Los Angeles based songwriter Jason Shapiro is suing The Hives for supposedly stealing a riff and a vocal melody from him. The song in question is the Hives 2007 single: “Tick Tick Boom”. Shapiro strongly believes they borrowed from his song “Why You?” which was recorded by the Roofies in 1997, and also recorded again by a band called Three Way in 2002. Shapiro said that he met with a musicologist before going through with any legal actions, and the specialist said he had a case.
But the real kicker is that Shapiro says he loves the Hives, but that he just wants his credit where credit is due. Fair enough, if in fact he actually has a legitimate case in the first place. Here are two youtube videos of the songs mentioned in this article. Check it out for yourself, and see if you agree with the charges that the main riff and vocal melody are similar in each song. Via NME
Videos:
Why You? – Roofies (1997)
Vs.
The Hives – Tick Tick Boom (2007)
-Brent K.
