Vanilla Ice Vs. Queen and David Bowie (1990)
One of the most well known copyright lawsuits ever is between Vanilla Ice and Queen and David Bowie. It is pretty clear that Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” sampled the bass line of the Queen/Bowie song “Under Pressure.” We all laughed when Vanilla Ice claimed the songs were different because of one additional beat. He later said his comment was a joke. The case was settled outside of court, costing Vanilla Ice a lot of money and a hit to his public reputation. Additionally, Queen and Bowie received songwriting credits on the song.
Vanilla Ice Vs. David Bowie And Queen
De La Soul Vs. The Turtles (1991)
Another very famous case involved the group De La Soul and the Turtles. At this time sampling was very new to music, and De La Soul included a 12 second clip of the Turtles’ song “You Showed Me.” The case was settled out of court and it is alleged De La Soul had to pay a sum of $1.7 million dollars.
De La Soul Vs. The Turtles
