One
song that has bothered me for a long time definitely isn't something along the lines of a "minor similarity due to the fact that there is a limited amount of
chord progressions in the world". The intro to the song
King of Swing, one of
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's entries into the
swing craze of the late
1990's, is a direct and blatant ripoff of
The Pogues'
Gridlock from their
1989 album
Peace and Love. The only difference?
King of Swing adds lyrics. The drums and horns are almost exactly the same.
The Pogues are not given any writing credits in the liner notes of both BBVD albums on which the song appears (the first was a self-released CD that, I believe, is no longer available). Back around '95 or '96, a friend of mine brought up this issue to one of the members at a concert. Said friend was asked to leave. Afterwards, he sent the drummer a couple of e-mails regarding the subject. The response was a claim of ignorance regarding the matter and a promise to get back to him when he knew more about it. No further e-mails were received.
But that's showbiz, I guess.