Inspiration, influence and theft: what the Ed Sheeran case can tell us about 70 years of pop music

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Earlier today, a US court ruled in favour of singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, agreeing his song Thinking Out Loud did not breach musical copyright.

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The ConversationThe Conversation
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https://theconversation.com/inspiration-influence-and-theft-what-the-ed-sheeran-case-can-tell-us-about-70-years-of-pop-music-204747https://theconversation.com/inspiration-influence-and-theft-what-the-ed-sheeran-case-can-tell-us-about-70-years-of-pop-music-204747
Retrieved on: 
Friday, May 5, 2023
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Tags: 
Heart, Flower, Theft, Music, IV, The Isley Brothers, The Old Gum Tree, Summertime Blues, Gap, Thinking Out Loud, This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You), Uptown Funk, Crowded House, Blank Space, Prince, Down, Chord, The Gap, Kookaburra (song), Beach, Nightclub, Cassette tape, Entertainment, Love, Man, Sheeran
Geotags: 
AUSTRALIA, US
Summary
Key Points: 
  • Earlier today, a US court ruled in favour of singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, agreeing his song Thinking Out Loud did not breach musical copyright.
  • The high-profile court case, brought by the estate of soul singer Marvin Gaye, claimed Sheeran’s song was too similar to Gaye’s song Let’s Get It On.
  • In this case against Sheeran, the song’s chord progression was at the heart of the claim.
  • This chord progression and many others are part of the songwriting toolkit of rock and pop and have been heard continuously over the past 70 years.

The 12 bar blues

    • One of the oldest chord progressions in pop is the 12-bar blues – a looping pattern of three chords that is very identifiable.
    • More recently, Lizzo’s Better in Colour uses the 12-bar blues in a way that makes an old formula fresh.

The ‘doo-wop’ progression

    • The “doo-wop” progression has appeared in pop music for close to 80 years, and is named because most doo-wop songs feature this chord progression – it was an essential part of its sound.
    • Comedy act Axis of Awesome use a similar progression in their video for 4 Chords, where they cleverly play almost 50 different songs with a variation on these four simple chords.

The I-IV-V (the ‘one, four, five’)

    • Perhaps the most common chord progressions in rock and pop are those that use the I, IV and V chords in various combinations.
    • They’re usually the first three chords you learn on an instrument and open up thousands of songs to play – from the rock and roll of Summertime Blues by Eddie Cochran, the garage rock of Wild Thing by the Troggs, the bubblegum of Hanson’s Mmmbop and the indie rock of Coldplay’s Yellow, to the modern pop of bad guy by Billie Eilish and good 4 u by Olivia Rodrigo.

Going forward

    • Rock, pop, blues, doo wop and other musical genres can often be defined by their use of repeated chord progressions.
    • These chord progressions are part of a songwriter’s toolkit in a similar way to how an artist may use different paint brushes.
    • It also acknowledges that influence and inspiration from previous works are part of the construction of the pop music we love.
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