BBC News, June 29, 2021

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BBC News

UK online publications

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Elvis Costello defends Olivia Rodrigo over Brutal plagiarism claim


Mark Savage

Elvis Costello has defended pop star Olivia Rodrigo after she was accused of lifting one of his guitar riffs.

Brutal, a track on Rodrigo's number one album, is based around a punky chord sequence that also featured in Costello's 1978 hit Pump It Up.

But when a Twitter user said Rodrigo's song was "pretty much a direct lift", Costello replied: "This is fine by me.

"It's how rock & roll works," he wrote. "You take the broken pieces of another thrill and make a brand new toy."

He added: "That's what I did."

The veteran singer-songwriter also included hashtags referencing Bob Dylan's 1965 classic Subterranean Homesick Blues, which inspired Pump It Up; and Chuck Berry's 1956 single Too Much Monkey Business, which influenced the Dylan song.

You can compare the Costello and Rodrigo tracks below. The guitar riff first appears 14 seconds into Brutal, and at 15 seconds in Pump It Up:


Tags: Pump It UpBob DylanSubterranean Homesick BluesChuck BerryToo Much Monkey Business

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BBC News, June 29, 2021


Mark Savage reports on Elvis defending Olivia Rodrigo against charges of plagiarism.

Images

2021-06-29 BBC News photo 01.jpg
Fans noticed a similarity between Costello's Pump It Up and Rodrigo's Brutal.
Photo credit: Gettys

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