As a Jawbreaker fan I was super pscyhed to hear Jets to Brazil’s 1998 debut Orange Rhyming Dictionary. Although a really great album, I was never able to listen to “I Typed for Miles” without thinking of Nirvana’s “Heart Shaped Box” (1993). Even AMG seems to think so!
Jets to Brazil - "I Typed for Miles" (1998)
Nirvana - "Heart Shaped Box" (1993)
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ah yes! i remember this one! i can remember being in my moms backyard. smoking pot secretly while looking for jobs online.
Holy Shit! I used to think the same thing! I skip it. Still a great record.
You can also sing the whole of ‘Heart-Shaped Box’ over the chord structure of Seether’s ‘Fine Again’. (And they are admitted fans of Nirvana.) Of course, the melody of ‘Heart-Shaped Box’ was stolen from ‘Call Me’ by Blondie who stole it from ‘Rhiannon’ by Fleetwood Mac. Blondie stole their guitar riff in ‘Call Me’ from ‘La Grange’ by ZZ Top who stole it from ‘Spirit In The Sky’ by Norman Greenbaum, who stole it from ‘Boogie Chillin” by John Lee Hooker.
And Fleetwood Mac might have got it from Sunny Afternoon by The Kinks (1966). Besides, I could be wrong, but I though the melody of Call Me (1980) might have come from I Was Made for Loving You by Kiss (1979). Anyway, Staring at the Sun by U2 (1997), Feel Good Inc. by The Gorillas (2005) and Outlaw Pete by Bruce Springsteen also have similar melodies.
And the Kinks may have got it from Puttin’ On the Ritz by Irving Berlin (1929), “Dressed up like a million dollar trooper…”, but it’s just the same ascending diatonic pattern from the first to the fifth of the minor scale.
And that, according to WhoSampled.com, came from Oh, Lady Be Good! written by George and Ira Gershwin (1924). Keith, I know you tend to avoid samples but I don’t think there was any such concept back then and it traces the melody back even further, so maybe you can leave out Puttin’ On the Ritz and include Oh, Lady Be Good!, I don’t know.
http://www.whosampled.com/sample/32363/Harry-Richman-Irving-Berlin-Puttin%27-on-the-Ritz-Paul-Whiteman-Oh,-Lady-Be-Good!/
Or at least Blondie might have got it from The Kinks. I’m not actually sure about that statement about Heart-Shaped Box being taken from Call Me, which was taken from Rhiannon, as it may have been taken straight from Rhiannon.
Part of Out of Touch by Hall and Oates (1984) also sounds like Rhiannon.
Keith, If you’ve forgotten my replies to a particular comment, please have another read.
https://www.thatsongsoundslike.com/2012/01/30/the-most-used-melody-in-pop-music/comment-page-1/#comment-1351
@Reverend Flash
You just blew my mind. This definitely deserves its own post.
speaking of heart shaped box… check out these
I like that Iron Maiden one but that Radiohead track just isn’t doing it for me.
They also sound like Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love (1978), No One Like You by The Scorpions (1982?) and Rainbow in the Dark (1983).
Anyway, as it happens when I heard Heart Shaped Box I wondered if Radiohead had been influenced by Nirvana and it seems you’ve answered my question.