All rise.

The rules of this courtroom are simple. You will be presented with two songs, one by the plaintiff and one by the defendant. It is your task to decide if the defendant’s track is only coincidentally similar to the plaintiffs or, as members of the Bar Association put it, like, oh wow, bro. Not cool! You have been duly instructed.

Today’s docket: Fleetwood Mac, plaintiff vs. The Grateful Dead, defendant

Fleetwood Mac – “Station Man” from Kiln House (1970)

Come on, man. Same groove. Just because you pulled from the Kirwan era of the band, you think you’ll get away with it?

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/NXxbHM_Eb78" width="600" height="344" allowfullscreen="true" fvars="fs=1" /]

The Grateful Dead – “Passenger” from Terrapin Station (1977)

Come on, man. You can’t copyright a groove. Plus, we’re a jam band. We improv, we rearrange, we jam! We’re just doing our thing!

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/CpeFlgAiBAQ" width="600" height="344" allowfullscreen="true" fvars="fs=1" /]

Is this plagiarism, man?

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About the Author

Dw. Dunphy

Dw. Dunphy is a writer, artist, and musician. For Popdose he has contributed many articles that can be found in the site's archives. He also writes for New Jersey Stage, Musictap.net, Ultimate Classic Rock, and Diffuser FM. His music can be found at http://dwdunphy.bandcamp.com/.

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