In The Groove Machines
Earlier this week we received the following email from a MetalSucks reader known as “Odie the Roady:”
In the Groove 2 is the sequel to Roxor Games 2004 arcade game In the Groove. There is a total of 137 songs available in the arcade version. This includes all 72 from the original arcade game, the three new songs in the home version, and 65 brand new songs, four of which are hidden and un-lockable.
In 1996; Syracuse NY band Monster Dog went into the studio to record a 6 song demo….
That same year, upon the release of the demo, the band attended a Kings X show. (Ear Candy tour)
That evening the band gave their promo-pack to KX, for possible tour-support consideration. A CD was obviously included.
Two years later… KX released their “Tape Head” CD. The opening track was called ‘Groove Machine’.
The song was undeniably similar to Monster Dogs track called ‘Slacker’.
Why bring it up now, you may ask? After reading a rather arrogantly worded interview with Dug Pinnick, bassist of Kings X on ‘LondonGrooveMachine.com‘….Dug states his feelings on song writing as well as his methods. It became obvious that Monster Dog was indeed victim to his writing skills.
If this were about money.
The band would have found the resources to pursue the matter years ago.
Lesson….Don’t EVER give your music to another creative entity. Regardless of how universally respected they may be. Monster Dog does hold a copyright on its demo…But, let the public decide.
“Imitation is not flattery when it is not credited or unrecognized.”
Here’s the interview quote from Dug Pinnick to which the above reader is referring:
And there is an anxiety that happens also when I sit down to write. I’m going, ‘Oh God, what am I gonna come up with?’ And then all of a sudden the floodgates fly open, because I start thinking of all the music I’ve listened to for the last 60-some years. And so I just find the things that I love, steal them, change them around a little bit, and call them my own. Basically what all of us musicians are is just plagiarists. We just write what we’ve heard. We never come up with anything original. The more information you get, the more you can make music that will fool everyone to think that it’s original. Get what I’m saying?
Now let’s compare the tunes. Here’s “Slacker” by Monsterdog:
In The Groove Machines Youtube
And here’s “Groove Machine” by King’s X:
Even as a HUGE King’s X fanboy and a lover of all things Dug Pinnick forever and always, it’s pretty hard to deny the similarities there, especially in light of the Monster Dog anecdote and Dug’s quote. But you know what? Even if Pinnick did steal that riff, he not only changed it up and made it his own, but he made it better; his version has a subtle complexity that the original just doesn’t. And, as Pinnick said above, pretty much all musicians do this sort of thing on a regular basis.
In The Groove Machine For Sale
What do you think? Is it plagiarism or is it different enough to stand on its own? Chime in below.
Work is performed by applying a force over a distance. These simple machines create a greater output force than the input force; the ratio of these forces is the mechanical advantage of the machine. All six of the simple machines have been used for thousands of years, and the physics behind several of them were quantified by Archimedes. These machines can be used together to create an even greater mechanical advantage, as in the case of a bicycle.
Tongue And Groove Machine
Lever
A lever is a simple machine that consists of a rigid object (often a bar of some kind) and a fulcrum (or pivot). Applying a force to one end of the rigid object causes it to pivot about the fulcrum, causing a magnification of the force at another point along the rigid object. There are three classes of levers, depending on where the input force, output force, and fulcrum are in relation to each other. Baseball bats, seesaws, wheelbarrows, and crowbars are types of levers.
Wheel & Axle
A wheel is a circular device that is attached to a rigid bar in its center. A force applied to the wheel causes the axle to rotate, which can be used to magnify the force (by, for example, having a rope wind around the axle). Alternately, a force applied to provide rotation on the axle translates into rotation of the wheel. It can be viewed as a type of lever that rotates around a center fulcrum. Ferris wheels, tires, and rolling pins are examples of wheels & axles.
Inclined Plane
An inclined plane is a plane surface set at an angle to another surface. This results in doing the same amount of work by applying the force over a longer distance. The most basic inclined plane is a ramp; it requires less force to move up a ramp to a higher elevation than to climb to that height vertically. The wedge is often considered a specific type of inclined plane.
Wedge
A wedge is a double-inclined plane (both sides are inclined) that moves to exert a force along the lengths of the sides. The force is perpendicular to the inclined surfaces, so it pushes two objects (or portions of a single object) apart. Axes, knives, and chisels are all wedges. The common 'door wedge' uses the force on the surfaces to provide friction, rather than separate things, but it's still fundamentally a wedge.
Screw
A screw is a shaft that has an inclined groove along its surface. By rotating the screw (applying a torque), the force is applied perpendicular to the groove, thus translating a rotational force into a linear one. It is frequently used to fasten objects together (as the hardware screw & bolt does), although Babylonians developed a 'screw' that could elevate water from a low-lying body to a higher one (which later came to be known as Archimedes' screw).
Pulley
A pulley is a wheel with a groove along its edge, where a rope or cable can be placed. It uses the principle of applying force over a longer distance, and also the tension in the rope or cable, to reduce the magnitude of the necessary force. Complex systems of pulleys can be used to greatly reduce the force that must be applied initially to move an object.