Eddy Grant accuses Gorillaz’ song ‘Stylo’ of being a copy of his song ‘Time Warp’

A lot of people sent this one in – thanks to all of you. The first person to send it was cotsie:-

Musician Eddy Grant ( information on Wikipedia here) has accused Gorillaz’ of copying his song ‘Time Warp’ for their song ‘Stylo’.

If you want to compare the songs, you can listen to them on Youtube:- Time Warp | Stylo

When Stylo came out, many comments on Youtube noted its similarity to Eddy Grant’s song. But this story only broke after Eddy Grant took legal advice on Friday and then, on Monday, contacted some websites and news outlets in the UK to air his greivances. His initial email read:-

“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 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.”

A further update then came when the NME contacted Grant to ask him questions about the statement. From NME.COM:-
“Grant said he feels the keyboard section on his song is the same as the recent release from Damon Albarn and co, and even suggested that the track’s creators were aware of the clash. “Damon Albarn knows in his heart of hearts – it’s unfortunate that we cant get into people’s hearts – he knows that this is a song that he’s loved, in his club days…I don’t know the guy…but he knows this is a song he loves,” he claimed, although he admitted that he had never met Albarn and had not realised the Blur man was behind Gorillaz until recently. Ironically, Grant explained that both he and Gorillaz/Albarn share the same publishing company, EMI, and was critical that they had not highlighted the issue to him before the new song’s release. “It has to go back to the beginning, where it should have started with a phone call from Damon to my publisher. My publisher would have contacted me – the publisher being of course the same EMI that looks after his [music],” he explained. Grant suggested EMI have consulted a musicologist to compare the two tracks before he had been made aware of ‘Stylo”s existence. “In a properly configured relationship I would have gotten a call from EMI to say, ‘Damon wants to use ‘Time Warp’. What arrangement can you guys come to? Would you claim 100 per cent, would you claim 60 per cent, or 70 per cent of whatever it is?’,” he suggested. “That phone call never came. Instead what happened is somebody went straight to a musicologist, implying that there was some kind of pre-knowledge of some kind of infringement.” A spokesperson for EMI Publishing told NME.COM: “This is a private matter between Eddy Grant and Gorillaz, and we’re not intending to make any further comment.”

Today the newspaper The Independent has a piece on the story (read it here), which includes some new quotes from Eddy, who has apparently vowed to “take it to God, let alone the courts”. Nobody else has been able to confirm whether a musicologist was instructed by EMI to compare Stylo and Time Warp.

Gorillaz aped my song, says furious Eddy Grant

Reggae star demands full credit and apology from Damon Albarn’s band

By Arifa Akbar, Arts Correspondent

Eddy Grant claims the single, ‘Stylo’, taken from Gorillaz’ new album, Plastic Beach,was a ‘blatant rip-off’ of his 1982 single, ‘Time Warp’

One is a Guyana-born musician who was at the forefront of the reggae scene in the 1980s and recently headlined the Womad festival for world music. The other is a virtual band composed of four animated characters, which was formed just over a decade ago by Damon Albarn from the Britpop band Blur.

So, despite being successful musical acts, they would appear to have little in common – apart from, that is, a melody that seems to appear on both their tracks.

Eddy Grant yesterday accused Gorillaz of “nicking” the music from his anthemic dance classic, “Time Warp”, for their latest single, “Stylo”, which features on their album Plastic Beach, currently at number two in the UK album charts,

Fiona Sturges: Copy or not, Gorillaz’s song is inferior to Eddy’s
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Grant, 62, launched a broadside at the band, claiming their single was a “blatant rip-off” of his double A-side, released in 1982.

He accused band-members of infringing his song’s copyright, suggesting that they used his composition knowingly, and he has now referred the case to his lawyers, vowing to “take it to God, let alone the courts”.

“This is pure piracy, it is an obvious infringement of my song,” he said yesterday. “Anyone who knows ‘Time Warp’ will know this is ‘Time Warp’ with people singing and rapping over it, [along] with funny little noises. ‘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 Gorillaz and their management company.”

Ironically, Grant’s record company, Greenheart Music Limited, which published “Time Warp”, is administered by EMI Publishing, which also published “Stylo”.

Grant said he was also dismayed at EMI Publishing although he did not hold the company in any way responsible. “I am very angry that this was not picked up by our mutual publisher EMI’s administration division,” he said. “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.”

Dylan Jones, the vice-president of corporate communications and marketing at EMI Music Publishing, in New York, said: “This is a private matter between Eddy Grant and Gorillaz, and we’re not intending to make any further comment.”

He refused to confirm a report that EMI Publishing has enlisted a musicologist to analyse the two songs.

Music websites and the blogosphere were yesterday divided on the alleged similarity between the two songs. A comment on the Addict Music site speculated that Grant was being over-sensitive, while comments on YouTube’s message board were more mixed, with one writer claiming that “Gorillaz is slower and the bass line is not even close”, while another leaving a message under Eddy Grant’s song said a “great tune (this), anyone else think that Gorillaz ripped it off a bit?”

Grant, whose family emigrated to north London from Guyana when he was young, rose to fame in the 1980s with a series of chart hits. In 1982, his solo recording of “I Don’t Wanna Dance” spent three weeks at number one in the UK singles chart. A year later, the single “Electric Avenue” was both a British and American number two hit, selling more than a million copies. He now lives in Barbados.