The other day, I was trying to spot the guitar riff of "Run" which John Denver claimed was ripped off from "Leaving on a Jet Plane". No matter how many time I listen to both, I couldn't spot it. I don't have very musical ears so I'm not good at pointing out riff similarities, but others can hear them quite easily.
That got me thinking, it'll be interesting if we name songs that we think sound similar or have music parts that are almost rip offs if not simply rip offs. I'm not good at this, but I know a few songs that others have pointed out similitudes. Having the year of release would be quite informative.
Joy Division/New Order and The Cure started at the same time and have played at the same gig. They started as punk and evolved into post-punk and found their niche. Both bands have distinct strong bass so it's a given they'll often sound similar and influence each other.
Joy Division's "Warsaw" (1978) vs. The Cure's "Killing an Arab" (1979) - Main riff
Joy Division's "Atrocity Exhibition" (1980) vs. The Cure's "Pornography" (1982) - The tribal drums and chaotic guitar are pretty obvious
New Order's "Everything's Gone Green" (1981) vs. The Cure's "In Between Days" (1985) - I don't hear it, but according to many, this Cure song sounds like many New Order songs
New Order's "Blue Monday" (1983) vs. The Cure's "The Walk" (1983) - Bass line
The Cure's "A Forest" (1980) vs. New Order's "This Time of Night" (1985) - Bass line
The Cure's "Just Like Heaven" (1987) vs. New Order's "All the Way" (1989) - Even I can hear the similarity in the bass, again
New Order's "Sunrise" (1985) vs. The Charlatans' "You Cross my Path" (2008) - The sound and structure
New Order's "Waiting for the Sirens' Call" (2005) vs. The Charlatans' "Oh Vanity" (2008) - OK, this is just too similar, I'll even dare call this a rip off.
U2's "With Or Without You" (1987) vs. Linkin Park's "Shadow of the Day" (2007) - Need I say more?
Pavement's "Here" (1992) vs. Coldplay's "Yellow" (2000)
That's it for now.