Tuesday, November 21, 2006

It's tricky, alright



Can't imagine what is driving this lawsuit against Run DMC. Unless maybe it's the fact that capitalism makes assholes of us all.

Counselor Schultz has it backwards, by the way. Copyright wasn't created specifically for protection, but rather to provide "incentives" for producers, artists, writers.

"It's Tricky" really is an entirely different song from "My Sharona." It is driven rhythmically more by the rappers' (original) lyrics than by the (altered) Knack riff. In other words, while "My Sharona" has a melody and lyrics that follow the riff's rhythm pretty closely, Run DMC play with and around that rhythm in fresh and exciting ways. Not that one tune is necessarily better than the other; the point is only that they are different.

With "It's Tricky," Run DMC were simply riffing on a riff. And at a basic level, what else is the history of music?

1 comment:

matt said...

"The lawsuit claims the pair never heard the DMC classic before 2005."

Yeah, and they also just found out about a new recording format called a compact disc.

Could this be sour grapes due to Run DMC not reviving the Knack the way they did with Aerosmith?

What do you call one hundred lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?
A good start.