Songs that inspired Michael

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I'm not accusing Michael of ripping anyone off. Artists get inspired by other artists all the time, so it's not a big deal if Michael took inspiration from songs from other artists.

It's been said that the drum beat from Billie Jean was inspired by Hall and Oates I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)

I think that Hall and Oates even spoke about it in an interview one time, and they said they didn't mind. Which is a good thing. Some artists can get real petty and would try to sue someone.


So does anyone know of any other songs that inspired Michael?
 
Give In To Me sounds a little like Dokken's 1984 song Alone Again
State Of Shock doesn't sound like a specific song, but it is a Rolling Stones style song, so Mick Jagger fits right in. I can picture The Stones coming up with the song without any Mike involvement, except for maybe that scat break in the long version.
 
Give In To Me sounds a little like Dokken's 1984 song Alone Again
State Of Shock doesn't sound like a specific song, but it is a Rolling Stones style song, so Mick Jagger fits right in. I can picture The Stones coming up with the song without any Mike involvement, except for maybe that scat break in the long version.

Wow mind blown.
 
Both are classics about the tale of a protagonist and his strange experience in a hotel. Do you think Mike may have got some inspiration from "Hotel California" to write "This Place Hotel"?
 
The guitar part, especially-

Speaking of No Can Do-they've also said they ripped the bass lick off someone else-I'll have to find that interview.
The beat on No Can Do is just a pre-programmed sound that was on one of the early drum machines. I don't think the drum pattern on Billie Jean is anything unique, it's more of the way it's mixed that makes it identifiable. If you look hard enough, many songs can be linked to another. There's only so many notes. The bass on No Can Do has a slight resemblance to Tramp.
 
Thanks to Dokken for being one of the rare artists that didn't sue MJ saying he ripped off their song ;)

I think the only artist who sued him was Al Bano for Will You Be There (but then it turned out that that Al Bano's song is in turn similar to an old Ink Spots song. The irony). I cannot think of any other artist who sued him. All the other people who sued him were more random people who at some point were in contact with MJ or his family and were looking for a paycheque. I always found it funny how that guy from Gary, Indiana sued MJ for supposedly stealing The Girl Is Mine, We Are The World and Thriller from him, when Thriller wasn't even written by MJ. One would think you look up at least the album credits before you sue someone. LOL.

ETA: Oh, and I think some Belgian artist won a lawsuit against R. Kelly for allegedly plagerizing You Are Not Alone. But it wasn't a lawsuit against MJ, but R. Kelly. (That guy at least did look up the album credits before suing.)
 
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respect77;4097786 said:
I think the only artist who sued him was Al Bano for Will You Be There (but then it turned out that that Al Bano's song is in turn similar to an old Ink Spots song. The irony). I cannot think of any other artist who sued him. All the other people who sued him were more random people who at some point were in contact with MJ or his family and were looking for a paycheque. I always found it funny how that guy from Gary, Indiana sued MJ for supposedly stealing The Girl Is Mine, We Are The World and Thriller from him, when Thriller wasn't even written by MJ. One would think you look up at least the album credits before you sue someone. LOL.

ETA: Oh, and I think some Belgian artist won a lawsuit against R. Kelly for allegedly plagerizing You Are Not Alone. But it wasn't a lawsuit against MJ, but R. Kelly. (That guy at least did look up the album credits before suing.)

There are some other ‘Al Bano’ cases that did not come to light (I think MJ won in all of them).

Also, Al Bano & the Belgian duo were not the only people who sued MJ for copyright issues.

For example, Crystal Cartier sued MJ for the song ‘Dangerous’. She had already recorded & released a song named ‘Dangerous’ a few years earlier before the release of MJ’s ‘Dangerous’ album. According to her, MJ’s ‘Dangerous’ song was very similar to her song.

For me, it is really interesting that this case dragged so long in the court rooms. The final result was a disaster for Crystal Cartier:

[video=youtube;r3lolbFqCN4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3lolbFqCN4[/video]
 
I don't really know Crystal Cartier's career so I do not know if she did anything of noteworthiness as an artist or her suing of MJ is her biggest claim to fame. If the latter then I would not really consider her an artist in the same way as Al Bano who did had a successful career in Europe and Italy when he sued MJ. I mean she is an artist because she sings, but when I think of artists suing MJ I think of people who actually achieved something on their own. And I can only think of Al Bano and the WYBT lawsuit there.

If having the same title is a reason for a lawsuit then I guess Roxette too could have sued Michael since they had a song called Dangerous in 1988.

 
The best thing about the Dangerous lawsuit was that we have those delightful depositions where Michael demonstrates how he makes music. :)
 
respect77;4097811 said:
I don't really know Crystal Cartier's career so I do not know if she did anything of noteworthiness as an artist or her suing of MJ is her biggest claim to fame. If the latter then I would not really consider her an artist in the same way as Al Bano who did had a successful career in Europe and Italy when he sued MJ. I mean she is an artist because she sings, but when I think of artists suing MJ I think of people who actually achieved something on their own. And I can only think of Al Bano and the WYBT lawsuit there.

If having the same title is a reason for a lawsuit then I guess Roxette too could have sued Michael since they had a song called Dangerous in 1988.

I think the latter seems to be closer to reality & in no way Crystal Cartier is on the same level as Al Bano.

No, the song title was not the case. Crystal Cartier claimed that MJ’s ‘Dangerous’ was her composition, but her inability to locate an original demo tape of her version of the song was crucial for the outcome of the court case.
 
The best thing about the Dangerous lawsuit was that we have those delightful depositions where Michael demonstrates how he makes music. :)

Oh man. The beatboxing. *swoon* Just to refresh my memory, is this the one with the embarrassing lawyer / the judge asking a lawyer to change because she was dressed too permiscuously / the judge telling Mike he's failing when trying to answer a question and Mike laughs at him?

I get the depositions mixed up sometimes between Dangerous and the one during the History sessions (which I think I was reading Brad? talk about a couple days ago.)

As for Respect's who is considered an artist: Crystal Cartier: Never heard of before she sued MJ and was never heard of again when she lost ;)
 
As for Respect's who is considered an artist: Crystal Cartier: Never heard of before she sued MJ and was never heard of again when she lost ;)

I googled her and all I could find about her was her lawsuit against MJ (and Crystal Cartiers who seemed to be other people, not her). So I guess she cannot be so famous which is based on that music and video that was linked in above is not too surprising. But oh well, she tried it.
 
Can we say that any covers did Michael (of his choice, not forced upon like when he was in Motown) inspired him too? The way I think of it, the song has to influence you somewhat to make you spend countless hours working on and perfecting a cover.

Off the top of my head, we have Come Together and Strawberry Fields Forever (which is sitting in the vaults atm). Are there any other covers Michael did willingly? I think we could say those influenced him to various degrees.
 
I think Darling Nikki could've influenced Dirty Diana. I mean the settings are very similar and they're both about groupies. Plus, both songs' music videos are of live performances.
 
Have you guys heard the Rick James song 'give it to me baby'? That song and Thriller sound alike in terms of the feel and especially the bassline
 
But Michael didn't make the Thriller. He just sang it. So I guess Rod Temperton was the one who influenced.
 
A more obvious example, but one none the less. Michael's demo of A Place With No Name is largely taken from A Horse With No Name by America.


 
^ It's not really "inspired". It's basically a cover with different lyrics. And the song is duly credited.
 
DuranDuran;4107039 said:
The chorus of Shout was clearly based on this

The chorus of ‘Shout’ sounds very similar to the one by The Isley Brothers.

Also, there is a similar beat in these two songs:

‘The Way You Make Me Feel’ & ‘Everybody Wants To Rule The World’ (Tears for Fears).
 
^ It's not really "inspired". It's basically a cover with different lyrics. And the song is duly credited.

Sure, but the way I see it, the song inspired him enough to try and make his own version of it.

That's essentially how I see most covers really (unless your manager/label picked it out for you and it means little to you, but ya know).
 
mj_frenzy;4107417 said:
Also, there is a similar beat in these two songs:


‘The Way You Make Me Feel’ & ‘Everybody Wants To Rule The World’ (Tears for Fears).

That's called shuffle-rhythm and it wasn't invented by Tears for Fears. It comes from blues music, so I am not sure if MJ was inspired by Everybody Wants To Rule The World.
 
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