When Italian soccer fans were victorious at the World Cup recently, they adopted the White Stripes’ iconic riff from “Seven Nation Army” as their official anthem and the Rolling Stones were even joined by two star players for an a capella version soon after. The song has since become a stadium chant at matches all over Europe, where many soccer hooligans aren’t even aware of its origin at this point. “I am honored that the Italians have adopted this song as their own,” White said. “Nothing is more beautiful in music than when people embrace a melody and allow it to enter the pantheon of folk music.”
Well, it may be okay for a stadium of sports fans, but White wasn’t too keen on his It Might Get Loud co-star taking liberties with said “folk” riff. Daily Express reports that U2’s the Edge wrote a guitar melody and performed it for his brother, who warned him that it was too similar to White’s guitar (detuned down an octave) riff. “I went back and listened, and it wasn’t exactly (Seven Nation Army),” the Edge said. To be completely sure (and probably to avoid an embarrassing plagiarism lawsuit), Edge brought it to the man himself: “I played it for Jack, and he was like, ‘Mmm, it’s a bit close, isn’t it?’”
See that, Coldplay? If you had only let Joe Satriani and Cat Stevens hear your demos, that whole mess could’ve been avoided.