Men At Work are an Australian rock band formed in1978. Their biggest hits were "Who Can It Be Now?" & "Down Under". They had some other songs such as "It's A Mistake", "Be Good Johnny", "Overkill", "Dr. Heckyll & Mr. Jive", "Everything I Need", "Maria", "The Longest Night" etc. Men At Work performed "Down Under" at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, alongside Paul Hogan of "Crocodile" Dundee.
This is our national anthem here in Oz. The term of Australia being "down under" came from this song which was a huge hit when released. They played mainly soft pop style songs and Men at Work became musical legends. The lead vocalist is Colin Hay who went on to have a good solo career. Can you do a reaction to Dan Fogelberg's "Leader of the Band"?
It didn't come from this song but is much older than that. I remember Oz being called "down under" when I was a young kid in England and I'm nearly 70 now. And I think it goes back a long time before I first heard it.
It’s a shame how - invariably - one of the earliest comments you’ll see whenever this song is the subject of a reaction is the misguided accusation of “plagiarism.” In this case, it came in the form of the first reply to the first comment. Pop music isn’t academics, so there’s accordingly no such thing as plagiarism here. The way copyright law works, it isn’t required for the claimant to prove that the use of a copyrighted was intentional. The relevant questions are whether the copyright claim is valid, whether the claimant has proved an unauthorized use, and whether the defendant can establish that such use, if proved, is exempted under the applicable law. That’s it. So, no, Men at Work were not ‘found guilty of plagiarism.’ All that happened is that a small publishing company that held the rights to a campfire song written for the Girl Guides of Australia in 1934 called “Kookaburra Sits on the Old Gum Tree” alleged that Down Under reproduced a substantial reproduction of its song (I.e. it’s first two bars) in its flute segments. Interestingly, the claim wasn’t made until 2007, even though the two versions of Down under in 1979 and 1981. While reasonable mind can disagree as to whether the alleged reproduction rose to the level of copyright infringement, the trial judge decided that it did. However, the claimant only received an order for it to receive 5% of the royalties for this hit song. It had been demanding 40% to 50%, but the judge found that - as the reproduction/infringement had nothing to do with the song’s hook - it wasn’t entitled to any more that 5%. To imply that the members of Men at Work did anything wrong or dishonest in writing and performing this wonderful song is simply wrong.
The courts obviously have the opposite opinion. They saw it as a crime, a crime worthy of punishment. It is the law of the land and its interpretation by the courts that matters, not the personal opinion of every jumped up bush lawyer.
I once heard a stupid critic describe a flute player in a song (by Horslips) as "flutter-tonguing away to blatant Jethro Tull effect" as if flutter tonguing a flute was a technique unique to Jethro Tull! Critics are know-nothing idiots.
Men At Work are an Australian rock band formed in1978. Their biggest hits were "Who Can It Be Now?" & "Down Under". They had some other songs such as "It's A Mistake", "Be Good Johnny", "Overkill", "Dr. Heckyll & Mr. Jive", "Everything I Need", "Maria", "The Longest Night" etc. Men At Work performed "Down Under" at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, alongside Paul Hogan of "Crocodile" Dundee.
*Don't forget that they were sued and lost the case after being accused of plagiarism in regard to this song and the flute part(s).*
I forget how good it is.
This is our national anthem here in Oz. The term of Australia being "down under" came from this song which was a huge hit when released. They played mainly soft pop style songs and Men at Work became musical legends. The lead vocalist is Colin Hay who went on to have a good solo career.
Can you do a reaction to Dan Fogelberg's "Leader of the Band"?
It didn't come from this song but is much older than that. I remember Oz being called "down under" when I was a young kid in England and I'm nearly 70 now. And I think it goes back a long time before I first heard it.
You nail that.
Heard an echo of this style last night on Eurovision :)
Donw Under forever...
Scottish accent had an influence on jamican accent
It’s a shame how - invariably - one of the earliest comments you’ll see whenever this song is the subject of a reaction is the misguided accusation of “plagiarism.” In this case, it came in the form of the first reply to the first comment.
Pop music isn’t academics, so there’s accordingly no such thing as plagiarism here. The way copyright law works, it isn’t required for the claimant to prove that the use of a copyrighted was intentional. The relevant questions are whether the copyright claim is valid, whether the claimant has proved an unauthorized use, and whether the defendant can establish that such use, if proved, is exempted under the applicable law. That’s it.
So, no, Men at Work were not ‘found guilty of plagiarism.’ All that happened is that a small publishing company that held the rights to a campfire song written for the Girl Guides of Australia in 1934 called “Kookaburra Sits on the Old Gum Tree” alleged that Down Under reproduced a substantial reproduction of its song (I.e. it’s first two bars) in its flute segments. Interestingly, the claim wasn’t made until 2007, even though the two versions of Down under in 1979 and 1981. While reasonable mind can disagree as to whether the alleged reproduction rose to the level of copyright infringement, the trial judge decided that it did. However, the claimant only received an order for it to receive 5% of the royalties for this hit song. It had been demanding 40% to 50%, but the judge found that - as the reproduction/infringement had nothing to do with the song’s hook - it wasn’t entitled to any more that 5%.
To imply that the members of Men at Work did anything wrong or dishonest in writing and performing this wonderful song is simply wrong.
The courts obviously have the opposite opinion. They saw it as a crime, a crime worthy of punishment. It is the law of the land and its interpretation by the courts that matters, not the personal opinion of every jumped up bush lawyer.
I once heard a stupid critic describe a flute player in a song (by Horslips) as "flutter-tonguing away to blatant Jethro Tull effect" as if flutter tonguing a flute was a technique unique to Jethro Tull! Critics are
know-nothing idiots.