Copyright Infringements: Black Crowes vs. Gretchen Wilson

Copyright infringement suits have been going off the roof for the past few years. Many include alleged offenders like Avril Lavigne, who made money off of her single, Girlfriend, which clearly sounded a bit too much like another song made by The Rubinoos in the 70's. Now, there is another law suit, this time The Black Crowes vs. country singer, Gretchen Wilson.


The Black Crowes have never really hit mainstream success, but have made a decent living off of their music. The song in question is from their 1991 multi-platinum debut album Shake Your Money Maker, entitled, Jealous Again.

Gretchen Wilson has a very similar riff and vocal melody in her song, Work Hard Play Harder which can be enjoyed in the context of this commercial for actress Holly Hunter's acclaimed TNT series Saving Grace.

Allegedly, Wilson has never heard The Black Crowes song and any similarity of the two was 'accidental.' Righhht. However, many songs of this genre all sound the same, especially since they all use the same chords.

What do you think?