Rockers and a Few Legal ‘Battle of the Bands’

“Let the lawyers work it out” has always been a catch phrase in music, usually the end result of a legal action taken by a musician who thinks that have been harmed or ripped off. Here are a few battle of the bands that have a different meaning altogether.

The legendary (in his own mind) Vanilla Ice recorded a song called “Ice Ice Baby,” which was exactly the same hook and phasing of the David Bowie tune “Under Pressure.” The suit would have been a slam dunk for David and his lawyers, but instead they settled out of court.

The obvious example of litigation is the most recent Led Zeppelin suit that came to an end recently as the estate of the late Randy California (Spirit) brought charges vs the boys for “Stairway to Heaven.”

Marvin Gaye wrote a song called “Got to Give it Up” that was funky and hot, well ahead of its time. Let’s take the time machine forward from that song to the 2000s, and he we find hip hop/pop star Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams with their song called ‘Blurred Lines.” Marvin’s estate sued big time and won.

The Beach Boys song “Surfing U.S.A.” was once sued by Chuck Berry and his lawyers for the striking similarity between the Beach Boys Song and Chuck’s “Sweet Little Sixteen.”

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