Did Guns N’ Roses Steal "Sweet Child O’ Mine" From An Obscure Australian Band?

[Electric Monk]

Nearly 30 years after it became a global smash, Guns N’ Roses‘ “Sweet Child O’ Mine” could be facing a lawsuit for plagiarism. It reportedly resembles “Unpublished Critics,” a 1981 song by the Australian Crawl, an Australian band from the early-to-mid-’80s.

MAX brings this to our attention, saying that it came from one of their commenters. You can listen to “Unpublished Critics” above and you’ll likely arrive at the same conclusion they did, “Christ does it sound similar: the same chugging chord progression, a similarly-sweeping lead break, the verse melody and the elongated one-syllable vocal in the chorus.”

But there are a couple of differences between the two. “Unpublished Critics” lacks Slash‘s defining riff, the chord progression is not the same in the chorus and it does not have the “Where do we go” section that comprises the song’s second half.

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http://ultimateclassicrock.com/sweet-child-o-mine-australian-crawl/

I can sure hear some similarities, but I don't think I'd call it plagiarism. Perhaps "partially inspired by" would be more accurate.

[cemaphonic]

1. Ugh, I knew that horrible Blurred Lines vs Got to Give it Up ruling was going to unleash this.

The two songs basically just share the same chord progression. The vocal melody (especially the first phrase) is kinda similar, but the copyright office has very precise standards about what constitutes "too similar," and I doubt this would qualify.

Other than that, the arrangement is completely different, the chorus is different, the solos are nothing alike. It's just the same damn chord progression, and one that is unusual enough in pop music (though very common in blues and various flavors of folk music) to be memorable.

Current copyright law is already overly restrictive to music creation. Allowing "it sorta sounds like another song" to be seriously proposed as a valid copyright claim is a terrible road to go down.

[mackerel]

2. I think it started with Men at Work. I would say there is definately some influence

but about 98 seconds in these two songs become very different.

[dawg]

3. I'm so tired of this.

Simple pop songs built around three to six chords are going to be similar to other simple pop songs built around three to six chords. It is the nature of the beast. It doesn't mean there is plagiarism.

I really think such cases should only be tried before jurors who are musicians capable of playing both songs. That's the only way a musician accused of plagiarism is going to get a fair hearing before a jury of their "peers".

It "sounds alike" is no basis at all for judgement.

[alphafemale]

4. How odd. Not even

That song is awful.

Sweet Child was one of the few songs in my life that rooted my feet to the floor.

First time I had heard Guns & Roses as well.

It is also a song that is beautiful as a piano piece.

Guns & Roses flamed out quickly but they did some amazing songs.