IS THE NEW LCD SOUNDSYSTEM A RIP-OFF?
May 19, 2010 by theneedledrop
so i recently heard of this album called this is happening from a band called lcd soundsystem. i have a youtube channel where i review albums / songs every once in a while, and some people who follow the channel were saying things like, “LCD SOUNDSYSSMTZMZZ,” “DO THE FUCKING LCD, FUCK,” and “LSITEN TO THE LCD SOUND SYSTME OR I KILL U!”
assuming the people who follow my channel have good taste, i decided to take their advice. once the audio signals of this full-length album entered my ear canals, the reaction was somewhat like this:
it was bliss, you could say. all the post-punk/post-dance/post-new wave/post-dancepunk influences were driving me wild. the influences were so heavy, the songs sounded like songs i had already known for years. i was basically living in musical heaven.
but we all know there’s no such thing as heaven and a blog—or tumblr, rather—popped my bubble and made me question the authenticity of this album and myself.
the blogger—or tumblrer, rather—proposed the idea that this album is nothing but a dirty/cheap/filthy rip-off. the word “plagiarism” was even used, which is a professional way of saying ctrl + c.
let’s take a listen to the lcd songs against their alleged source material and decide for ourselves, shall we:
lcd soundsystem- drunk girls
the velvet underground- white light / white heat
lcd soundsystem- all i want
david bowie- heroes
lcd soundsystem- somebody’s calling me
iggy pop- nightclubbing
of course, then words like “stealing” and “plagiarism” are getting thrown around, people have the habit of getting pretentious:
but what if the people saying these things like “rip-off” and “james murphy is a fat, ugly, old, plagiarizing piece of baby-killing shit” are right? should i enjoy this album less if it is a rip-off? should i believe what a lot of people are saying—you know, that james murphy is merely “referencing” these artists without telling us. does that make lcd soundsystem records like an easter egg hunt where we’re left to figure out what influence each song is individually pulling from? sounds like a 2nd job; i’d rather just enjoy the music.
is the new lcd soundsystem a rip-off? is james murphy a plagiarist, or is he just “referencing” some stuff?
twitter @theneedledrop w/an answer
