Just on the heels of receiving seven Grammy nominations (second only to Lil Wayne, with eight, who is still an overrated piece of shit), Coldplay has been slapped with a lawsuit by guitarist Joe Satriani, who accuses the band of plagiarism of one of his original compositions.
According to the copyright infringement suit, filed Thursday in Los Angeles, Coldplay’s massive 2008 hit, “Viva la Vida” (from the album of the same, and is nominated for both Record and Song of the Year) contains “substantial original portions” from “If I Could Fly” (from Satriani’s 2004 album, Is There Love in Space?). In the album’s liner notes, the track is credited to the four band members, with no mention of Satriani or his song. I took a trip to iTunes just to hear the two, side-by-side, and I must say, the similarities are certainly striking. (Interesting to note, as well, that this seems to have caused a bit of a boom for the Satriani track, which is currently the most downloaded track off the album.)
Satriani, a highly regarded guitar player who has worked with everyone from Mick Jagger to Blue Öyster Cult to Crowded House, is asking for a jury trial, and is seeking undisclosed damages, along with “any and all profits” that have been generated from the Coldplay track. Ouch. I’d be interested to see how this plays out at the Grammys? Will Coldplay win? Will there be any mention of the lawsuit? Will Satriani be there to crash the party? If so, what will he do? (I kind of hope he writes “SOY BOMB” on his bald head and then jumps up on stage while Coldplay is performing and starts dancing.) Will Weezy lose in every single category in which he’s nominated, and then, to add insult to injury, will he get kicked in the nuts before making out with Birdman?
