Everyone knows Avril Lavigne as a Canadian punk princess? Avril Lavigne is now one of the best-selling Canadian pop singers, but with fame always comes with a downside.
Avril Lavigne was accused of plagiarizing her song “Girlfriend” from a 1970’s song called “ I wanna be your boyfriend” by The Rubinoos. When the U.S. songwriters filed a lawsuit against Avril, she said, “ They claim that a small part of the lyrics are the same and are saying that I took these from them. I had never heard this song in my life”. If that is the case then why is the meter and the rhythm so similar? The Rubinoos song features the chorus lyrics “ Hey, hey, you, you, I wanna be your boyfriend” very similar to Avril’s more up-tempo chorus “ Hey, hey, you, you I don’t like your girlfriend”. This song was a hit before Avril was born and maybe she didn’t hear it but what about the song by Lush? Avril should have never made the statement that she’s never heard the song before because I believe she either heard it from the Rubinoos or Lush. Maybe she subconsciously knew it already but consciously doesn’t remember hearing it. This isn’t the only song Avril has copied what about the Peaches Avril admitted to copying that so what makes this one so different. Once a copycat always a copycat! So much for that reputation of having her own style in music. The “Girlfriend” lawsuit was filed in California’s Northern Federal District Court where Nicholas Carline accused Avril of copyright infringement. In Court it was stated by Carline “ The entire song is not the same, they have different bridges, but the heart and soul of her song is directly taken from our client”. With that being said The Rubinoos would have never gotten this much fame without Avril. I had never heard of the Rubinoos until this case came up. Maybe this case was their way to regain fame. To avoid all this Avril should have just gotten their permission and make it sound more to what people are listening to today which is almost what she did. There is two ways you could look at this she copied the song made millions of dollars from it and lied about never hearing it or she has actually never heard it and was really inspired by the Rolling Stones. Either way she wasn’t found guilty. Dunbar and Gangwer said "We are satisfied that any similarities between the two songs resulted from Avril and Luke's use of certain common and widely used lyrics. We therefore completely exonerate Avril and Luke from any wrongdoing of any kind in connection with the claims made by us in our lawsuit." After the case came to its conclusion.
Referances:
Archives , Actress. Avril Lavigne Fires Back over 'Girlfriend' Plagiarism. 09 July 2007. 08 Mar. 2008 http://www.actressarchives.com/news.php?id=6613.
Scandals. Songwriters 'Completely Exonerate' Avril Lavigne. 15 Jan. 2008. 08 Mar. 2008 . CTV.ca.
Lavigne Lawsuit Has Limited Chances: Lawyer. 5 July 2007.
Images
"TheRubinoos". No Date. Online Image. Rate Your Music. 8 March 2008. <http://rateyourmusic.com/misc/link_imagealbum_id=71367&image_hotlinked
“Avril Lavigne". No Date. Online Image. Big Pond Music. 8 March 2008. <http://bigpondmusic.com/Album/Avril-Lavigne/The-Best-Damn-Thing.aspx>.
