Songs that sound like other songs, but three or more of them?
April 27, 2022 5:25 PM   Subscribe

The Internet recently informed me about three songs that share a similar guitar riff: "Life Goes On" by The Damned (1982), "Eighties" by Killing Joke (1984), and "Come As You Are" by Nirvana (1992). What are some other groups of three or more songs that feature a very similar melody/riff and may have inspired/been inspired by each other? I'm also interested in the same sort of thing for other forms of art (eg, film scenes or visual art), but the three or more requirement still stands.
posted by a feather in amber to Media & Arts (24 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
The Rolling Stones shamelessly pinched a chorus and structure from a traditional gospel song (here recorded by the Staple Singers) for The Last Time. One of their producers later covered it orchestrally, which was then used by the Verve (and it all ended up in court).
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 5:46 PM on April 27, 2022 [1 favorite]


If songs that are literally the same music count, I think the standard example is "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", the alphabet song, and "Baa Baa Black Sheep".
posted by madcaptenor at 6:44 PM on April 27, 2022 [3 favorites]




Bo Diddley beat
posted by credulous at 7:12 PM on April 27, 2022


The Hollies/Radiohead/Lana Del Rey
posted by otolith at 7:32 PM on April 27, 2022


Axis of Awesome - 4 Chord Song is a classic on this topic.
posted by tybstar at 7:44 PM on April 27, 2022 [9 favorites]


Don't Fear the Reaper / Clunk / Found Out About You isn't a perfect match, but close enough to feel like relatives
posted by nebulawindphone at 8:33 PM on April 27, 2022 [1 favorite]


Do you wish to include reggae? Because, for example, here's six pages of songs that all use the same music.
posted by SystematicAbuse at 8:40 PM on April 27, 2022 [1 favorite]


A lot of songs borrow or build on melodies from classical music - not sure if that's specific enough for you or if you were hoping for more "pop-songs-that-sound-the-same." Here's a guy demonstrating the classical connection of various pop songs.
posted by carlypennylane at 9:18 PM on April 27, 2022


What's the name of this song?
posted by Balthamos at 12:04 AM on April 28, 2022




The Beatles: Tax Man, vs The Jam: Start. - where the common link is British mod culture. You can hear these side by side on "Sounds Just Like" - a site which, given your question, you might find interesting to browse around.
posted by rongorongo at 7:00 AM on April 28, 2022


Queen - Another One Bites the Dust
INXS - Need You Tonight
DuaLipa - Break My Heart

Requiring 3 songs makes this really hard!

Don't Fear the Reaper yt / Clunk yt / Found Out About You yt isn't a perfect match, but close enough to feel like relatives

I like the Gin Blossoms fine, but a lot of songs on their famous album is basically the same chord pattern as Don't Fear the Reaper, but moved around the guitar neck. You could probably have substituted Hey Jealousy to stretch this one to 4 songs.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:33 AM on April 28, 2022 [2 favorites]


Kings & Queens - Ava Max
If You Were A Woman - Bonnie Tyler
You Give Love a Bad Name - Bon Jovi
posted by Mchelly at 9:02 AM on April 28, 2022






15 MORE SONGS based on Pachelbels CANON in D 🎧 (part 2) - YouTube

AAAAARRRRRRGGGHHHHHH Everything Is A Remix.
posted by zengargoyle at 11:43 AM on April 28, 2022 [1 favorite]






Here’s bunch of popular songs that all sound the same.

4 chord songs - Axis of Awesome
posted by my-username at 12:35 AM on April 29, 2022


Huey Lewis and The News sued Ray Parker Jr for the similarities between the bassline on I Want A New Drug and Ghostbusters, but the bassline also sounds a lot like Pop Musik by M and Sanctuary Band by Donnie Hathaway
posted by rollick at 4:26 AM on April 29, 2022




Aerosmith's Get a Grip album sure did have a number of similar-sounding songs, particularly Cryin, Crazy, and Amazing. There was even an SNL skit about it that wasn't too far off.
posted by DingoMutt at 7:41 AM on April 30, 2022 [1 favorite]


The Beatles: Tax Man, vs The Jam: Start. - where the common link is British mod culture. You can hear these side by side on "Sounds Just Like" - a site which, given your question, you might find interesting to browse around.
I note my error in not providing a third song: so would suggest Rain also by the Beatles - McCartney's bass line sounds like the one from "Tax Man" after a some choice recreational drugs. George Harrison also claimed that Tax Man itself was inspired by the 1960s theme tune to Batman.
posted by rongorongo at 11:34 PM on May 1, 2022


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