Electric Avenue hitster Eddy Grant has claimed that Damon Albarn-led supercartoonygroup Gorillaz have, in no uncertain terms, ripped off one of his songs and tried to pass it off as their own. Grant says that his track 'Time Warp' is the basis for Gorillaz's newest single 'Stylo'.
Here's what he wrote in an e-mail, sent around this morning.
"I am outraged that the Gorillaz have infringed the copyright of my song 'Time Warp' claiming their song 'Stylo' to be an original composition. My song sits almost note to note with their release and is a blatant rip off. “Time Warp” is a very popular song and has been a staple of the DJ scene for many years and I feel total disrespect from Gorilliaz [sic] and their management company, especially as they are an established act."
"I am very angry that this was not picked up by our mutual publisher EMI's administration division. I do not blame my publishers but, the state of the industry at the current time with all labels and publishers folding into one and becoming incestuous. It’s such an obvious copy that from day one the band and their management should have taken control of this situation with EMI Publishing. I would like the outcome to be that the band admits that they have lifted my song, that I have a full credit for the song and an apology from the band."
As ever, you can do some of the detective work yourself. Click below to hear if it REALLY IS a blatant act of plagiarism, or just two fairly generic beats which wind in a similar way for a similar length of time doing fairly generic similar things.