Sound Familiar? 4 Songs and the Classic Tracks that Inspired Them, From Prince to Phil Collins, and More

Inspiration for a song often comes from other songs—a beat, a melody, a lyric here and there. There are unusual pipelines from artist to artist, song to song, as people’s tastes are diverse and varied. Here are some interesting links between a handful of songs that you maybe didn’t expect, and maybe some you did, from Paramore to Prince, to Fall Out Boy to Olivia Rodrigo.

[RELATED: The Unusual Pipeline From Fleetwood Mac to the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and the Grateful Dead]

“Dance, Dance” by Fall Out Boy / “Body Bag” by Machine Gun Kelly

Fall Out Boy is at that age where they’re becoming influences for younger artists—case in point, when “Dance, Dance” inspired “Body Bag” by Machine Gun Kelly and Yungblud. When the song came out in 2020, MGK posted a thank you to Pete Wentz and Patrick Stump for signing off on the song. “yoooooo thanks to [Pete Wentz] + [Patrick Stump] for the last minute clearance on ‘body bag’ !!!!! ‘Dance, Dance’ was a big inspiration for our record and the fact they picked up the phone last night and said YES is punk as f–k.”

“Misery Business” by Paramore / “Good 4 U” by Olivia Rodrigo

When “Good 4 U” came out, there were a run of TikToks and Instagram reels of fans comparing it to “Misery Business.” Mostly, it was elder emo kids mashing up the two songs, adding the chorus of “Good 4 U” to the verses of “Misery Business.” In August 2021, three months after the song came out, Hayley Williams and Josh Farro were given writing credits. There’s speculation that this came about because Williams posted about Paramore’s publisher, Warner Chappell, shouting out “Good 4 U” on social media. Williams reposted Warner Chappell, writing “Our publisher is wildin’ rn.” Was this a subtle call-out of the fact that “Good 4 U” took direct inspiration from “Misery Business” without proper credit at first?

“1999” by Prince / “Sussudio” by Phil Collins

“Sussudio” came out in 1985, and it was immediately compared to Prince’s “1999.” Phil Collins allegedly admitted that his song was a direct response to “1999,” and that he’s a big Prince fan. However, many critics called it a rip-off instead of an homage. Nowadays, for something like that, you better give writing credits or face a lawsuit. Back then, though, things were a little more lax. According to a 2020 article by Stereogum, “in making funky dance-pop, Collins committed the same sin as almost everyone else who made funky dance-pop in the mid-’80s: he bit Prince.”

“Iris” by Goo Goo Dolls / “4 Ever 4 Me” by Demi Lovato

Demi Lovato took inspiration from “Iris” for her 2022 track “4 Ever 4 Me,” which allegedly “shocked” Goo Goo Dolls frontman John Rzeznik. He told ABC Audio in 2022, via WJJY, “I’m grateful that that they’re doing it. And I’m really sort of shocked, y’know? Because even though the song became a massive, massive hit, at the time, it got a lot of criticism for being sappy.” 20 years later, though, with “Iris” reaching a billion streams on Spotify in 2022, Rzeznick started to understand the hype.

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