I won't bore you with them.

I'm not saying all the comparisons are actual cases of plagiarism. Sometimes people just find associations that aren't even there. But fans do need to wake up to the fact that this just isn't the most creative band around. When so many people make the same observation about the band, at some point you have to open your eyes and think about whether you're the one who's being myopic.

Bam. I'm glad you wrote this. I agree with much of what you're saying, and I'm glad I'm not alone. They're not the most creative band around, and it's one thing to accept that and still like them, but it's a whole other thing to maintain the denial a lot of fans seem to be in.

What surprises me is in the current climate where companies buy patents just so they can sue people, that no one has put these guys in court yet if every song claimed to be a rip off is true.

While I agree with HMWE, I think this is such a dumb reason to sue, and I get the feeling that a lot of musicians feel the same. Music is art, to be shared... I don't like blatant ripoffs, but suing over it is just dumb. It accomplishes nothing; you're just getting a ton of money that you didn't actually earn, and preventing people from hearing a potentially great song.

It's not just Foo Fighters hardcore fans. Most everyone who listens to that song points out the similarity to "Times Like These". Yes, the riff sounds a lot like The Cult, but the vocal melody and overall musical structure is very clearly modeled after "Times Like These". Especially when you listen to the early version of the song, before they re-did the vocal melody.

I don't want to be responsible for turning this thread into a repeat of the "Days Go By" thread, but it seems a very obvious parallel to make, and really hard to defend as a simple accident, especially considering the guitar arrangements.

Honestly, even with all the changes the song has gone through, well I don't think it sounds like Times Like These anymore, but I DO think it sounds like the Foo Fighters. It definitely has that sound. I don't think it's sue-worthy, it's not really a big deal in the grand scheme. It just means the Offspring ain't that original. But what can you expect from any punkish band these days? Punk is a pretty limiting genre, and it's been known for years as a genre where bands just borrow from each other and pass things around like crazy. And there's just no new ground to break in the world of punk-stuff anymore without mixing genres.

I also have to agree that while borrowing/stealing musical ideas from other bands is pretty annoying, as long as the guilty party makes a song that's pretty damn awesome and as a whole is something new, I'm cool with it.