Another rip-off? Zombie Nation's Kernkraft 400

Rick2525 · Post by **Rick2525** » 24/03/2007 - 5:36

Apologies if this is old news. There has been a lot of fuss made about Timbaland for his unauthorised use of a SID tune, so I thought I'd brief you on something else that I found out just recently.

I was searching around for all things "Shaun Of The Dead" when I paid particular attention to track09 of the OST ... this was a mix between two songs, one called Zombi by Goblin and another called Kernkraft 400 by Zombie Nation ... and believe me, I got very confused about which names were the song titles and which were the artists. Anyway, this was created in 2000 I think and it eventually ended up in the SotD movie in 2003. The Goblin tune isn't the one I'm worried about, it's the Zombie Nation Kernkraft 400.

I came across the wiki for Zombie Nation (links below) which made specific mention that this song is a direct note-for-note rendention of David Whittaker's Lazy Jones. Now, does anyone know whether permission was sought after for the use of DW's original tune here? If so, then DW must have made a small fortune in royalties since it was subsequently used in the SotD movie ... maybe somebody could subtly point him towards this occurence.

I'm sure that there are a few more generic pop-songs out there that have made use of existing SID tunes as well, but I'm surprised that I haven't heard about this one before. Does anyone have any opinions on this apparent rip-off (if it is one)? Apparently it became extremely popular around the German techno music circuit, so surely DW is entitled to some recompense if he hasn't been adequately rewarded already. I just hate people who profit off of the efforts of others (just like every second song on the radio nowadays that is a remix of an old 80s/90s pop song).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_Nation_(band)
http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/20 ... ews-02.asp

Chris Abbott · Post by **Chris Abbott** » 24/03/2007 - 8:12

It's very well known, as you say, and David eventually reached a settlement with the record label...*

Chris

* Not a very good one though.

dan gillgrass · Post by **dan gillgrass** » 18/05/2007 - 8:25

This was posted over at Lemon... Some people just love the SID...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp7ir1Up ... ed&search=

Romeo Knight · Post by **Romeo Knight** » 18/05/2007 - 10:32

What a rip-off!
And those guys don't even rock -they're those typical wussy poppers pretending to be tattooed rock musicians....I'd prefer listening to Shania Twain instead.....

Post by **LMan** » 18/05/2007 - 12:55

dan gillgrass wrote:This was posted over at Lemon... Some people just love the SID...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp7ir1Up ... ed&search=

Hmm... the chords are of course used to death, and the "tinkle tinkle" might be coincidence or subconcious plagiarism. I don't think it's a blunt rip-off.

Post by **tas** » 18/05/2007 - 18:47

Romeo Knight wrote:
What a rip-off!
And those guys don't even rock -they're those typical wussy poppers pretending to be tattooed rock musicians....I'd prefer listening to Shania Twain instead.....

Looking at her isn't bad.. but listening now thats scraping the bottom of the barrel

It sounds extremely like a rip off mind - Although it could be a coincidence. I Imagine that'd be hard to prove. The thing that got me about it was on the odd occaision i caught a glimpse of the melody within the lyrics all be it quite subtle. Maybe I was just looking for it to be that way!

Chris Abbott · Post by **Chris Abbott** » 18/05/2007 - 19:55

Not actionable: I think it might be something subconscious going on tho'...

Chris

Infamous · Post by **Infamous** » 19/05/2007 - 1:00

Im just wondering why matt lucas is fronting the band.. guy looks a spit for him (with a wig on).

anyway its very debatable... and as markus said the chords used are far too common to really be able to have a go at them, that'd be like the cavemen suing EVERYONE for using sound cos they did it 1st.

Romeo Knight · Post by **Romeo Knight** » 19/05/2007 - 21:17

Markus and Infamous: Yes, those chords have already been used 1000 times before Monty but what perplexes me is that
a) the notes of the famous accompany melody are 100% the same
b) the tempo matches almost exactly
c) the accompany melody is played with flageolet technique and the specific flageolet notes have big distances on the guitar fretboard. That makes it unlikely that this melody was "composed" on guitar during jamming or something.
The lower key is only for letting it sound "harder" with those low-tuned guitars.
IMO they knew about Monty Hiscore - but also knew that the musical idea itself is too generic to get sued anyway. I could be wrong though

dan gillgrass · Post by **dan gillgrass** » 20/05/2007 - 0:11

Chris Abbott wrote:Not actionable: I think it might be something subconscious going on tho'...

Chris

Sorry, it SO is... bet one of the band had a c64 and loved Hubbard !

Waz · Post by **Waz** » 20/05/2007 - 7:16

dan gillgrass wrote: Sorry, it SO is... bet one of the band had a c64 and loved Hubbard !

I think if the guitar riff covered the main lead voice of the C64 version then there'd definitely be a court case brewing, because then it would be much more noticeable than us diehards have spotted already.

Mind you, might be worth mentioning it to the band anyway and see what their comments are? The album's been #1 in Canada so that's a fair amount of sales..

Tonka · Post by **Tonka** » 20/05/2007 - 9:56

Man - does anyone else feel physically sick whilst listening to this guy's whineing vocals?

I reckon it's a rip-off, myself...

Chris Abbott · Post by **Chris Abbott** » 20/05/2007 - 10:58

As I said, it's not actionable because the burden of proof is too high, and the amount ripped off too low.

Chris