I thought I was crazy but Ryan G submitted this and confirmed my belief that Imagine Dragons’ “Demons” sounds a bit like Madonna‘s “Like a Prayer”. Maybe it’s more of the vocal cadence. Have a listen:
More Madonna on this site:
As much as I love the French electronic duo Daft Punk and their great funky single “Get Lucky” (May 2013) I have to call into question the strong similarities of a track called “Get Out” (Posted April 2011 on Soundcloud) by an unknown French trio by the name of Milks. This gem was just brought to my attention by Eleanor. I see there are a few videos on YouTube pointing this out but I’m surprised this hasn’t become a bigger deal on the internet. “Get Lucky” is also co-written by Pharrell Williams who has made a few appearances on this site (links below).
Listen for yourself!
I think maybe the chorus melody works even better with this comparison:
Here are some links for Milks if you are interested:
For more Pharrell Williams on this site check out:
Diet Coke vs. Pharrell Williams
Ed Sheeran “Sing” (co-written by Pharrell) vs. Yacht vs. The Rolling Stones
UPDATE 9/22/2014:
Eleanor suggested the following and it’s pretty damn interesting. Check out this snippet of prodigal guitar player Zack Kim performing an original guitar track called “Robot Dance”. Even the name is somewhat coincidental. This is from a fan channel on YouTube so I can’t really verify much other than that it was uploaded on December 22, 2011. Full video is below.
I think this compares best with the”Get Lucky” pre-chorus:
Left: Pitbull, Right: There are a lot of great random photos of Steven Tyler (Aerosmith). This is one of them.
I don’t have a lot of info on this new Pitbull track but the vocal is very similar to Aerosmith‘s 1975 hit “Walk This Way” (later covered by/with Run D.M.C.). I’m sure it’s some sort of homage, but to Aerosmith or Run D.M.C.?
After hearing the Pitbull track I couldn’t help hearing a bit of Michael Jackson‘s “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin” Mama-say mama-sah ma-ma-coo-sah chant in the guitar riff. I also just found out this tidbit from Wikipedia:
“The coda is “Mama-say mama-sah ma-ma-coo-sah”. Makossa is a Cameroonian music genre and dance. Dibango sued Jackson and settled out of court for one million French francs, agreeing thereby to waive future rights to this recording but not future use of the material.” from wikipedia