Radiohead's Thom Yorke performs at the 2017 Glastonbury Festival. (Image credit: Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
This past Sunday, singer Lana Del Rey revealed that Radiohead are suing her over similarities between her 2017 song "Get Free" and the band's September 1992 single, "Creep."
Del Rey announced the news via Twitter, adding that the lawsuit will likely end up in court. "It’s true about the lawsuit," she wrote. "Although I know my song wasn't inspired by Creep, Radiohead feel it was and want 100% of the publishing—I offered up to 40 over the last few months but they will only accept 100. Their lawyers have been relentless, so we will deal with it in court."
Oddly enough, several years ago, songwriters Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood sued Radiohead, claiming that "Creep" sounded a bit too much like their own composition, "The Air That I Breathe," which was a 1972 hit for the Hollies.
According to Hammond, "Radiohead agreed that they had actually taken it...Because they were honest they weren't sued to the point of saying 'we want the whole thing.' So we ended up just getting a little piece of it." As a result of the Hammond/Hazlewood incident, the official songwriting credit for "Creep" is now "Radiohead/Albert Hammond/Mike Hazlewood."
Below, you can check out all three songs in order of release:
Of course, things tend to remind me of other things, and today I'm reminded of the time Joe Satriani sued Coldplay because their 2008 single "Viva La Vida" sounded like his 2004 tune, "If I Could Fly."
Damian is Editor-in-Chief of Guitar World magazine. In past lives, he was GW’s managing editor and online managing editor. He's written liner notes for major-label releases, including Stevie Ray Vaughan's 'The Complete Epic Recordings Collection' (Sony Legacy) and has interviewed everyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to Kevin Bacon (with a few memorable Eric Clapton chats thrown into the mix). Damian, a former member of Brooklyn's The Gas House Gorillas, was the sole guitarist in Mister Neutron, a trio that toured the U.S. and released three albums. He now plays in two NYC-area bands.
