I often hear different themes in cartoons that copy the chord structure of an *extremely* recognizable tune but merely change the interval that the melody starts on.

In fact, my little sisters were watching some show the other day and they had a variation of the james bond (or is it mission impossible?) tune (it's the one in 5/8 or 5/4 or whatever):
Original melody: (in Aeolian I believe) 1, 1, 3 4, 1, 1, 7 7# (repeat)
The variant: (something like) 1, 3, 4 5, 1, 3, 4 3

Same rhythm, similar background voicings, etc. Totally blatant.


However...


Bassman's thing was totally obvious, I mean come on dude. Give us your reaction to this thread! =P

A few years ago I made up a bass line for a song I was writing. It was four bars long. Two weeks ago I heard the exact same notes/rythm (the first three bars. the fourth was marginally different, inasmuch as they were both descending scales) in some obscure classical piece played on cellos(?) during one of those intermissions on NPR. I am not into obscure classical music. Sometimes it just happens that two people come up with the same notes. I mean, come on. There are only twelve notes (in western music), and most of the combinations of those notes sound like crap.

Quote:

Original post by Antisheep Bassman's thing was totally obvious, I mean come on dude. Give us your reaction to this thread! =P

He did, back in his thread.

wendigo - I did something pretty similar. My Paranoia theme, as it turns out, is frighteningly close to the theme Robert Rodriguez used in his crazy, filmed-twenty-years-ago short "Bedhead." But I didn't see the short until a few months after I wrote my eight note melody [grin].

Quote:

Original post by Anonymous Poster I can't believe that a musician would actually attack another of his kind for supposed "copying". Why on Earth would an accomplished musician such as Bassman sink to the level of plagiarism? More to the point - obvious plagiarism! ... - Chimaera

John Williams has borrowed a ton of themes from the classical masters. Darth Vaders theme from Star Wars is a Wagner motif in the 'Ring der Ring'. (Ring Cycle)

John WIlliams implements the 'Rite of Spring' 'Introduction to the Second Act' theme during Luke's strolling through the desert near Mos Eisley in Star Wars: A New Hope. The notes used and the effect created are virtually the same...there is no way that was coincidence.

Obviously this has occurred many times...

There are 2 ways to look at this. It is unfortunate that John Williams set such a crappy example for other film composers by visibly stealing the work of others and passing it off in his movies...by the same note, (no pun intended) borrowing the work of the classical masters subconsciously exposed theatergoers and Star Wars fans to music that they wouldn't ordinarily hear outside of the movie theater. It is almost as if Williams was trying to impart a love of classical music upon the audience. Maybe it worked. (Maybe I am full of shit)

At any rate, I agree it wouldn't be fair to criticize Bassman for borrowing ideas since it happens all the time. Given Bassman's explanation on the matter of the musical similarities between his piece and that of John Williams, if any entity should be blamed, it has more to do with the movie industry than anything else. I agree with Blaise's sentiments as a whole however. It is negative that composers today cannot rely on their own process to create original music.