Earlier this month, Tone Deaf reported on the controversy now surrounding Guns N’ Roses and one of Australia’s own homegrown rock acts, after a fan noticed similarities between ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ and Australian Crawl’s ‘Unpublished Critics’.
As Tone Deaf reported at the time, ‘Unpublished Critics’, which was released six years prior to GNR’s breakthrough hit, features a similar chord progression, sweeping lead break, verse melody, and a chorus strikingly similar to the iconic “whoa-oh” of ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’.
While the music industry has been rocked by several high-profile plagiarism cases over the past few months, James Reyne, former frontman of Australian Crawl and one of the writers of the tune, indicated that he has no interest in taking GNR to court.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Reyne said it was “not inconceivable” there were similarities between the two rock anthems. However, he conceded that it was also “not inconceivable” that GNR were not aware of ‘Unpublished Critics’.
“I really wasn’t that aware of Guns N’ Roses… It just didn’t cross my radar because I was listening to other things,” Reyne added. “I’m not about to take on the might of the Guns N’ Roses lawyers.”
However, Reyne has now revealed to the Daily Mail that another Australian rock star is game to take Axl Rose and co to court. According to Reyne, a well-known but anonymous rock star has requested to buy the rights to ‘Unpublished Critics’ for the sole purpose of suing Guns N’ Roses.
“People have told me for years, gosh it sounds similar,” Reyne said. “In fact a very well-known rock n’ roll star offered recently to buy the rights to the song ‘Unpublished Critics’ because he was going to go and sue Guns N’ Roses.”
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Reyne said he’s not opposed to someone doing the legal dirty work for him. “I guess my reaction would always be if there were people who are much better at that sort of stuff than me who want to carry on and see if there is anything in it, they can go and do it,” he said.
However, the 58-year-old added that he would prefer his legacy not be that of “the guy who got ripped off by Guns N’ Roses”. “I’d rather be known as a fabulously talented guy with an extraordinary body of work,” he said.
Reyne said he didn’t notice the similarities between the two songs at the time because he didn’t listen to Guns N’ Roses. “I was more looking at the video thinking, ‘Are they stoned? Or on smack?’ I was probably more interested in their drug habits,” he said.
“I really wasn’t that aware of Guns N’ Roses… It just didn’t cross my radar because I was listening to other things,” he added. Regardless, the band are certainly on Reyne’s radar now, as well as that of another Aussie rock star. Any guesses who it might be?
