Did Guns and Roses steal the song "Sweet Child of Mine?"

I was digging through some of my albums (vinyl) and found an old "Australian Crawl" lp titled Sirocco. One of the tracks off of this 1981 album sounds like SCOM by G&R, or should I say SCOM sounds like it was stolen from an Australian Crawl song called, "Unpublished Critics"? I listened to this song a few times and to me "Sweet Child of Mine" sounds more like "Unpublished Critics" than any of the songs "The Beatles" were accused of.
I'll post a link, listen to it and judge for yourself. What do you think Yay or Nay?

 

I think someone started a similar thread last year.

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...inspired-by-1981-australia-crawl-song.435525/

 

You could be onto something there. Good spot.

Edit: i see Billboard had a story about this. Australian Crawl couldn't afford to pursue it through the courts.

 

If they did, they turned a turd into a diamond.

 

If you sing SCOM to this song it's the same.

 

I believe G&R toured Australia with AC before SCOM was released.

 

I don't know. It's gotta be worth a shot in court. I'm sure they can find a confident lawyer who will take a 33 1/3% cut.

 

Turned a turd into another turd, more like

 

"This is a song Guns n' Roses stole from Australian Crawl, we're stealin' it back!!"

 

Good lord, those lyrics make KISS's Let's Put The X in Sex look like a John Keats poem!

 

The Gunners definitely improved on this song. But I have to agree that it's a little to close for publishing comfort...

 

I saw this before and there is no doubt. There are too many similarities. The chords are just a half step higher but are the same intervals and chords in both the verses and the chorus. The phrase and clause structure are very close. The vocal melody has similarities in that parts are right off the tonic. Is the melody close enough? Maybe.

 

This has been discussed for years! The live versions of Australian Crawl's song must have at the very least "inspired" Slash & Axl.

Mr. Binks was a highly regarded guitarist back in the day. His playing reminds me of the late, great Dick Wagner.

Check out the 2 great solos:

 

Sounds a loooot like it. Hmmmmm.

 

I was watching this video on You Tube, and in the comments, someone said that Geffen Records "probably paid them off." Is it possible that they were paid "shut up and go away" money at some point in the past 25+ years, and that's why we never heard about it?

 

Not your cup of tea, huh.

 

Terrible!

 

I don't know. This song sounds unfinished, incomplete--almost like a demo. It could use a good opening guitar riff....yeah, and a longer solo.

 

Do artists just go searching through obscure music for stuff to steal? Seems like this happens an awful lot.

 

Yes. I believe many are on the lookout for "inspiration."

 

Well what makes this one stand out to me is they toured together.

 

Here is a better sounding version with the lyrics listed on the screen.

 

It was after AFD was released that GNR went Outback, for the record.

 

At first I thought that the similarities were just coincidental........but then the chorus hit and it fit in perfectly with the chorus of "Sweet Child O'Mine". Even the guitar solos are similar!

 

I don't know where you're getting that, but they did not tour together.