Nuclear Beef

Apparently I'm not the only one who noticed the similarities between "Fight Test" and "Father and Son" :

Lips Nailed For Cat Stevens Song Similarity

"It was confirmed today that an agreement has been reached between Sony/ATV Music Publishing (Yusuf Islam) and EMI Music Publishing (Flaming Lips) over the single 'Fight Test' and its close resemblance to the Cat Stevens classic, 'Father and Son,'" reads a June 13 post on Islam's official Web site. Royalties from the sale of 'Fight Test' will now be divided between both parties according to the agreed settlement."

"Fight Test" is the opening cut on the Lips' 2002 Warner Bros. album, "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots," which debuted at No. 50 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 276,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan. It is also the title track of an EP released in April.

Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne has acknowledged the two songs' melodic similarities in interviews. But he has insisted the resemblance is unintended and only became apparent to him after he first played "Fight Test" to "Yoshimi" producer Dave Fridmann.

Wow, I'm sure there's a gigantic river of money coming from the 276,000 copies of this album that were sold. Wowza.

I have mixed feelings about this. Obviously the songs sound similar, but I find it plausible that Coyne didn't realize the song he was writing was actually a Cat Stevens song. In my opinion it's different enough that royalties shouldn't be an issue. Of course, it's not like these royalties are worth that much to the artists, anyway.

Props to synec on the hook-up.