Plagiarism allegations

[Agustin123]

In an interview with BELPOP, Lords of Acid founder Praga Khan confronted the Chemical Brothers backstage over the drum programming used in "Hey Boy Hey Girl" that is identical to "I Sit On Acid 2000" released by Lords of Acid. Their response to the allegations was "Everyone steals from everyone. "Hey Boy Hey Girl" was released in 1999 and "I Sit on Acid 2000" in 2000. Therefore it is impossible for the Chemical Brothers to sample I sit on acid if that song is from the year 2000. The question is: Why did Prague Khan accuse them of sampling "I sit on acid" if he himself sampled "Hey Boy Hey Girl"?

[Wolkenkrabber]

I Sit On Acid first came out in 1988. But the drums do not sound the same as HBHG. Furthermore, I'm not sure how anyone can be serious about drum programming plagiarism really. Unless it's something really distinctive like Plastikman's

or Moby's

which are basically just drum tracks. Even things like the Winstons' Amen Break or James Brown's/Clyde Stubblefield's Funky Drummer didn't get them any royalties for those samples of their human performances...

When I first read about it I wondered if there was more to it, and indeed I asked a similar question to yours on the previous incarnation of this forum HERE. As you can see, no one here really understood Praga Khan's position when we discussed it in 2014.

ps: I Sit On Acid 2000 actually came out in 2001.

[Agustin123]

Thank you for explaining to me. That issue reminds me a lot of the problem the members of The Prodigy had when the Jedi Knights accused them of sampling Air Drums from outer bongolia without authorization and they themselves sampled without authorization the song "Bongolia" of Incredible Bongo Band.

[WhiteNoise]

ps: I Sit On Acid 2000 actually came out in 2001.

A Lords of Acid fan informed me that they'd been performing the 2000 version of I Sit On Acid live for quite some time before they released a studio version of it - and apparently well before The Chems released the final version of Hey Boy Hey Girl. That's where those allegations come from.

[Csar]

and apparently well before The Chems released the final version of Hey Boy Hey Girl.

So, "well before" means at least in 1999 or 1998? I'd like to hear a pre-2000 version of this just to get a clue whether the beats/synthline were indeed similar to the chems' HBHG at that time. So far, I couldn't find any footage on YT.

Oh, and by the way, a former member translated the quote from the BEPOP interview as follows:

"I've confronted them with this fact backstage at Wrechter, I just approached them and said that they simply copied it. Getting inspired by a track is one thing but directly copying another. they replied with "we all listen to each other" which might be true but in my opinion they did more than listening here.
"I've often contemplated the idea to take action but I never did so far. Maybe that can be a nice way to fill my pension (he used a dutch saying which is untranslatable: een appeltje voor de dorst) who knows?"

At 4:20

[Wolkenkrabber]

they'd been performing the 2000 version of I Sit On Acid live for quite some time before they released a studio version of it - and apparently well before The Chems released the final version of Hey Boy Hey Girl.

Hmm. Well...maybe! There were quite a few versions of I Sit On Acid. I agree Csar, it would be interesting to hear a live version from '98/99.
In the mean time, there is a  1996 version. Although the drum sounds aren't identical, there is some similarity and there's also something in the melody that sounds like it may have indeed influenced HBHG. Perhaps Praga Khan is telling the truth after all.

[Explud]

Who's Praga Khan?

[Wolkenkrabber]

Who's Praga Khan?

The guy in the interview in Csar's post. The "brains" behind Lords of Acid. And the creator of this insane rave tune...which I used to have on an old rave tape. Maybe I still do.

[Explud]

It was sarcasm))

[Goldmaster]

time travel