5 Famous Songs Everyone Thinks Are by the Wrong Artist

But apparently, a whole lotta people think this song is by Neil Young. They're all over the comments of the last article. And apparently even at the time of release, the song was criticized for being a knockoff.

How Did This Happen It's simple. Like most of these entries, a vaguely stylistically similar song has been attributed to a far more famous artist. Neil Young has remained relevant as an artist for 40 years. And like a lot of Young's softer stuff, "Horse" features a driving, but mellow, acoustic guitar and a warbling vocal. And it doesn't hurt that Dewey Bunnell, who wrote the song, admitted that Neil Young inspired it. Also of note, it knocked Young's "Heart of Gold" out of the top spot on the U.S. pop charts.

Perhaps also adding to the confusion is that one of Young's projects through the years has been Crazy Horse. Yeah, that's not a big coincidence, but possibly adds to the problem. After all, as we'll see in the last entry, similar words mean a lot to some people.

In any event, in 1983, Quiet Riot took their leather and neon and weak-ass glitz metal to the charts with "Cum on Feel the Noize." (The song was a cover of the Slade original, and they never wanted to record it, but that's not the point of this entry.)

Getty
No, I said Slade ...

But if you look for the song on YouTube, you might come across this:

Yep, proof that, at the very least, about 400 people are making this mistake. I'm sorry, I only got a B- in verifying mistakes people who don't know stuff make.

How Did This Happen Well, look it at this way. The song is sorta catchy, and kind of rocks, but is hardly badass metal. It's filled with gutsy vocals dripping with pointless, unearned antagonism. And in 20 more years, anyone who cares about the song will be dead. Yeah, that's a pretty good description of Twisted Sister.

How Did This Happen Well, the simple answer is, we're stupid. White girl soul from the '60s? Oh, it must be Janis Joplin. Wait, wasn't she more rock and/or blues? Well, sure, whatever, y'know, not white, whatever. And that's just about it. It turns out that Janis did cover the song, too, but it's not a version you've likely ever heard and not what people are thinking of when they attribute this to Janis. Maybe it's because Janis has another song about a guy who was pretty rad, named Bobby McGee, but I'm just gonna go with my first explanation that people are stupid.

And the Cure downloads:

Which is impressive, because the Cure never even covered the song.

How Did This Happen I know I already used people are stupid for the Dusty Springfield one, but come on. This sounds nothing like the Cure. The similarities could not be more superficial. About the only thing Modern English and the Cure have in common is that I'm pretty sure Christina H could take them both in a fight. Wimpy and English, but nothing more there. Oh wait, the lead singer of Modern English was Robbie Grey, and the lead singer of the Cure is Robert Smith. Two Roberts! Best explanation I have.

Yeah, that's strange. I can't find "Stairway to Heaven" by Flock of Seagulls on YouTube either!

But the comment that really makes me insane is this one:

Yeah, what does it matter? Music is music. Who cares? I'll tell you who cares. People who do not suck. People who know things. People who care about knowing things. I have to believe we are not so far gone as a people that it's become somehow uncool to care about knowing things. I always thought that was the very definition of intelligence -- not actually knowing, but caring to know. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe that's a bad definition, but I'm pretty sure being hostile to knowledge is a perfect recipe for stupidity.

And with the Internet, it seems that this attitude is rampant, because it's taught us to have no shame. The Net gives us anonymity, and in that anonymity, suddenly there's nothing we have to feel guilty about. So we don't know something, who cares? It's not important. But isn't it amazing that there's always a 100 percent overlap between the things we don't know and the things that are allegedly not important to know? I mean what are the odds?

How Did This Happen Well, my rant above does a pretty good job of explaining how this happened, but if you're looking for more tangible answers, we have that, too. First off, people think Cat Stevens sang "Cat's in the Cradle" because he had to. I mean, the title's got his name "Cat" in it. That's just how it works. Just like Ric Ocasek of the Cars sings Steely Dan's "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" and Madonna sings the Beatles' "Lady Madonna"!

Or perhaps another explanation is that Cat Stevens also has a famous song about a dysfunctional father and son relationship called "Father and Son."

Then again, I don't know why people make this mistake, but, y'know, who cares, right?

But everyone should care about the season finale of HATE BY NUMBERS about Principal Lady Gaga. Also, be sure to follow Gladstone on Twitter and stay up-to-date on the latest regarding Notes from the Internet Apocalypse. And then there's his website and Tumblr, too.

For more from Gladstone, check out 3 Celebrities You Idolize (And The 3 You Resemble Instead) and The 5 Most Overused Jokes On the Internet.