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GMC Forum _ CHILL OUT _ Gary Moore Sued
Posted by: ItsMe Dec 9 2008, 08:58 PM
Check out this video at 5.20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe-uwEqTjd0
The German Jam band Jud's Gallery just won a law suit at a German court
BERLIN (Reuters) - A German court has ordered former Thin Lizzy guitarist Gary Moore to pay damages after ruling the guitar solo in his 1990 hit "Still Got the Blues" had been plagiarized from a German song written in 1974.
A court in the southern city of Munich said on Wednesday the solo in Moore's song was too similar to the one in "Nordrach" by the band Jud's Gallery not to have been copied -- even though the German song was not available on record at the time.
In a statement, the court ordered Moore, 56, from Northern Ireland, and his record label to pay damages to band leader Juergen Winter who brought the case. The amount has yet to be fixed.
Moore had denied knowing the song, which the court said could only have been heard live or on radio at the time.
The court said it had no evidence the solo had been lifted deliberately, but that this was immaterial in copyright infringement.
Moore can appeal against the decision.
"Still Got the Blues" was the title track on Moore's album of the same name, one of the guitarist's most successful records. According to online chart database everyhit.com the single reached 31 in the British singles charts in May 1990.
Moore played with Thin Lizzy for a few months in 1974 and again in 1978-79 before leaving the Irish band to start a solo career.
Obviously that law suit was pending for quite a while. Anyway it really looks like Gary lifted that melodie nearly without changes. I still think he is great. But also a melodie thief. But i think it's stupid to ask for money after so many years. In addition Gary used this melodie only as the head. OK, he also used the whole chord progression but it is very basic anyway. I consider Still got the blues still an amazing song. What do you think about this plagiarism business (Satriani/Coldplay etc.)
Posted by: Bondy Dec 9 2008, 09:11 PM
Who cares!!! not me had enough of these suing posts this week doesnt change the fact its a great song!!!
Posted by: Canis Dec 9 2008, 09:12 PM
I have nothing else to say then:
Sounds way too similar not to have been copied.. I really did not know that...
Mr. Moore perfected it, though (imo).. And is still my hero 
Posted by: ItsMe Dec 9 2008, 09:17 PM
Yes, he perfected it and made it a great song. Jud's Gallery only played a quite incoherent jam.
Posted by: GuitarsANDtattoos Dec 9 2008, 09:19 PM
I shall never play a lick again! only single held out notes for different durations of time, perhaps slightly out of tune, to avoid copyright infringement upon other notes that might have been played similarly.
Posted by: Jose Mena Dec 9 2008, 09:20 PM
This sort of thing concerns me, I think that what happens sometimes is that you hear a melody in your head, you probably heard it once somewhere, but to you you think you probably created it.
Many times I come up with melodies, and I think to myself, have I heard this before?, am I stealing this?. But I am never able to find the song or the melody, so I go with it.
Posted by: Guitarman700 Dec 9 2008, 09:21 PM
Many times I come up with melodies, and I think to myself, have I heard this before?, am I stealing this?. But I am never able to find the song or the melody, so I go with it.
its not theft if it wasn't intentional.
Posted by: Jose Mena Dec 9 2008, 09:22 PM
I guess this is the only thing we can do
Posted by: Pedja Simovic Dec 9 2008, 09:22 PM
Wow
That definitely sounds like Still got the blues - one of the most famous Gary Moore instrumentals of all time!
It makes you wonder if he really copied it from them or he came up with it?
My opinion is this kind of melodies are Sequence so its pretty common to play them trough chords. It could have been very well by accident in this case.
Posted by: ItsMe Dec 9 2008, 09:25 PM
Yes that sueing buisness is a problem. If it happens to often all music will sound like you term it: Single held out notes for different durations of time
Posted by: MickeM Dec 9 2008, 09:27 PM
I hope I get sued one day since that means I must have written a hit song and made plenty of green someone would want from me
Posted by: Muris Varajic Dec 9 2008, 09:31 PM
Agree
Btw,I liked Moore's progression a way more,
Bm7/-5 and E instead of Dm and G is damn sweet.
Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Dec 9 2008, 09:42 PM
This suing business is really putting a music industry on a bad voice. Now when they don't have the money they look for old songs and check out similarities with bigger hits, so they can sue them because it's similar. Well of course the songs can be similar or the same, we all have influences, and maybe Gary heard this song and somehow subconciesly made similar melody, but that doesn't mean these guys can sue him for that. Did they made that song and make a great hit? I don't think so. Why are they suing them, this song was famous because of him, not them that's for sure.
Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Dec 9 2008, 09:44 PM
WOW I didn't know this! Seems like a clean case and court already made a decision....I hate to believe it but I don't think this could be a coincidence at all 
I can't really understand musician hearing a cool song of unknown artist and stealing it (thinking no one will care)... That is just sad...Its cool that he made a hit song out of it (promotion) but It wasn't his idea at start to begin with so its sad
And music is "infinite" !! You can't make same two songs if you don't do it deliberately.You can make something similar maybe but not sooo similar that you get sued for that (like these cases with Garry and Coldplay)..I'm not saying hitting same progression , but whole deal that makes a song...(arrangement, rhythm , solos , etc)...There are strict rules when it comes to assessing what is a plagiarism and what isn't...
Posted by: audiopaal Dec 9 2008, 09:49 PM
The original solo from Jud's Gallery is far from being THAT close to Gary Moores solo, at least that's what I've heard..
I think they've ben putting out newer videos of themselves, where they infact have copied Gary Moore a little
I read a long story about that somewhere on the web..
Posted by: MickeM Dec 9 2008, 10:08 PM
I think they've ben putting out newer videos of themselves, where they infact have copied Gary Moore a little
I read a long story about that somewhere on the web..
The thought hit me when I watched it, the take was from 2007 and the song only played live and on radio. So maybe they themselves spiced it up the Moore way a little bit, intentional or unintentional, he should sue them right back for copying his version of their version.
Posted by: Jose Mena Dec 9 2008, 10:11 PM
That is what I am talking about, it can happen to anyone, it is not stealing
Posted by: Pedja Simovic Dec 9 2008, 11:35 PM
You guys are right!
2007 version is not good for comparison
We need the original back from 70's. If that is in fact what they played then like they did on this 2007 live video , then they have clear case against Gary. Same key , same rhythm , more than 90% identical pitches , only slight harmonic variation etc
However as I said before , that melody is pretty much a Sequence in A natural minor going up by 3 notes and coming down, then moved trough the chords by diatonic 2nds. Anybody could have done that. I am thinking there is probably dozen more people that would do or did the same thing over exact same chord progression...
Posted by: MickeM Dec 10 2008, 12:11 AM
2007 version is not good for comparison
We need the original back from 70's.
I've talked with Gary and he's going to make a mp3 for us of a take from the 70's that me made with a concealed tape recorded in one of their shows
Posted by: Pedja Simovic Dec 10 2008, 12:26 AM
I am so bad with sarcasm help me out here...
Posted by: Muris Varajic Dec 10 2008, 09:58 AM
Wicked
Posted by: MickeM Dec 10 2008, 10:27 AM
Implying he got a tape recording of "still got the blues" performed by this band in the 70's
Posted by: OrganisedConfusion Dec 10 2008, 10:34 AM
I think this site just sticks up for guitarists no matter whether they are being sued, suing others. I think if Satriani killed somebody with his blistering chops I wouldn't be allowed to get away with calling him an idiot
However I don't think Moore should have lost this. I am of the belief that they changed the song greatly from the 70's version to be more like Moore's song. Oh well. There is still Out In The Fields to listen to
Posted by: MickeM Dec 10 2008, 11:24 AM
The original 70's recording? Starting at 6:15 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqudqHsrQaY
Posted by: Nemanja Filipovic Dec 10 2008, 11:42 AM
They did changed it a bit in relation from the 70's.I think Moor's song is not just that one theme,it has great lyrics,vocal melody,verse chorus,and at the end the guy just play better then the guy from Nordrach.
Posted by: Andrew Cockburn Dec 10 2008, 01:07 PM
Less obvious from the original version, but they sound similar - I prefer Gary's chord progression, playing, lyrics and song flow though
To be fair, if I were these guys I'd be bummed too, even though I don't believe Gary lifted it on purpose.
Posted by: MickeM Dec 10 2008, 03:43 PM
There's a significant difference between the 70's version and the 2007 version that was in the first link though.
Peculiar as it seems in 2007 they sound a lot more "Still got the blues"-like.
Wierd situation for them, if they played their version people would think it's a cheap rip off of Gary Moore so perhaps they did it this way on purpose.
Posted by: Marcus Siepen Dec 10 2008, 03:50 PM
Seems to be the week of suing... Satriani is suing Coldplay, Gary Moore is sued by this german band, what`s next? Jose is right, sometimes I also have a melodie in my mind, and it somehow sounds familiar, though I just can't say where I heard it before (if I did at all), so what to do with it? Abandon it cause somebody else might have used the same? Difficult topic...
Posted by: Tomotoms Dec 10 2008, 06:52 PM
I can't comment on either of these specific cases because I do not know whether it was intentional or not. But generally a little bit of sueing might be a good thing. It will encourage people to be more original.
Posted by: Andrew Cockburn Dec 10 2008, 07:12 PM
Peculiar as it seems in 2007 they sound a lot more "Still got the blues"-like.
Totally agree - as you said earlier, in fact it sounds like GM's version re-infected their version!
Posted by: Toni Suominen Dec 10 2008, 07:30 PM
IMO this sort of things are a bit silly. I mean cmon, who cares as long as the music is good, and it is impossible for these kind of things not to happen.
Posted by: berko Dec 10 2008, 07:45 PM
Well, that was new to me as well. But as Pedja said, this kind of chordal melody may occur quite unintentionally.
Once I wrote a little intro to one of my friends song consisting of powerchords on strings A D and and the open G and B strings. I put some reverb on it and let all the strings ring neatly. My friend came to me the next day and was a bit furious that I wanted to give him fake stuff. My intro turned out to be exactly the same as Placebo's Twenty Years hit. However, I had never heard of Placebo before that.
Only the last powerchord section was a bit different in my version. I was really sad about it. But what could've happened if I posted a song with the same intro and all Placebo-fans were ripping my head off...
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