Support NeoGAF

[hosannainexcelsis]

When I saw this thread title, I thought you were talking about the actual Final Fantasy Main Theme, not the simpler Prelude. The Townshend song opening doesn't even sound like the Prelude except in the broadest sense. What's distinctive about the Prelude is its chord progression, and the Townshend opening doesn't even have a progression since it's all over the tonic chord. Not only does the opening Townshend arpeggio not have the right notes in the right order - it changes direction several times during its ascent whereas the Prelude arpeggios ascend continuously to the top - it even includes non-diatonic tones, which the Prelude doesn't do. So there isn't a convincing case to be made here.

 

[Slaythe]

Well nothing's gonna top that :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k7DrIWcrdI

 

[DSix]

Thousands of thousands of musical pieces exist. No shit some bits might sound similar sometimes. There's obviously no relation here.

 

[Leunam]

They're not that similar.

This isn't on the same level as the MGS theme comparison. That one makes me sad because we never got new versions of that theme after that.

 

[DoctorEkkoUK]

Hey while we're very vaguely on the subject, I can't be the only one who thinks the Mario 64 Bowser theme sounds a lot like Purple Haze, right? I'm not crazy, right? Right!?

it sounds almost identical to some parts of smoke on the water.

 

[Spwn]

If you want to hear blatant plagiarism, you should check out Dragonball-composer Kenji Yamamoto's work. That Propaganda album is actually really great.

 

[BobbyRobby]

Years ago I made a very similar thread in another forum.

Sly and the Family Stone's 'Everybody is a Star' also reminds me of a song from Lunar:SSSC

 

[CrunchyFrog]

The Final Fantasy Prelude was a quick arpeggio that Nobou Uematsu wrote in about 5 minutes. It's not particularly original in any way. Neither Uematsu or Townshend are the originators of the arpeggio.

This, pretty much. The similarities are coincidental.

 

[Humdinger]

Nope. Not even close. I was listening, waiting for the "hook" of the Townsend song, or even a piece of the melody, but all you're talking about (as others have said) is the ascending and descending notes. Not exactly a Pete Townsend idea.

 

[Tanston]

Can someone post another song that uses a similar arpeggio? Since it's so common.

This always reminded me of the FF music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vm8uWFgBRc

 

[Falk]

Sorry man, but it really is reaching. I'm not saying that Uematsu doesn't get inspired by a lot of stuff, but your example really, REALLY is one of the poorer examples because like I said, a melodic minor scale sees a lot (and I mean a LOT, and that's a few orders of magnitude of an understatement) more use than in just those two pieces of music.

I'm not specifically trying to single you out, (so no hard feelings<3) but in my experience, 9 times out of 10 when people point out similarities between two pieces of music and allude to direct influence, it usually just means they need to go listen to more music because there'd be at least half a dozen other examples of the very similar (if not the exact) same chord structure, melodic movement or rhythmic ordering (or a combination thereof).

Thanks for helping me make my point.

 

[royox]

The Final Fantasy Prelude was a quick arpeggio that Nobou Uematsu wrote in about 5 minutes. It's not particularly original in any way. Neither Uematsu or Townshend are the originators of the arpeggio.

It was done in 5 minutes but it's fucking beautyful
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cki4a2LJVF8

 

[FyreWulff]

Outside always sounded like an RPG title screen to me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cueW1eB8J98

 

[Galang]

Eh. There's so many songs that some are bound to use similar motifs. I think it's just coincidence and nothing more

 

[Dice//]

If it means anything, Uematsu's not terribly keen on the theme either (he's "embarassed" by it, allegedly he whipped it up in a matter of minutes).

 

[Hibiki Kurosawa]

Iiiii'm not really feeling it.

 

[Dice//]

Iiiii'm not really feeling it.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

Probably a coincidence but apparently there is a character called Evan Townshend in the last official FFVII novel, Final Fantasy VII Lateral Biography: Turks - The Kids Are Alright.

 

[MagnaderAlpha]

More importantly, King Arthur and the Knights of Justice's theme is a rip off of bananarama's cruel summer.

Don't forget Mega Man's Elec Man theme ripping off Journey's Faithfully, as well as Maximum Carnage's use of Black Sabbath's Mob Rules.

 

[Cynar]

It's just an arpeggio though. It's not like anyone has a copyright on it. It's just going up and down notes in a chord.

They're also not the same arpeggio.

Exactly this.

 

[AlexFlame116]

I thought this was a new thread. Anyways, I heard a similarity but nothing else on the Prelude theme.

 

[Keyser Soze]

Rising Thunder

 

[PrimeBeef]

The Final Fantasy Prelude was a quick arpeggio that Nobou Uematsu wrote in about 5 minutes. It's not particularly original in any way. Neither Uematsu or Townshend are the originators of the arpeggio.

Not really an arpeggio. That would be the notes ofna chord played in ascending or decending order. This is more of scale really.

 

[PrimeBeef]

Now the Shinra music sounds awfully simar to music in the beginning of Running Man.

 

[hikarutilmitt]

Holy necro bump

I've always thought the middle riff in Santana's Europa sounded suspiciously like the one in Dr Wily's Castle.

I also frequently hear Motoi Sakuraba's music when playing Boston or ELO because of the frequent use of jazzy organs.

 

[MagnaderAlpha]

Years ago I made a very similar thread in another forum.

Sly and the Family Stone's 'Everybody is a Star' also reminds me of a song from Lunar:SSSC

This always reminded me of the FF music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vm8uWFgBRc

Outside always sounded like an RPG title screen to me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cueW1eB8J98

There are a lot of songs out there that sound RPG-ish.

I always thought Styx's The Grand Illusion's opening reminded me of the FFIV final boss battle theme. Other songs I feel sound RPG-ish are the beginning and end of Kansas's The Wall, Styx's Crystal Ball, and Kansas's The Pinnacle (which has all sorts of RPG-ish tunes going on, and after playing FFXV, think the lyrics remind me a lot of both

Spoiler

Noctis and Ardyn

.)

 

[Acquiescence]

My love can open a door sometimes.

Spoiler

if i'm excited enough

 

[Sieg Wahrheit]

The FF prelude theme is just climbing and descending basic chords with two passing notes between, so it's not so surprising it sounds like other songs.

Though S-E are totally thieves. I mean, they stole the Animaniacs theme for Final Fantasy XIV:

Hate to necrobump. but that video was taken down and I have searched and searched for the song in question. I can't find ANYTHING related to FFXIV animaniacs even in YT comments. Do you happen to know which song it was exactly??