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

I've never heard the similarity. And I love both songs.

As to The Fighter, I've listened to it maybe twice. It sucks, so who cares where they stole it from.

Ice

All artists borrow from each other

let me know what your definition of what it means to rip off another artist is and then I'll let you know what the answer to your initial question is.
I see artists follow certain trends and influences. And being that there is so much music out there, you're always bound to find certain similarities.

I really need to understand what you think it means to rip of an artist... and then that should be debated first so we are all on the same page.

My definition is very different because I don't see that Jon ripped off Soul Asylum.

"By noon, the last of the band had staggered in and we cut the basic track for a song called Someday I'll be Saturday Night. Weaker than the previous day's ballad in my opinion. It was an acoustic guitar driven song and there was a notion it should be quite sloppy in sort of an early Rolling stones way"...."Jon pulled out a copy of the Soul Asylum track Runaway Train as a reference point and I realized I was far off the mark" -- Kevin Shirley

My wording was too harsh when I said ripped off. My point was more Jons been this way for longer than people are accusing him of being.

That quote to me all it says is that in the mixing and producing of the song Jon wanted the sound that Soul Asylum had achieved in that track, the acoustics blending together, the electric tele creeping through almost without notice then when you think about it it's been on full blast throughout the song. I can hear the similarity both songs are magically produced but it's nowhere near as blatant as Captain Crash, The Fighter, Novocaine, Beautiful world etc. The last time they borrowed right imo was with I got the girl, such obvious Tom Petty influence but, so Jon like at the same time.....

Compare the demo to the song.

One:
"and everything seems cut and dry
day and night
earth and sky
somehow i just don't believe it"

The other:
"This world ain't so cut and dry
black and white, wrong or right,
I ain't here to justify what I gotta do to survive"

Sorry, it had every intention to sound like it and the fact that the producer was handed a copy of the exact song it borrowed from I can't say it wasn't intentional.

Well you obviously have your mind made up that people will disagree with you. Where did I say it wasn't?? I said it's not as blatant a rip off as the others people criticize mostly on here, but I also said I heard the similarities. So where you're going saying you're sorry or wording your post as a contradiction of mine I don't know. Either way great lyric from SA, but not one that I could say is in any way original. Saturday Night has its own identity in much the same way that KTF has a different Identity from sympathy for the devil, or Never Say goodbye from Hearts of Stone even though it's obviously a major influence and one that they probably wrote trying to have their "own" version of.

I wasn't taking a shot at you, sorry if it seemed that way. I agree there's similarities there but wasn't really venting that the songs are similar, just that it's impossible to get mad at them for re-interpreting other songs this decade and not in others I guess? I'm terrible at wording what is in my head on this one I suppose.

Reference albums have been used in the studio for decades by most bands. There's nothing new. It doensn't mean the SONG is a rip-off, just the sound or the overall vibe. And everybody does that.

Ice