Swedish garage punks The Hives have been accused of stealing elements of their track ‘Tick Tick Boom’ by a US songwriter, who has filed a lawsuit against the group.
The Hives emerged from Sweden in 2002 clutching a vast array a snotty garage anthems. ‘Hate To Say I Told You So’ climbed the charts, while compilation album ‘Your New Favorite Band’ gathered together the most essential moments of the band’s early career.
However, The Hives have been taken to task by American songwriter Jason Shapiro who claims that the guitar riff and vocal line in ‘Tick Tick Boom’ is similar to his song ‘Why You?’.
In order to substantiate his claim, Shapiro asked a musicologist to compare the two tracks. The songwriter told US newspaper LA Weekly that “he said the part in question – the main riff and vocal melody – was very similar and its uniqueness led him to believe it wasn’t just a coincidence”.
“He also runs it through a background test seeing if any charts from previous songs are close and we were clear on that front.”
‘Tick Tick Boom’ was the lead single on The Hives’ 2007 album ‘The Black And White Album’. The Hives have not responded to the allegation.
