Copyright Infringement Quiz | Remakes, Covers & Rereleases

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The Justified Ancients of MuMu - aka the KLF - had to destroy all the copies of their first album, released in 1987. What band forced them legally to do this?

Answer: Abba

The track 'The Queen and I' used a large chunk from Abba's 'Dancing Queen'. The KLF went to Sweden with all the copies of their album in their car to try and change Bjorn and Benny's minds. But they were refused access to the Abba-men and decided to burn all the albums somewhere in a field. Where they were chased away by an irate farmer.

A few months later they released an album called '1987 - the Edits', where they left out all the samples and provided instructions for the listener to recreate the original version of the album.

2. What 80s proto-industrial band recorded karaoke avant-la-lettre versions of songs where they just played the original record and crudely shouted sarcastic lyrics over the top?

Answer: Culturcide

On their 1986 album 'Tacky Souvenirs of Pre-Revolutionary America', they changed 'We Are The World' into 'They Aren't The World'. 'Love is a Battlefield' became 'Love is a Cattle-Prod'. 'Let's Dance' became 'Let's Prance'. You get the picture.

3. This band used samples of DJ Casey Casem swearing on the radio while presenting a song by U2. They put the word 'U2' quite big on the sleeve and were consequently litigated into near oblivion by U2's lawyers - even though the Edge went on record stating that he understood what the band in question were trying to do. Later they did a similar thing with George Michael, by releasing 'Listen Without Prejudice, Vol. 2'.

Answer: Negativland

Negativland were named after a track by Krautrockband Neu! They are one of the most wickedly funny serious commentators on the modern media. When their record company wanted to force them to go on tour after the success of their 1987 release 'Escape from Noise' they invented an elaborate scheme to get out of the gigs.

They fabricated this story about how their track 'Christianity is Stupid' provoked one youngster into killing his family. Therefore they couldn't go on tour because federal officials told them not to leave town.

The media picked up on the story and it grew out of all proportions. The 1989 album 'Helter Stupid' tells the full story.

4. Who was the rapper that brought wider attention to sampling by using a piece from Gilbert O'Sullivan's 'Alone Again (Naturally)'? Even though permission was denied, the rapper used the sample anyway. Legal actions followed and some people still blame the rapper for the unwanted attention he brought down on sampling.

Answer: Biz Markie

Ever since, most acts who use samples are obliged to clear them before a record is released. Some small labels still operate outside of the law, but all majors and well-known independents follow this directive. Every single sample has to be cleared. Even the tiniest snippet from another song can be reason for litigation. Stuff that before the 1991 court case went unnoticed now became impossible; fe. the Beastie Boys' completely sample-based 'Paul's Boutique' album would now cost an impossible amount of money to get cleared.

5. What old Beastie Boys song was cut from their 1999 anthology 'The Sounds of Science' after AC/DC refused permission for the use of the generous samples of their 'Back in Black' on the track?

Answer: 'Rock Hard'

Beastie Mike D negotiated with AC/DC personally, but they refused on the grounds that it wasn't personal but they 'just don't endorse sampling'. 'Rock Hard' was first released as a single in 1985. No-one seemed to care about the sampling back then. In 1992, when they wanted to use a few Jimi Hendrix samples for the song 'Jimmy James', they got the clearance from the Hendrix estate a few months after the record 'Check Your Head' was released. So they put the song out on a 12", with the samples back in place.

6. Canadian sound collagist John Oswald was forced to withdraw his 1989 'Plunderphonics' album. The album was completely constructed from samples, but one particular artist had such enormous problems with the track 'Dab' that he sued and all copies were destroyed. Who was the enraged singer?

Answer: Michael Jackson

John Oswald has since kept on releasing many different forms of 'Plunderphonics'. The 2001 double CD 'Plunderphonics 69/96' on Seeland records even contained the track 'Dab', which is of course 'Bad' spelled backwards.

7. In 2000 Kid 606 and Friends released 'Attitude'. This mini-album was entirely constructed from samples taken from NWA records. It has since been deleted and rereleased several times, but in what format was it originally released?

Answer: 3" CD

Kid 606 and Friends were, among others, Team Doyobi, Christoph de Babalon, Hrvatski, V/VM, Lesser, Matmos, and Cex. Even though Kid 606 now refuses to answer questions on this project in interviews, he has since done several comparable projects. Check out his 2002 album where the completely destroyed snippets of Missy Elliott, Jay Z, Eminem, Yello, Ozzy Osbourne, Radiohead, the Bangles, the Buggles, and Kylie Minogue are almost uncountable.

8. V/VM is a project from Manchester, England. They have developed the 'Sick-Love' filter where they take well-known songs by artists such as Robbie Williams, John Lennon, and the Spice Girls, mess them up and preferably give them a new, butcher-related, name. Which of the following isn't one of their titles?

Answer: 'The Roast Beautiful Girl in the World'

V/VM claim the 'Sick-Love' filter was designed because record companies have been brainwashing the listeners with smooth sounds and slick production, while those aren't the kind of sounds we hear in our heads. V/VM take songs, cut them up, speed them up and slow them down, add glitches and noise and the result is a real entertaining mess.

A bit like when you have your radio tuned between two different stations. Their CDs are so cheap that they regularly leave a few copies on public transport, hoping that an unsuspecting person will take them home and get their mind blown.

They also give them for free to pretty girls they meet in the street. But not a single one of those has contacted them afterwards, until now. Another interesting thing they do is play DJ at wedding parties.

They play a regular DJ set until everyone is drunk and then they slip some of their 'Sick-Love' reworkings into the mix.

9. This guy loves to take Public Enemy raps and put them on top of Herb Albert instrumentals. The results are amazing. What is the name he operates under?

Answer: The Evolution Control Committee

The Evolution Control Committee is known to his mom as Mark Gunderson. The Public Enemy-Herb Albert mixes appeared on his 1994 cassette only release 'Gunderphonics'. He is generally credited as one of the founders of the 'mashup bootleg' genre that crossed over into the mainstream in 2001/2002 with the remix of Kylie Minogue's 'Can't Get You Out of my Head' with New Order's 'Blue Monday', which was performed by Kylie herself.

10. Richard X now has a lot of success as producer for Sugababes and Liberty X. He uses old elektro songs like 'Being Boiled' and 'Are Friends Electric' and lets the bands sing another song on top, with all samples cleared. However, he used to do more or less the same but completely illegally under a different name. What name?

Answer: Girls on Top

For his first single he put the vocals from Whitney Houston's 'I Wanna Dance with Somebody' on top of Kraftwerk's 'Numbers'. Hence 'Girls on Top'.

Source: Author hootch

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bullymom before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Copyright Infringement Trivia Quiz

Sampling is everywhere nowadays and nobody's surprised anymore when an entire song is nicked from somewhere else. But a lot of artists got into trouble for their use of samples.

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