Elvis Costello Defends Popstar Olivia Rodrigo from Plagiarism Claims: ‘It’s How Rock and Roll Works’
Tibrina Hobson, Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Elvis Costello came to Oliva Rodrigo’s defense this week, as she continues to be accused of plagiarism by both social media users as well as fellow artists.
Twitter user Billy Edwards posted an article from The Guardian on Monday, headlined “Olivia Rodrigo accused of plagiarism by Courtney Love and others,”
“No shit,” he wrote. “First song on the album is a pretty much direct lift from Elvis Costello.”
No shit. First song on the album is a pretty much direct lift from Elvis Costello https://t.co/yzkj9AFQ8A
— Billy Edwards (@biiilyedwards) June 28, 2021
Edwards was referencing a guitar riff from Rodrigo’s song “Brutal,” comparing it to Costello’s 1978 hit “Pump It Up.”
Costello, however, granted Rodrigo a pass, writing, “It’s how rock and roll works.”
This is fine by me, Billy.
It’s how rock and roll works. You take the broken pieces of another thrill and make a brand new toy. That’s what I did. #subterreaneanhomesickblues #toomuchmonkeybusiness— Elvis Costello (@ElvisCostello) June 28, 2021
“This is fine by me, Billy,” he tweeted. “It’s how rock and roll works. You take the broken pieces of another thrill and make a brand new toy. That’s what I did.”
Costello also included hashtags “subterreaneanhomesickblues” and “toomuchmonkeybusiness,” implying he was inspired by both the Bob Dylan and Chuck Berry tracks.
“‘Pump It Up’ obviously took more than a little bit from ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues,'” Costello previously wrote in his 2015 autobiography Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink.
The rock legend also noted that U2’s 2009 song “Get On Your Boots” seemed to have been inspired by “Pump it Up.”
“One night, many years later, Bob Dylan said to me: ‘U2! How could they do that to you? How could they take your song like that?’ It took me a moment to know what he was talking about, and a moment more to realize that he was putting me on,” Costello wrote. “But then, U2’s ‘Get On Your Boots’ was probably to ‘Pump It Up’ what ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ is to Chuck Berry’s ‘Too Much Monkey Business.'”
Love was not feeling as generous as Costello this week, slamming Rodrigo as “rude” and accusing her of copying the cover art for Hole’s 1994 album “Live Through This.”
“Does Disney teach kids reading & writing? God knows,” she wrote on Facebook. “Let’s see. Yes this is rude. Rage inducing? Honey if I had a dollar for everyone this happens? I’d be real rich!”
Courtney Love calls out Olivia Rodrigo for recreating her band’s Hole album cover, demands flowers and a note:
“Does Disney teach kids reading & writing? God knows. Let’s see. Yes this is rude. Rage inducing? Honey if I had a dollar for everyone this happens? I’d be real rich!” pic.twitter.com/dkFJdnX733
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) June 27, 2021
Several Tik Tok users have also noted the similarities between Rodrigo’s “Good 4 U” and Paramore’s 2007 “Misery Business” — film director Erin McGoff writing, “‘“wait a darn second here….’ -millennials.”
@erinmcgoff“wait a darn second here….” -millennials (both songs are ? tho) ##oliviarodrigo ##paramore ##good4u ##sour ##fyp
