Product Description

Ever heard a song and thought "Hey, they ripped that off!"

Sounds Like Teen Spirit: Stolen Melodies, Ripped-off Riffs and the Secret History of Rock 'n' Roll is the first book ever to examine the phenomenon of songs that appear to have "borrowed" their melodies from earlier songs.

While many are familiar with the similarities between George Harrison's My Sweet Lord and the Chiffon's oldie He's So Fine, did you also know that:

· The first rock 'n' roll hit, Bill Haley's Rock Around the Clock took part of its melody from Hank William's Move it on Over?
· The guitar riff that powered Nirvana's classic Smells Like Teen Spirit had its origins in Boston's More Than a Feeling?
· Bob Marley's Buffalo Soldier shares its melody with The Theme from the Banana Splits, a kids show from the 1960s?

Come along for an exiting and informative journey through The Secret History of Rock 'n' Roll. You'll find out how ultra-hipsters the Strokes borrowed a melody from ultra-dork Barry Manilow; why Huey Lewis sued Ray Parker Jr. over Ghostbusters, how a novelty record cut by his dad may have influenced John Lennon's Imagine, and how an obscure song by the band Spirit was a likely inspiration in the creation of Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven.

Sounds Like Teen Spirit will delight any music fan, and is sure to send you running to your stereo or I-Pod to hear the songs for yourself!

"A fun and fact-filled book that you can either read from cover to cover, or skip around and open up at any page and dig in. Most of the songs you can hear in your head (or dig out the cds!) and you'll find yourself going again and again 'Oh yeah, this song really does sound like that song!' An enjoyable read."—Bob Brainen, WFMU, Jersey City, NJ

“The book is a winner, one of those why didn’t-I-think-of-that projects…guaranteed to elicit laughter and/or fistfights among your friendly neighborhood music geeks.”—Kirkus Discoveries

---

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #881338 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 186 pages

About the Author
Tim English has written about rock music for nearly thirty years. Sounds Like Teen Spirit is the product of many years of listening and research. It seeks to share the author’s enthusiasm for a wide variety of music while showing the reader how many of their favorite songs were inspired by earlier songs. Mr. English lives in New Jersey with his wife and daughter. His work has appeared in Upstage Magazine, which provides first rate coverage of the music scene in metro New York and New Jersey.

---

Customer Reviews

Sounds Like is a Behind The Hits winner
As a music author (Behind The Hits) and a radio dj/musicologist, I was very excited to learn of Timothy's book. Smells Like Teen Spirit has put together many of the songs I have chronicled over the years that sound suspiciously like others.

On my radio shows I have played them in a feature named "Call The Lawyers!" -- and, indeed, some of these song pairings went to court. Others didn't but perhaps should have. All in all, they represent a fascinating side of rock music history. Rip offs or inspirations? Homages or stolen riffs? No matter -- it's what was in the grooves that counts. Some are obvious, but one is often surprised by the musical connection Tim's ears have made. There are some songs here that even I never put together (or didn't know about), like Jorge Ben's "Taj Mahal" as the basis for Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy". And the song by John Lennon's father? Imagine that!

This is a very well-researched, well-documented and well-written reference as well as being a fun read. I commend and recommend Timothy's book to all who love and enjoy the various decades of rock and roll and the artists who made (or should we say, "re-made"?) the music.

--Bob Shannon

A lot of fun despite errors
This book was a lot of fun. It included the sound-alikes everyone knows - "My Sweet Lord" and "He's So Fine," "Sweet Little Sixteen" and "Surfin' U.S.A." - and some surprises. Did you know, for example, that Radiohead's "Creep" borrows from the Hollies' "The Air That I Breathe," and that Bon Jovi's "You Give Love A Bad Name" was re-worked from a Bonnie Tyler song? I didn't, and it made me listen to those songs to hear the resemblances.

I wish the book had been twice as long, as there certainly are more such examples. I also wish the author had included a CD with examples, but I'm sure that would have been a copyright nightmare.

The book, as fun as it is, is full of printer's errors. Who are "Nirvina" and "Holwin' Wolf?" I hope the sequel is more carefully edited.

really liked it but...
If you don't know what songs he's talking about, then you could be lost. And a lot of times I knew most songs that he would compare; but never quite got why there was copyright infringement...

The book really opened my eyes to the shady music business and especially reaffirmed what everbody was telling me about Led Zeppelin aka 'The Thieving Magpies' [google it]