Are there any DB composers who haven't plagiarised others?

[dbboxkaifan]

Kenji Yamamoto 'borrowed' music from other musicians for years, Faulconer Productions might've not been completely unoriginal but there's proof they stole music too, and even Shunsuke Kikuchi with the James Bond-like although Kikuchi didn't exactly ripoff James Bond it's more like an inspiration.

Hiroshi Takaki's music doesn't seem to be a knock off of any other composer other than himself, that and his guitar tracks all tend to sound the same yet it has that great feeling of hearing again produced differently.

I'm just disappointed that the Dragon Ball composers who're best known for their music aren't fully authentic, but nevertheless it's still a blast to listen to 'em all.

By the way, the other composers who produced music for Dragon Ball games (Hiroshi Takaki, BT2 Team, etc) and such those are clean right?

[kei17]

I don't understand why you count Kikuchi here. The James Bond theme thing obviously is one of the parodies frequently seen in early, comical episodes. There also are Jaws-like piece and very Ifukube-esque piece that were meant to be funny. General Blue's leitmotif is just one of such things. It's just like you inserting a Star Wars-like piece when a space ship appears in a comic show. How can you be disappointed by it?

Kikuchi is known as one of the most original music composers in Japan. If you considered him "unclean", I'm pretty sure there'd be no DB composers who are really "clean".

[AnimeMaakuo]

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[thaman91]

Where did Faulconer productions steal music from? I thought the only thing with them was that Bruce took credit for other composers' music.

[dbboxkaifan]

Where did Faulconer productions steal music from? I thought the only thing with them was that Bruce took credit for other composers' music.

System of a Down - Marmalade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYonN5N40XE (1997)
Faulconer Productions - Super Buu Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woHtuw_xtcc (2003)

This is blatant plagiarism done by Faulconer Productions! But well, the modified version by FP does sound pretty awesome.

[cRookie_Monster]

There's a saying, "Good Artist borrow, Great artists steal".

=D My favorite artists all steal like crazy but they bring the best of the music they know into one place. I once did a paper on John Williams and how he is a complete rip off artist. I still love him. He takes the best of everything and puts it all right there in front of you. YOu have to have a great command of the symphonic repertoire to do that. Williams actually admits to copying a lot, I had a quote from him saying he did it for the nostalgic feeling it brings. JRR Tolkien was also a huge thief...but he did the exact same thing. Sooo much mythology from different places all crammed into one world. It's awesome. He changed the world with his stolen ideas, now everyone is ripping "him" off.

That being said, I did steal as part of FPM a couple times. Most notably when friggin Billy Gibbons showed up as a character on the show! Sooo...I bought a couple of ZZ Top albums and started analyzing their playing style. "Grand Kai Blues" (and" Blues in Z") is "Blue Jean Blues" and "Grand Kai Rocks" is loosely "Sleeping Bag".

Ginyu Transformation's climax is Carmina Burana btw deliberately. Mike and Bruce actually called it "that Carmina Burana piece" before it got split from the episode's score into it's own file (by me) and named "Ginyu Transformation". I still cringe at the name heh, should have been "Ginyu Change Theme" or something since that's what it was originally for.

Those are the most overt and true Faulconer rips I can think of.

Knowing Julius, I'm betting the System of a Down thing was probably a coincidence...but I could be wrong. Maybe Funimation sent them an example?

[KingofWisdom]

Remember the Salvador Dali quote: “Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.”

[kei17]

I recently noticed that the theme song of Red Ribbon Army, composed by Takeshi Ike and arranged by Kouhei Tanaka, does sound like the James Bond theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVCID1gtMpo#t=10s

So General Blue's leitmotif sounding like the Bond theme isn't Kikuchi's own idea. It's a result of a typical "compose something like this" request by the director that always happens in the anime industry.

[Fionordequester]

You know, people say that Julius stole the Super Buu theme...but it really sounds more like Julius took a couple parts of the song and heavily modified it. I wouldn't call that straight-up "plagiarism" would you? He took it in a different direction at least.

[cRookie_Monster]

I recently noticed that the theme song of Red Ribbon Army, composed by Takeshi Ike and arranged by Kouhei Tanaka, does sound like the James Bond theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVCID1gtMpo#t=10s

So General Blue's leitmotif sounding like the Bond theme isn't Kikuchi's own idea. It's a result of a typical "compose something like this" request by the director that always happens in the anime industry.

This happens in EVERY industry, constantly Jingles, movies, video games, TV shows, youtube videos, you name it. Honestly, I've actually come to the point where I prefer and ask for it because otherwise you risk doing something that isn't what the customer wants... I'm talking about temp scores. George Lucas wrote Stars to music(not John Williams), and edited it to music. Editing to music is actually recommended because it gives your movie rhythm and life. It makes it easier to score and create musical hitpoints later too. You can give similar vibes without ripping off. For me it really gives me a clear direction and a goal of "beating" the temp score, setting a quality bar. You do get the advantage of being able to tailor for exactly what you are writing for and being free to time things exactly. I've worked on projects where there wasn't enough direction...or time for revisions...and that's a train wreck let me tell you..

Temp scores are a curse and a blessing at the same time though. Directors get hugely attached to temp scores and have a hard time letting them go for the new weird stuff written by the composer. If a director gets too attached, you might end up with something pretty ripped off...or if the composer is lazy and doesn't move for originality enough (like me and "Blue Jean Blues"...I could have worked harder on that...)

[Ringworm128]

Pretty much every song out there borrows at least slightly from another, wheather the composer does it on purpose or subconsciously. All ideas come from somewhere, if every composer tried to be 100% original taking no inspiration we wouldn't have even half the good music we have today.

[OmegaRockman]

I don't understand why you count Kikuchi here. The James Bond theme thing obviously is one of the parodies frequently seen in early, comical episodes. There also are Jaws-like piece and very Ifukube-esque piece that were meant to be funny. General Blue's leitmotif is just one of such things. It's just like you inserting a Star Wars-like piece when a space ship appears in a comic show. How can you be disappointed by it?

Kikuchi is known as one of the most original music composers in Japan. If you considered him "unclean", I'm pretty sure there'd be no DB composers who are really "clean".

Have you heard of King's Row?? John Williams composed this way before Star Wars..

It starts at the 0:28 mark, and again at the 0:48 mark. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxmseMP9eFo

Not only do I hear Star Wars, but a little bit of the Superman theme as well... Nice find, man! Looks like even the great John Williams isn't totally original with his work.

[cRookie_Monster]

I don't understand why you count Kikuchi here. The James Bond theme thing obviously is one of the parodies frequently seen in early, comical episodes. There also are Jaws-like piece and very Ifukube-esque piece that were meant to be funny. General Blue's leitmotif is just one of such things. It's just like you inserting a Star Wars-like piece when a space ship appears in a comic show. How can you be disappointed by it?

Kikuchi is known as one of the most original music composers in Japan. If you considered him "unclean", I'm pretty sure there'd be no DB composers who are really "clean".

Have you heard of King's Row?? John Williams composed this way before Star Wars..

It starts at the 0:28 mark, and again at the 0:48 mark. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxmseMP9eFo

Not only do I hear Star Wars, but a little bit of the Superman theme as well... Nice find, man! Looks like even the great John Williams isn't totally original with his work.

Korngold was one of my prime pieces of evidence against John Williams for my paper ^^. There's gobs of others though.

Does this intro sound familiar?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9OBf8f55tU

Of course everyone rips off Mars:
Williams:
http://youtu.be/T9BoH44fmAE?t=11m16s
Holst:
http://youtu.be/L0bcRCCg01I?t=6m56s

Lol @ that chord. I think it's the exact same voicing and key ^^

I had tons more...but it was all on cassette .

[OmegaRockman]

Korngold was one of my prime pieces of evidence against John Williams for my paper ^^. There's gobs of others though.

Does this intro sound familiar?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9OBf8f55tU

Of course everyone rips off Mars:
Williams:
http://youtu.be/T9BoH44fmAE?t=11m16s
Holst:
http://youtu.be/L0bcRCCg01I?t=6m56s

Lol @ that chord. I think it's the exact same voicing and key ^^

I had tons more...but it was all on cassette .

Dammit, Williams! But I love the Star Wars music so much..... and the Jaws theme, too?! And here I thought Yamamoto was bad.....