Ok, in early 90's had czech singerin Lucie Bila big hit called "Laska Je Laska" (Love Is Love). It was written by czech song writer Ondrej Soukup.

Here's that song..

http://www.youtube.com/wa...FgsLLFKj5c

Now..does anybody hear it's straight Alphabet St. rip off? Prince should hear about this.. Even Soukup admitted in one interview he copied Prince's song.
[Edited 2/25/10 8:55am]

Zaza, you're right on the money with this one. The lyrics are identical.

squirrelgrease said:

Well, music is very similar.

Tarkan is better.


But yes, the song is a damn sound-alike. Music is a bit TOO similar to be a coincidence.

ernestsewell said:

Even czech funky band
"Monkey Business" plays on their gigs Alphabet St./Laska Je Laska mash up.

zaza said:

The music!

It damn near sounds like a sample fer cryin' out loud.

squirrelgrease said:

And what about that melody? It sounds just like Alphabet St. outro. And if Satriani could accuse Coldplay of plagiarism for just some 4 seconds long melody..you know the rest..

It does sound like a rip off for sure but then again, some of Prince´s songs also remind me of other songs. Erotic City sounds a bit like Laid Back´s "White Horse". White Horse came out before Erotic City but I´ve read here on the org that Prince worked with them in the studio and they even released a single of When Doves Cry with a Laid Back song as the b-side....some sort of promo single.
So maybe Prince did come up with Erotic City before Laid Back released White Horse, maybe they were inspired by Prince first and not the other way around but nobody knows for sure.



I never liked Laid Back so I don´t really care but hey, I´m just saying, Prince is not above ripping off other people´s sounds.

well , even though they are obviously ripping of Alphabet St... that riff in Alphabet St is as standard as the funk chord in Kiss... you can't copyright a chord! Or a blues progression.

Can you?

It's the beat structure that is similar too, but the melody of the lyrics is not the same at all.

I bet there's people on here that can find a pre-1988 song that has that same guitar riff.

ufoclub said:

I know that, but as you said - the beat structure is almost identical.

Hummmmm.....Alphabet Street was probably playing in the background as this song was created.

The songwriter even admitted that this song is a clear rip-off. But back then, hardly anyone in the eastern part of Europe listened to Prince, or knew other songs than Purple Rain and Kiss - so this song worked the charts.




Btw, didn't she have a minor come-back last year or something? I may be mistaking her for Marika Gombitová or someone like that, but I think it was Mrs White.

zaza said:

The actual drums are exact. The percussion is what makes it slightly different.

It's like the drum beat to "When Doves Cry" - very basic, but the percussion is what makes it unique.

The guitar rhythm is similar too, and the arrangement is identical.

Dave1992 said:

I don't know about her comeback, she released some albums a few years ago and IIRC, she released the "best of" last year. She's still popular in our country, just like Karel Gott (I'll never understand that ).

What about Roxette?

ufoclub said:

What about them?

ernestsewell said:

Dave1992 said:

ernestsewell said:

ufoclub said:

What about New Model Army?

ernestsewell said:

"The Look" and they admit they were influenced by Prince.

"U Got the Look"

ufoclub said:

There's difference between "influence" and "rip-off"

zaza said:

Listen to the chorus of "The Look"... so much so that I even found this reviewer quote online "I was vaguely impressed with Roxette’s first album Look Sharp, feeling most of its strength lay in the Prince penned single, "The Look," as opposed to the syrupy ballads and MTV ready pop clichés that seemed to fill out the rest of the collection."

ha, such a rip off it is assumed to be Prince penned!

ufoclub said:

ufoclub said:

Maybe in title, but the similarities end there.

ernestsewell said:

These parts seem very similar...

"U walked in (I walked in)
I woke up (U woke up)
I never seen such a pretty girl look so tough "

"She's got the look (she's got the look)
She's got the look (she's got the look)
What in the world can make a brown-eyed girl turn blue "

ufoclub said:

You cannot sing one over the other.

ernestsewell said:

You can't sing it exactly because they took the verse structure of Prince's song for that one part and then overlayed the altered three note chorus of Prince's on top. It's kind of obviously similar in my opinion!

Wait a minute, you could overlay those parts and it seems they would fit exactly like a matching layers. I could do it digitally to see... a mashup.

oh yeah, I produced this track in my apt (drums recorded in the closet). Who can guess what tune I'm ripping off myself?

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9...xdown8.mp3

ufoclub said:

Back In The USSR a.k.a. Guitar