Bloc Party Channels a Monkey
So, today Bloc Party posted a brand new song from their forthcoming album to their website. Its called “Mercury”, and aside from being repetitive, driving, often annoying, and ultimately catchy, it bears a striking resemblance to an old favorite of mine, “Shock The Monkey”, by Peter Gabriel. At first I wasn’t quite sure; was I just hearing things? Was my caffeine-riddled and sleep deprived mind playing tricks on me? Compare for yourself.
“Mercury” by Bloc Party (28 seconds in)
“Shock The Monkey” by Peter Gabriel
Its particularly Shock’s main horn part I’m talking about here – you can notice the similarity at around 28 seconds into “Mercury”. Who knows; this could be a completely deliberate sample. Regardless, its worth pointing out.
Still not convinced? Check out the video. It’s filled with Monkeys.
there’s some serious monkey business going on there…
PS – HI MUM!
Gurj
July 7, 2008 at 8:52 pm
This is awesome. You’re dead on…
Christina
July 7, 2008 at 8:53 pm
woah. the resemblance is uncanny! those bastards.
Vince Neilstein
July 7, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Leave it to Peter Gabriel to build a time machine, travel to the future and steal from poor old Bloc Party. What a wanker.
jed
July 7, 2008 at 9:18 pm
the pace and rhythm are similar but the chords are different. I guess you could argue that their placement in the songs is somewhat the same, but then you would also have to argue the case against every band that’s ever used a horn section or drum machine in a track.
nice try, but no.
geoff
July 7, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Geoff, the more I think about it, the more I think its actually a sample. The only thing thats different about it is the pitch. Same chord progression, same subtle crescendo.
And the fact that the video is filled with Monkeys…? You think thats just a coincidence?
Mike
July 7, 2008 at 10:13 pm
You guys are fucking idiots. no comparison, get a life.
Donny
July 7, 2008 at 10:34 pm
I can see the similarities…in Bloc Party’s the horns are at a lower pitch but it’s still similar to Gabriel’s.
A.O.
July 10, 2008 at 5:44 am
I can see the similarities, except in Bloc Party’s song the horns are at a slower and lower pitch. I wonder if there really is a correlation between the monkeys in both vids…hmmm
A.O.
July 10, 2008 at 5:46 am
I thought it was a sample from somewhere. You may have found it!
David
July 11, 2008 at 5:39 pm
[...] this song, the inevitable has happened: plagiarism accusations. Hypeful has pointed out that This Just Happened pointed out (gotta love trackbacks) that “Mercury” bared “a striking [...]
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