Avril Laviigne is being sued by The Rubinoos who claim her song “Girlfriend” was stolen from their song “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend.” The CEO of Nettwerk Music Group dismissed the suit, calling it baseless and a “case of legal blackmail.” The CEO says:
“Avril’s a great songwriter and she’s proving it over and over and over again … Avril’s very, very sensible. She knows music well. If the chords had been similar, the melodies had been similar, lyrics had been similar, the meter, she would have gone, ‘Okay, I can see their point.’ But nothing’s similar.”
The record company may end up settling the suit anyways, since it might cost them even more to successfully defend. Although this isn’t the first time Avril has been accused of stealing. Last month, singer Chantal Kreviazuk accused Avril of stealing a song title. Additionally, the writer of “Sk8er Boi” says Lavigne shouldn’t be listed on the credits since all she did was “change a word here or there.” You can listen to the comparison above and judge for yourself. Personally, I think Avril Lavigne is a clown so in my book she’s pretty much guilty of everything. Stealing songs? Guilty! Being a man? Guilty! Murdering Jesus? Guilty!
veggi | July 5, 2007 at 3:00 pm
FRIST!!!
Marcelo | July 5, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Bunch of Negatives fighting to be a zero..
Baseball Player | July 5, 2007 at 3:06 pm
If she’s punk Johnny Rotten is mainstream.
Bubble gum at best.
Dressing goofy does not make one punk.
Whatevs | July 5, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Well that’s ridiculous.
a | July 5, 2007 at 3:08 pm
it’s definitely a bit similar..
veggi | July 5, 2007 at 3:08 pm
@1- Thanks troll. I LOVE being first! Esspecially first to tell you you’re a cross eyed monkey fucker.
KMW | July 5, 2007 at 3:12 pm
You know, I wasn’t buying it until I heard the chorus of the other song… that’s a little too similar to be a coincidence, I think.
Nsomniac | July 5, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Not that I really care whether she gets sued or not, but I think one line of a song that sounds like just about every other 80′s pop song does not make it a ripoff. Christ, if that’s the case, the beat sounds just like “Hey Mickey” by Toni Basil. We’re not talking Vanilla Ice here, although the talent level is similar.
I think there’s only one appropriate recourse that will appease neither side but offer us all some relief. The song should be pulled from all radio broadcasts for at least 4 years until no one cares who she is anymore. It may not do anything for either party, but that’s one less poppy bullshit song we have to listen to again.
Yoko | July 5, 2007 at 3:15 pm
She’s written a lot of songs in the past and I think it is a coincidence.
HerpesHilton | July 5, 2007 at 3:17 pm
U can hear it in the chorus, for sure
veggi | July 5, 2007 at 3:18 pm
I imagine if I stuck my finger way up her ass, it’d come out exceptionally dirty. For some reason that really turns me on.
Britney | July 5, 2007 at 3:21 pm
I think perhaps Avril might have drawn inspiration from the chorus of the other song. Everything else about “Girlfriend” sounds original though.
edb87 | July 5, 2007 at 3:21 pm
I like how they try to make The Rubinoos seem like they were somehow important…
“Avril stole our song! See! We were famous! We were in a Japanese magazine and had a “Spot the Difference” section in a magazine!”
Still, the bitch needs to get a life. And by get a life I mean disappear off the face of the earth.
edb87 | July 5, 2007 at 3:22 pm
I like how they try to make The Rubinoos seem like they were somehow important…
“Avril stole our song! See! We were famous! We were in a Japanese magazine and had a “Spot the Difference” section in a magazine!”
Still, the bitch needs to get a better songwriting crew. And by get a better songwriting crew I mean disappear off the face of the earth.
campaign for non-idiots | July 5, 2007 at 3:22 pm
Avril Lavigne “knows music well,” eh? She’s such a music scholar she couldn’t pronounce David Bowie’s name right.
Kate | July 5, 2007 at 3:23 pm
I just found out Avril landed on Martha’s Vineyard from my friend who taxi’s there (she was called to pick her up from the airport), and I was considering going there to like…see her for two seconds, snap a pic, then continue drinking, but I just read this and I feel much less enchanted by the opportunity.
SoYeah | July 5, 2007 at 3:23 pm
I have to say the immediate “settle” attitude sort of downplays her credibility. “Oh we’ll just pay them instead of going to court.” If it were me, my reputation would be more important.
blech | July 5, 2007 at 3:23 pm
how is it a “coincidence?” it’s a pretty HUGE coincidence that they both say “hey hey you you i wanna be your ___friend”…..
B. A. Baracus | July 5, 2007 at 3:25 pm
I would think she’d want to admit she stole it. I wouldn’t want to take credit for writing that piece of shit myself.
Superevil | July 5, 2007 at 3:26 pm
14, they also did the theme song from Revenge Of The Nerds which makes them automatically awesome.
paul | July 5, 2007 at 3:27 pm
i stopped reading when i read that avril lavigne is said to know music well.
hahahahahahah.
oh, inverted world.
leelee | July 5, 2007 at 3:28 pm
stupid… I mean, if you think about it, there’s only a handful of chords available on each instrument that sounds pleasant, sooo eventually things come around that sound similar…
This is ridiculous though, Shakespeare and the guys that wrote the Bible should just sue everyone in Hollywood if these guys can sue over this song.
joflo | July 5, 2007 at 3:33 pm
how can you steal from a song that nobody’s ever heard before?! seriously… both melodies are just so completely trite that neither should be credited with an original idea.
theredsnapper | July 5, 2007 at 3:35 pm
i think both songs suck ass…
George clooney | July 5, 2007 at 3:37 pm
AMERICA IS THE PARADISE OF CACINE AETERS AND STUPID TEENAGERS THAT WANTO TO BE MAD AND LOOK LIKE A HOLD BUNCH OF PATETICA SHITEATERS AVRIL LAVIGNE IS JUST A BITCH THAT WAS FUCKED AT SCHOOL FOR ALL HIS TEACHERS AND CUMMED IN HIS STUPIDI SILLY FACE I HOPE SHE SHIT HERSELF IN A TV SHOW..AMERICANS ARE JUST A STUPID BURRITO EATERS!!
sarahK | July 5, 2007 at 3:39 pm
It’s not a huge deal that she clearly used a line from another song–don’t pop musicians recycle all the time?
It’s just obnoxious that she didn’t cut them a check from the start. It really is *stealing* if you don’t cite your sources, and she deserves to be embarassed.
Stupid Avril…
Assbestos | July 5, 2007 at 3:40 pm
I thought this was going to be like the Nickleback comparison, where they tear into all the songs being of almost identical structure. This is nothing like that. I have to admit that I hear two different songs. Albeit, One that sucked back in the 70′s, and one that sucks today.
duster | July 5, 2007 at 3:42 pm
I agree with Nsomniac, I thought it sounded just as much like ‘Hey Mickey’ by Toni Basil.
Except that ‘Hey Mickey’ was about a million times better.
kelli | July 5, 2007 at 3:43 pm
If you ask me. It sounds like she ripped off the rolling stones song “(hey you) Get off my cloud”.DUUUUUHHH
jrzmommy | July 5, 2007 at 3:44 pm
um, again, George, you’re bashing Americans but Avril here is Canadian.
On another related subject, I think the Fish is stealing stories from Socialitelife.com. Seriously.
djthecat | July 5, 2007 at 3:44 pm
I am sorry, george clooney, but WTF? what is a cacine aeter? and any-who, avril isn’t a us/american but a canadian.
beer | July 5, 2007 at 3:45 pm
WOAH! Isn’t Avril Lavigne Jewish?
Accusing her of KILLING JESUS is a bit anti-semitic, bro.
Penis Mightier | July 5, 2007 at 3:46 pm
I’m on the fence, it might be stolen. Just to be safe Avril should be put to death immediately.
exzaclee | July 5, 2007 at 3:47 pm
If anything it should be cheerleaders suing. The whole Hey(hey) You(you) could be taken from any of their songs… and if you watch the video, that’s what they were going for.
alishia | July 5, 2007 at 3:48 pm
avril lavigne needs to start dying
Italian Stallion | July 5, 2007 at 3:53 pm
I bet I could open a beer with her snaggle tooth. See, she is good for something……….
Megan | July 5, 2007 at 3:53 pm
kelli’s totally right and i’m surprised no one else said anything, it’s so damn obvious. Rolling Stones released “Get off my Cloud” in 1965, the Rubinoos’ song came out in 1978…LAME. And what about the Ramones’ “I wanna be your boyfriend” from 1976? It has the same damn title and the “Hey” to begin the chorus. Really, the Rubinoos(sounds a little like the Ramones) couldn’t have come up with that power punk chorus.
LilmissBimmel | July 5, 2007 at 3:58 pm
“HEY” “HEY” “YOU” “YOU”
That’s about all the two songs share and I didn’t see the Rubinoos when Billy Ocean catcalled to get in his car…
Miserable Bastard | July 5, 2007 at 4:00 pm
Why is the “y” in “Sk8er Boi” changed to an “i”? Is the “i” really that much cooler than the “y”? At least the “8″ in “Sk8er” can be chalked up to laziness, since it saves a whole character, but “boi/boy” is three letters either way. It must be that kind of rebel attitude that makes her “punk”.
Erus | July 5, 2007 at 4:03 pm
I think they’re both shitty in their own unique ways.
Can I sue Avril for being dumb and irritating and worthless? That would stick in court.
lambman | July 5, 2007 at 4:10 pm
LOL, finally.
I mean did anybody believe she wrote any of those songs? “Complicated” lol, when’s that law suit coming
Lux | July 5, 2007 at 4:23 pm
She doesn’t write any of her own songs. Who cares anyways, she sucks and so does Good Charlotte.
Slick Rick | July 5, 2007 at 4:37 pm
All I know is I’d take Chantal Krappyassfuck over Avril’s skinny, Sum 41 tattooed ass anyday. If anyone was curious.
Lorina | July 5, 2007 at 5:00 pm
That’s ridiculous. The Rubinoos song is actually GOOD, so how could she have copied it?
phroztbyt3 | July 5, 2007 at 5:03 pm
Definitely no coincidence..
The chorus is exactly the same, coincidences don’t happen like that, and because she is in the business, shes not too “young” not to know older music, just cus she seems like a ditz doesn’t make her agents ditzes. She knew what she was stealing, and she’s havin it come to her.
Hey hey, you you, (nobody would have used those words exactly like that, at the exact same pace)
mcbitchy | July 5, 2007 at 5:11 pm
Wow…the Rubinoos must really miss being famous. But I guess suing a 20-something punk wannabe is almost like making a real comeback! The songs are nothing alike. Besides, Avril doesn’t even know who David Bowie is, so the chances of her listening to an obscure one-hit-wonder from the ’70s are pretty slim.
ali | July 5, 2007 at 5:28 pm
ba ah hahahahha. or what about gwen stefanis song? and hot topics fall 2001 fashion line? shes ripping everyone off left and right. BUT THATS NOT NEW.
ali | July 5, 2007 at 5:29 pm
by gwen stefani i did mean no doubt. their first single off ‘return of saturn’. completely ripped by avril. dumb cunt.
Chauncey Gardner | July 5, 2007 at 5:55 pm
I hate Avril, but this is totally ridiculous. In the long history of musical plagiarism, big songs have been ripped off by mig songs – not tunes by bands that nobody fucking remembers ever hearing.
“The Walk” by The Cure was a blatant rip off of New Order’s most popular song, “Blue Monday”. Ray Parker Jr.’s “Ghostbusters” theme was a rip-off of “I Wanna New Drug” by Huey Lewis & The News. Those rips were sloppy and obvious.
As somebody else pointed out, the most unique element in common was already written by the Stones. Maybe Mick and Keith should sue the fuck out of The Rubinoos for ripping them off.
Tim | July 5, 2007 at 6:18 pm
And Jimi Hendrix totally ripped off “The Star-Spangled Banner”