Did Mercedes-Benz Swipe GOD's 'My Pal'?
News posted Thursday, October 25 2012 at 01:00 PM.
Related: God.
It’s the ultimate ode to teen alienation and self-loathing, a default Melbourne anthem and the last song played as a particular era of The Tote came crashing down in 2010.
But when Joel Silbersher penned ‘My Pal’ as a teenager in the mid-80s, he probably never envisaged it’d be soundtracking a commercial for a $70,000 Mercedes-Benz coupe 25 years later. The ad for Mercedes’ new “Safety In Numbers” finance program features a track that bears a striking resemblance to ‘My Pal’ by Silbersher’s teen punk band GOD.
Released on the legendary Au Go Go label in 1987, ‘My Pal’ was recorded on an eight-track at the Abbotsford studio of Melbourne producer/engineer Simon Grounds. It went on to sell out its initial pressing of 500 copies; no mean feat for a bunch of teens making noisy rock’n’roll well before ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ hit the mainstream. The track has since been covered by the likes of Magic Dirt, Bored!, Violent Soho, The Drones (with Silbersher at that infamous Tote gig in 2010) and Bonnie “Prince” Billy.
Licenced through Universal Music Publishing, ‘My Pal’ was recently used with permission in the Julian Assange tele-movie, Underground, and has also appeared in an episode of Underbelly. While the band have declined to comment, former Au Go Go Records boss Bruce Milne said he was unsure whether the track had been licenced to Mercedes. “Well, that explains why I’ve seen Joel driving around in a convertible Merc coupe,” he joked.
The situation brings to mind a recent case in which a variation on John Butler Trio’s ‘Zebra’ was used without permission in a commercial for Dannon’s Oikos Greek yoghurt. The matter was settled out of court.
(Via FasterLouder)
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sounds like a direct steal to me.
Well they certainly got a lot of 'mileage' out of that one riff!
i hope they're seeking legal action...
It's Alan Jones' fault!
I don't think its that similar...
as I said on the other thread. No.
It's not like My Pal invented the repeating-riff-over-a-chord-progression-in-a-rock-song... and the riff doesn't start high and end up on a lower note.. it ends on the note it starts on..
sure, it's reminiscent of My Pal, but it's also reminiscent of generic rock 101
non-issue.
Are you saying you think this song is shit and overrated?
i just want them to sue mercedes, would be hilarious.
Who wrote this new one? That'll give ya clues
you're not very good at logic are you black wasp?
but yes.. the Benz song is shit and non-rateable
They should speak to John Butler. Didn't he win a court case against Yoplait or some shit?
It's okay guys, they resolved this one before it had to go to court.
Whilst it does have a slight resemblance to My Pal, it's not note for note.
It's like BJM taking a part of a song and making something new out of it in my books.
Like this jam.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDI8H6X_Sws
The Rolling Stones have sued for less and yet this got by.
I'm all for God suing though, love a good musical law suit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfFhX6Fgc6A
I still like paint it black better.
Marcus, that Maiden song is much closer
Can never not think it.
i always thought the riff from ''my pal'' was borrowed from an earlier au-go-go 7'' by little murders, the tune ''take me i'm yours'' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQgOCWeE-fA
can the editor please add the little murders youtube clip to the above, alongside merc and god. thankyou
It was probably in their brief to emulate it. Unfortunately they do this all the time.
God band members were aware of similarities in a car ad about a year ago (can't remember the make, this one or another), so either it's been resolved and is all kosher (sufficient changes introduced so as not to replicate the riff so closely), or another agency is trying it on. James Young would certainly be interested in proceedings. He's an avid advocate of God/My Pal (as well as rock music in general), and has specific legal nous relating to this area and the clout to follow through. He's pretty canny so I can't see anything getting by him.
(I'm piffing stones at the walls of my glass house as I speak, of course.)
Why, did you steal someone's song for your jingle?
Anyway, God ripped it from silverchair.
Yes, countless, but not for jingles and not that I was getting paid millions to be original/creative for.
I prefer the Mercedes version.
mickster said 3 hours ago:
i always thought the riff from ''my pal'' was borrowed from an earlier au-go-go 7'' by little murders, the tune ''take me i'm yours'' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQgOCWeE-fA
Sounds more like Iron Maiden 2 mins to midnight Mick.
I recon God were listening to Iron Maiden 'The Prowler' when they wrote 'My Pal'
The Man Who God Sued.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfFhX6Fgc6A
Can someone make the link active pls
?
I recon God were listening to Iron Maiden 'The Prowler' when they wrote 'My Pal'
I've always thought this too.
My Pal's a cool song n' all, but I find the hyperbole surrounding it a bit off-putting. Sure it's good, great even...but why is everyone always at pains to hold it up as our best ever song? Is it really? I think the vocals let it down a bit.
Crucify me now.