10 Rock Songs That Ripped Off Other Songs

Weezer's debut record is one of the most energetic releases to come out of the mid 90's. With much of the rock scene still drowning in irony thanks to the grunge movement, this album showed a style of music more lighthearted after the death of Kurt Cobain. While you can describe the intricacies of this record for hours on end, not many would use the word heavy to describe the band's sound.

However, songwriter Rivers Cuomo has admitted to having a more metallic influence when writing the riff for "Undone (The Sweater Song.)" Cuomo's statement in interviews explained that he used Metallica's early ballad "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" as a model when composing the tune. If you pay attention to the way the opening guitar line moves, you will start to hear the common themes between this pop punk masterpiece and the introspective thrash metal ballad.

At the same time, Weezer do provide a distinct difference to the Metallica song by playing their riff in a major key. Ironically enough, the off-kilter nature of this riff in a happier key makes the song feel more melancholy than it is in Metallica's original version. In a scene defined by their sonic identities, Weezer showed that even something as raw as metal could fit in a pop context.