Why is it okay for the band to rip off Soul Asylum but not others?

An artist writes a hit. Other artists want to capture their success by writing/recording similarly. How do you think musical trends happen?

I just want to make clear, again, that I'm not going after bands for chasing trends. I'm pointing out that we defend the golden years and go after the band for doing today what they've been doing for awhile now. Taking a hit song and writing one with similar lyrics, mood and style and then handing a producer a copy of the hit and saying "it should sound like" goes beyond wanting a song like that. It's chasing a hit and It's hard to be mad at them for ripping off other artists this past decade now.

Okay, I think the issue, which has been mentioned, is both quality of the final product and the quality of the song they're borrowing from. If they want to sound like the Boss, Tom Petty, Zeppelin, Dylan, etc. then Jon can be my guest. If he wants to chase after the hits of today, then that's less than ideal. If you're going to beg, steal and borrow, then do it from the best.

18 and life was written at Jon's house. He has said so.

Aloha !

I'm not quite sure why it's so hard to understand for you. The nineties and eighties had them borrowing, as opposed to copying, styles and influences from other artists.

There's nothing about Because We Can that screams Bon Jovi, while everything from the early eighties to mid nineties has Bon Jovi written all over it. They've always lifted various style elements from different artists, but very rarely complete chord progressions or chorusses, which is why Soul Asylum's Runaway Train is a completely different thing to Because We Can sounding like the band Fun.

Even Never Say Goodbye, which has plenty of stuff borrowing from Southside Johnny's Heart Of Stone, still becomes a song of its own. Because We Can and various other songs released in the last 15 years or so just don't. They're solely written with the idea that if it sounds like song x, it'll maybe become as succesful as song x. In the nineties they took various production elements to influence their own style while nowadays they seem to take everything that's popular right now and then add a little bit of Bon Jovi to it. And with that, their own identity is completely gone.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

This is a well covered topic.

http://www.drycounty.com/jovitalk/sh...ad.php?t=54006

I agree, if you listen to one direction's track it's a clear ripoff but when Rick Allen was asked about it he said they just view it as a compliment.

http://youtu.be/0mkPHJGSPUM

Not at Jon's house. At some house in New Jersey. There's an episode of Bon Jovi TV from the Crush days when Jon drives around and points at a house saying 'that's where WE wrote 18 and Life'. Also - as far as I know - Jon contributed to replacing Skid Row's singer as he never thought he'd have what it takes to make it.

Yes, and it was the flat Jon was living in at the time And he used the phrase "was written", not "where we wrote it". Didn't know about the replacement thingie, tho'.

The sad thing is, the two tracks I heard from New Direction, Story Of My Life and Midnigh Memories, are the best rock tunes I heard in the past three years.

Midnight Memories is Pour Some Sugar On Me.

I only heard live promo versions, not studio