Though their accusers have since admitted it was a joke, the Chilean culture website that accused Tame Impala of plagiarising an Argentinian pop star’s 1989 hit earlier this week have now landed the Perth band into a very un-funny situation.
On Monday, Rata.Cl pointed out some alarming similarities between Tame Impala’s 2012 single ‘Feels Like We Only Go Backwards’ (one of the songs of the decade, dontchaknow?) and ‘Océano’, a song by then-14-year-old pop star Pablo Ruiz from his 1989 album of the same name.
Following the uncanny comparison going viral “thanks to the magic of the Internet”, the ‘Backwards/Océano’ story eventually reached Ruiz himself who is now considering taking legal action against Tame Impala.
According to Rolling Stone, Ruiz discussed the sonic similarities with ESPN Radio Argentina, telling hosts: “Obviously there is plagiarism. Not if you have done it on purpose or not, but there are seven bars [in ‘Backwards’] that are equal to my song.” Ruiz added that he would consult with lawyers before deciding on his next move.
Reached for comment, Tame Impala’s prodigious frontman, Kevin Parker, simply replied, “This is a joke, right?”
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Rata‘s editors, Raúl Álvarez and Patricio Pérez tell Rolling Stone the accusations of plagiarism “was a joke – we were at a party and had that idea. Curiously, it was viralized pretty fast. We never thought we’d had this impact, and we’re very surprised about it.”
“[Pablo Ruiz] thought our ‘research’ was accurate in proving the similarities between both songs,”Álvarez and Pérez add. Asked whether they felt guilty about their story potentially forcing the Australian band into court over defending the origins of arguably their biggest hit, the Rata editors replied: “Of course we think it’s funny, but we hope there are no charges against Tame Impala. We actually like them a lot.”
Re-visit Rata‘s troublemaking video comparison below:
It’s hard to deny that there’s parallels between the two tunes, but whether it’s down to a sheer coincidence, an unconscious influence, or calculated pilfering on Tame Impala’s part is clearly in the eye of the beholder, and hopefully not in the damning eyes of a South American jury. We’ll have to wait and see.
The ‘Océano’ comparison arrives just months after the 28-year-old Parker shared his original demo of ‘…Backwards’ to the world after “going through some old shit,” the rough recording displaying the musician audibly wrestling with the melody and framework of the tune that would go on to become Tame Impala’s highest-charting ARIA single and an award-winning composition that’s been covered by everyone from Arctic Monkeys to Kendrick Lamar.
The plagiarism accusations also arrive the same week that the track landed at #11 on Pitchfork‘s list of the Best 200 tracks of the decade so far, alongside two more Tame Impala tracks, while the band’s two albums also ranked favourably in the companion ‘Top 100 Albums of the Decade’ list.
