Green Day's "21 Guns" inspired by Mott the Hoople?
There is a growing amount of internet chatter about the similarities between Green Day's new single "21 Guns" and Mott the Hoople's 1972 hit "All The Young Dudes".
The chorus of each song contain the same exact five notes (if transposed), along with an almost identical chord change.
So I wanted to find out what happens when the pitch of Green Day's "21 Guns" is changed from the key of F to the key of D?
"21 Guns" played in the Key of D (First seven seconds of the chorus)
"All The Young Dudes" (First seven seconds of the chorus)
"21 Guns" and "All The Young Dudes" simultaneously.
I don't think that the similarities between "21 Guns" and "All The Young Dudes", and Avril Lavigne's "Complicated" were intentional, however, as a Green Day fan, I'm surprised that they would release a song that contains notable similarities to other rock records such as:
Neil Young – Heart Of Gold
Scott Mackenzie – San Francisco
Electric Light Orchestra- Telephone Line
Avril Lavigne – Complicated
Mott the Hoople – All The Young Dudes
So there it is, the post that will end all posts about the many 21 Guns comparisons. (Because if I don't stop here, I'm going to do this forever.)
(10 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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July 2nd, 2009 at 9:17 pm
green day stole so much dude
July 6th, 2009 at 11:33 am
sure, that one bar was the same but I don't hear any other similarities. When I heard that boring piece by Green Day (21 Guns) it never reminded me of Hoople's song at all.
July 9th, 2009 at 10:50 am
green day owes Mr Young and David Bowie-he wrote all the young dudes- some royalties.
July 10th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
First thing i was thinking when i heard 21 Guns for the first time.
With the help of the internet the next generations will start listening to real music and not mainstream GARBAGE..
July 12th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Green day & avril lavigne rules !
no tienes nada mejor que hacer?
July 14th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Yeah but 21 Guns is better =D
July 15th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
[...] surprised more people haven't pointed out the rather striking similarities to All the Young Dudes: Green Days 21 Guns inspired by Mott the Hoople? [...]
August 2nd, 2009 at 3:26 pm
I might be wrong, but I think the last notes are actually different. 'Guns' sounds like an octave (D) and 'dudes' sounds like a perfect fifth (A) above the root. Same chord, yes, but different notes.
August 5th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
This song reminds me of the 1960s hippy era song “San Francisco†by Scott MacKenzie though…
August 28th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
the green day song "before the lobotomy"is similat Chayanne – Completamente Enamorados
September 5th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
I CANT WAIT FOR STP TO RELEASE THEIR NEW ALBUM THEY WILL SHOW EVERYONE HOW TO FUCKIN PLAY MAINSTREAM ROCK THE RIGHT WAY JUST LIKE AIC JUST DID WITH CHECK MY BRAIN! AND IF YOU'RE NOT DOWN WITH THAT I GOT TWO WORDS FOR YA……………..
December 23rd, 2009 at 1:22 pm
boulavard was stolon by oasis so this is no big deal
still a great song
December 23rd, 2009 at 1:22 pm
boulavard was stolon from oasis so this is no big deal
still a great song
sorry my mistake
January 19th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
The Guitar solo is the theme from "full House" in a different key.
February 6th, 2010 at 11:40 am
This song reminds me of the 1960s hippy era song “San Francisco†by Scott MacKenzie though…
<<<< I totally agree with you ! I hate this song (21 guns)
February 15th, 2010 at 11:04 pm
Green Day was once somewhat good, but now, now they just suck on chodes.
April 5th, 2010 at 5:41 am
I think the verses are almost a direct note-to-note copy of Scott MacKenzie's "San Francisco" and yes, the beginning of the chorus is a copy of "All the young dudes". C'mon they all must have known what they were doing but did it anyway, because a big part of their audience doesn't probably know any of these songs. Everytime I hear this song I just get angry!
May 4th, 2010 at 12:01 am
Green Day didn't stole anything. If the rythm of the lyrics where similar, and if it were ORIGINALLY in the key of D, you could say it MIGHT be similar to that song, but still doesn't mean they "stole" it, what a lame statement.
WHen composing, you put the chords that fits the most to your lyrics. Once you have the basis, you can come up with some harmony tricks to build up the song. There are many many many many songs that might sound alike to others, but it doesn't mean anything. Green Day recicles a lot of their own riffs to use it in different ways. If you take the intro to "letterbomb" (american idiot), you can sing "viva la gloria" (21st century breakdown) and SURPRISE! Or take the riff from the chorus of "know your enemy" and sing the lines "and there's nothing wrong with me…" from "jesus of suburbia". You could take the intro riff from "wake me up when september ends" and sing along the inro from "before the lobotomy". Man, I could keep on with this forever. Just learn about music, just a little bit, before you say they "steal" just because the sound alike. Cheers
June 17th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
I'm more inclined to think that other songs on the album bear more striking similarities to other songs:
Horseshoes and Handgrenades = Main Offender by the Hives
Restless Heart Syndrome = Windows by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
and, perhaps most embarassing of all…
American Eulogy (Mass Hysteria part) = Deadbeat Holiday by… Green Day
However, the resemblance between these two is also there. Overall they really should have fine tuned this album. Still, though, 21 Guns is a decent song.
July 26th, 2010 at 4:32 pm
ya know what green day didnt steal crap ok if u listen to other songs it sounds like that too. that is just how it is so stop saying that so and so stole this song from who ever the fuck it is