Recently Avril Lavigne has been undergoing a case of possible copyright infringement brought upon by The Rubinoos. The case regards the “similarities” between Avril’s new song “Girlfriend” and The Rubinoos’ old song “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”. After listening to the two songs multiple times, I haven’t heard or notices many similarities other than the phrase “Hey, hey, you, you. I don’t like your girlfriend…” in Avril’s hit song “Girlfriend”, and “Hey, hey, you, you. I wanna be your boyfriend…” in The Rubinoos single “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”.
The phrase “hey, hey, you, you” is also a pop rock staple, and is a commonly used phrase amongst many musicians, which is also included in the lyrics of multiple songs. This case to me is ridiculous, because The Rubinoos single “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”, sounds an awful lot like “Get off My Cloud” by The Rolling Stones…so did the song even really belong to The Rubinoos? Also, Terry McBride had even consulted with a musicologist, which is a person that studies music. The musicologist has made a claim to have heard no similarities between the two songs “Girlfriend” and “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”. So with someone whom studies music and sees no real similarities between the two songs, I find it hard to believe that Avril ripped The Rubinoos’ song off.
Avril had responded to the whole incident on her myspace saying “…two guys who wrote for some band from the 1970’s I have never in my life heard of called “The Rubinoos” are trying to sure me. They have a song called “I want to be your boyfriend” that has no musical similarities to the song “Girlfriend” that Luke Gottwald and I wrote together. They claim that a small part of the lyrics are the same and are saying that I took these from them. I have never heard this song in my life and their claim is based on 5 words! All songs share similar lyrics and emotions. As humans we speak one language.” Avril had made a perfect point, The Rubinoos’ claim is based on 5 words, that’s nothing compared to a whole song. “Hey, hey, you, you, I”, yeah…she definitely ripped The Rubinoos off? Seriously, 5 words! Those words aren’t just used in multiple songs, but used every single day in our vocabulary!Musicians are ALWAYS influenced by what comes before, regardless of what they say. Also, it is not impossible for more than one person to write similar songs, just like isn’t impossible for entrepreneurs to come up with the exact same ideas…because it’s happened! I’m not 100% sticking up for Avril, I just find it so unfair that she’s being blamed for copyright infringement in this case when The Rubinoos are possibly guilty for even ripping their “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” song from The Rolling Stones. Maybe The Rolling Stones should be the ones trying to sue both The Rubinoos and Avril?
The phrase “hey, hey, you, you” is also a pop rock staple, and is a commonly used phrase amongst many musicians, which is also included in the lyrics of multiple songs. This case to me is ridiculous, because The Rubinoos single “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”, sounds an awful lot like “Get off My Cloud” by The Rolling Stones…so did the song even really belong to The Rubinoos? Also, Terry McBride had even consulted with a musicologist, which is a person that studies music. The musicologist has made a claim to have heard no similarities between the two songs “Girlfriend” and “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”. So with someone whom studies music and sees no real similarities between the two songs, I find it hard to believe that Avril ripped The Rubinoos’ song off.
Avril had responded to the whole incident on her myspace saying “…two guys who wrote for some band from the 1970’s I have never in my life heard of called “The Rubinoos” are trying to sure me. They have a song called “I want to be your boyfriend” that has no musical similarities to the song “Girlfriend” that Luke Gottwald and I wrote together. They claim that a small part of the lyrics are the same and are saying that I took these from them. I have never heard this song in my life and their claim is based on 5 words! All songs share similar lyrics and emotions. As humans we speak one language.” Avril had made a perfect point, The Rubinoos’ claim is based on 5 words, that’s nothing compared to a whole song. “Hey, hey, you, you, I”, yeah…she definitely ripped The Rubinoos off? Seriously, 5 words! Those words aren’t just used in multiple songs, but used every single day in our vocabulary!Musicians are ALWAYS influenced by what comes before, regardless of what they say. Also, it is not impossible for more than one person to write similar songs, just like isn’t impossible for entrepreneurs to come up with the exact same ideas…because it’s happened! I’m not 100% sticking up for Avril, I just find it so unfair that she’s being blamed for copyright infringement in this case when The Rubinoos are possibly guilty for even ripping their “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend” song from The Rolling Stones. Maybe The Rolling Stones should be the ones trying to sue both The Rubinoos and Avril?
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