There has been a great tiffle in music news this week as Damon Albarn's cartoon band Gorillaz have been threatened with a law suit against one of their songs. The track in question is the first single 'Stylo' featuring Mos Def and Bobby Womack from their latest release 'Plastic Beach' which came out earlier this month.
It turns out that eighties reggae star Eddy Grant, most famous for his 1983 track 'Electric Avenue' has claimed that the similarities between 'Stylo' and his 1981 track 'Time Warp' are far too many in number for it to be the result of mere coincidence.
Grant said himself: “I am outraged that the Gorillaz have infringed the copyright of my song 'Time Warp', claiming their song 'Stylo' to be an original composition,”.
It's quite ironic how both artists share the same record label, EMI, which is part of the reason why Grant is so annoyed seeing as he believed that they would have come to him first to try and make some sort of agreement in sampling the song. As Grant comments: "In a properly configured relationship I would have gotten a call from EMI to say, 'Damon wants to use 'Time Warp'. What arrangement can you guys come to? Would you claim 100 per cent, would you claim 60 per cent, or 70 per cent of whatever it is?'," he suggested.
"That phone call never came. Instead what happened is somebody went straight to a musicologist, implying that there was some kind of pre-knowledge of some kind of infringement."
According to NME, an EMI spokesperson told them "This is a private matter between Eddy Grant and Gorillaz, and we're not intending to make any further comment."
Personally, I feel it is a bit of a ridiculous claim made by an outdated musician who hasn't seen any success since the eighties and is a bit strapped for cash.
I guess you should judge for yourself:
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