1. Vanilla Ice's "Ice, Ice Baby" vs. Queen's and David Bowie's "Under Pressure"
This is another obvious choice (again, I needed a rounded five!), but I couldn't let this one go. People wouldn't forgive me. As everyone knows by now, "Ice, Ice Baby" rips off the bass line from the Queen and David Bowie classic "Under Pressure." Using samples of old songs in rap wasn't new, but you usually give the original artists credit. Not Ice, baby. The producer of his song figured as long as the record didn't become a hit, no one would care. This reminds me of when Milli Vanilli was hoping they didn't win the Grammy for Best New Artist because they knew people would eventually figure out they were lip syncing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a01QQZyl-_I They were right: they did win, and they were found out. As history has shown, and unfortunately for its producer, "Ice, Ice Baby" became huge, not only the song Vanilla Ice was most known for but really his only legitimate hit, unless you count the ridiculously awful "Ninja Rap" from the soundtrack of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze, and I don't. The best part is hearing Vanilla Ice, née Rob Van Winkle, defend the song years later on VH1's Behind the Music: "Theirs goes, 'Ding-ding-ding-da-da-ding-ding,' and mine goes, 'Ding-ding-ding-da-da-ding-ding-DING!' It's not the same!" Of course. So which pairs of songs that also sound remarkably similar did I miss? Which tunes give you musical déjà vu? Fire off in the comments below.
Michael Perone
Michael Perone has written for The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore City Paper, The Island Ear (now titled Long Island Press), and The Long Island Voice, a short-lived spinoff of The Village Voice. He currently works as an Editor in Manhattan. And he still thinks Michael Keaton was the best Batman.
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