10 Most Blatant Ripoffs In Rock History
8. Life on Mars? - David Bowie
It's strange looking back at how close David Bowie was to becoming a one hit wonder. As much as the Ziggy Stardust character may have been making waves in the rock underground at the time, Bowie was still known as the "Space Oddity" guy, expected to write about weird space travel songs for the rest of his life. Though we did get a sequel of sorts with the Life on Mars?, the ownership of the melody may be the reason why that question mark is there.
During the interim between Bowie deciding to pursue music full time, he had originally turned in time as a songwriter writing lyrics for melodies he was given. Originally starting off with a French melody that he morphed into a song called Even a Fool Learns to Love, Bowie was upset when his original lyrics were co-opted into the song My Way, which would later become the classic by Frank Sinatra.
Looking to take his spite to the top, Life on Mars? is practically a bastardization of what the original melody was, down to the fact that Bowie even credits "Frankie" in the liner notes of Hunky Dory for the inspiration. As much as Bowie could make mindblowing music out of thin air, it sometimes pays to have something that's a little bit borrowed.