7/04/2011

Cults vs. Richard Swift



IS THIS PLAGIARISM OR HOMAGE?

CULTS has released one of the most anticipated records of the year. They claim in interviews that they wrote all these songs on this debut record in two hours. One of the best and most complicated songs on the album is "BUMPER." You can listen to this song above. You can read in interviews about CULTS' retro sound, much like Lesley Gore, The Ronettes, and The Shangri- Las all in one. This band CULTS is supposed to be both excitingly fresh and retro too.

The problem with this song "Bumper" is it a rip-off of a previously released song "The Bully" by Richard Swift. I don't understand why CULTS decided to rewrite "The Bully?" I can't say that "Bumper" is a better song. At best, it sounds like a clumsy cover with some changed lyrics. I have, when I tried to write songs, pulled out something like the Noel Coward songbook and played song chord sequences, and changed it a bit, until it was something different and something more original. I am wondering how much of CULTS is original. Most of their songs have a deja-vu moment recalling something in the past. It's just up to some musicologist and lawyers to figure out which songs were actually lifted?

I can't believe that a band like CULTS would take credit for someone else's work. Swift himself was not negative (on his facebook page) and considers it "a homage." I know that PJ Harvey refers to Eddie Cochran in a recent song, and Death In Vegas "Scorpio's Rising" has the same riff as Status Quo's "Matchstick Men" but those new songs were entirely different from the originals. I don't understand why a band as big as CULTS doesn't even get challenged for their slight plagiarism? I wonder why not one journalist has asked CULTS about their song "Bumper?" I guess what passes for "journalism" nowadays is a bunch of fan's notes and laziness. Please move on from the press materials next time, you so-called writers.


9 comments:

RoG said...

I own the Richard Swift album, and was checking out the album by Cults when something started to sound familiar. Sure enough, I recognized it as 'The Bully'. I jumped onto Google to see if anyone else had noticed this, and came to this page. So you're not the only one who noticed what seems like a blatant copy.

Anonymous said...

samething. searched it right after i heard it. i think it's lame. especially since richard swift is grossly under appreciated. the bully is brilliant. richard's incredible voice and production blows the cults out of the water. better drums too. everything is better.

Anonymous said...

I noticed the similarities too and googled "the cults and richard swift" to figure out what was up. A pretty blatant rip-off.

Anonymous said...

Yeah... I was super confused just now when I heard the Cults song... I assumed it was a collab of some sort... I thought it had to be. Honestly, I like both songs... though it would be cool if the Cults at least recognized him for it... well, maybe they have... it's hard to say what goes on outside of the public eye, and maybe we don't have to right to expect to be part of that exchange. Both of these records are phenomenal.

Whitey said...

I want to say I heard on SiriusXMU that the two had/have worked together...I think Swift has done some production work for Cults. Their sound is similiar regardless...much like much of the indy sound from 2011...that sort of early 60s rock n' roll sound to it that I dig.

Anonymous said...

i just saw this little post which is now old, but if you look at the cults album liner notes - richard swift is credited for this song it is an intentional lift and tip of the hat.

Unknown said...

I heard 'Bumper' on Pandora last night was IMMEDIATELY reminded of
'The Bully'. This rip off is anything but subtle.

Unknown said...

I heard 'Bumper' for the first time last night and IMMEDIATELY thought of 'The Bully'. This rip off is far from subtle. And not a very well done one at that.

Unknown said...

I was actually the one who showed the singer of cults "the bully" while they were recording their first record. As far as them writing all their songs in two hours, that's an obvious lie. You could sense his jealousy when we played the bully for him.

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