The Hip-Hop classic “California Love” by 2Pac & Dr. Dre is actually a sample from the Joe Cocker song “Woman To Woman“.  Check it out…

Joe Cocker - “Woman To Woman”

2Pac & Dr. Dre – “California Love”

I’d say that gives Joe Cocker some street cred and i’m sure lots money with the help of Hip Hop legends 2Pac & Dre…

Found this on youtube…Liam Gallagher vocal tracks for “Hello” sounds amazing and the effects and delays are awesome!!!  Plus you can clearly the Noel Gallagher “Said It’s Good To Be Back” background vocal that ended up getting Oasis sued by Gary Glitter and was credited to Noel Gallagher, Gary Glitter and Mike Leander on the album.

Gary Glitter – Hello, Hello I’m Back Again

“Whole Lotta Love” is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin. It is featured as the opening track on the band’s second album, Led Zeppelin II, and was released in the US and Japan as a single.  Most people think it is a Led Zeppelin original but they actually nicked two versions of two songs to make theirs.  Check it out.

In 1962, Muddy Waters recorded “You Need Love” written for him by peer Willie Dixon.  Some of the lyrics of Led Zeppelin’s version were borrowed from this song, a Robert Plant favorite.

In 1966 British mod band the Small Faces recorded the song as “You Need Loving” for their début Decca LP.  Plant’s phrasing is particularly similar to that of Steve Marriott’s in this version.

Similarities with “You Need Love” would lead to a lawsuit against Led Zeppelin, settled out of court in favour of Dixon in 1985.  Strangely, the Small Faces were never sued by Dixon, even though “You Need Loving” still only credits Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott.

Robert Plant later said…

“Page’s riff was Page’s riff. It was there before anything else. I just thought, ‘well, what am I going to sing?’ That was it, a nick. Now happily paid for. At the time, there was a lot of conversation about what to do. It was decided that it was so far away in time (it was in fact 7 years) and influence that…well, you only get caught when you’re successful. That’s the game.”

For the second single off of Oasis’ Definitely Maybe record, “Shakermaker” Noel Gallagher’s ”borrowed” the melody for “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing” (the song made famous from its use on Coca Cola commercials n the 1970s) by Roger Cook, Roger Greenaway, Bill Backer and Billy Davis. Oasis was successfully sued for the unlicensed use by The New Seekers and they had to pay out $A500,000 (Australian dollars). When asked about the incident, Noel Gallagher said, “We drink Pepsi now.”

Oasis Shakermaker Acoustic (Coca-Cola lyrics)

The title of the song was also taken from this 1970′s toy called a Shaker Maker.

The Flaming Lips were sued by Cat Stevens over the song “Fight Test” as it is sounds like Cat Stevens’ song “Father and Son.”

The Flaming Lips – Fight Test vs. Cat Stevens – Father & Son

Cat Stevens — “Father and Son“

The Flaming Lips — “Fight Test”

Stevens, now Yusuf Islam, is now receiving royalties following a settlement.  In an interview, Wayne Coyne stated,

“I want to go on record for the first time and say that I really apologise for the whole thing. I really love Cat Stevens. I truly respect him as a great singer-songwriter. And now he wants his money. There was a time during the recording when we said, this has a similarity to “Father And Son”.  Then we purposefully changed those bits. But I do regret not contacting his record company and asking their opinion.  Maybe we could have gone 50-50.  As it is, Cat Stevens is now getting 75 per cent of royalties from “Fight Test“,  We could easily have changed the melody but we didn’t. I am really sorry that Cat Stevens thinks I’m purposefully plagiarising his work. I am ashamed. There is obviously a fine line between being inspired and stealing. But if anyone wanted to borrow part of a Flaming Lips song, I don’t think I’d bother pursuing it. I’ve got better things to do.  Anyway, Cat Stevens is never going to make much money out of us.’