Music

Everyone Is Dunking On Maroon 5 For Accusing The 1975 Of Ripping Them Off

If it was a joke, it really didn't land.

by Jared Richards  20 January 2020
Maroon 5 sledge The 1975 in joke tweet

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When taking aim at one of the world’s most popular bands, it’s probably a good idea to not be one of the world’s least-loved popular bands. Then again, Maroon 5 aren’t one to listen to their critics.

On Friday, The 1975 released ‘Me and You Together Song’, their fourth single from upcoming (and now delayed to April) fourth album, Notes On A Conditional Form.

And according to Adam Levine and co., the band’s newest visuals were a rip-off of Maroon 5’s early work. Back when they were known as Kara’s Flowers, in 1997 Maroon 5 released The Fourth World. The album artwork, according to their Twitter account, looks a lot like a new promotional image for the 1975.

In a now-deleted tweet, the band wrote, “Hey @the1975, you guys big ‘Kara’s Flowers’ fans?”, attaching the two images in a side by side comparison.

Admittedly, it was clearly tongue-in-cheek, but there’s something about how much of a reach it is (and given how seriously Maroon 5 take themselves) that made it land a little too passive aggressive.

And, look, if we’re getting into it, it’s a solid bet The 1975’s image is a riff off Warhol’s pop-art images, who, as an artist, made the crossroads of commerciality and plagiarism his whole schtick. Essentially, Adam Levine, read a book.

The original tweet eventually landed on the timeline of The 1975 frontman Matty Healy, who responded with a diss to ‘whatever the fuck’ Kara’s Flowers are. “I don’t know what the fuck that is but I love that song about being in a phone box or whatever it is,” he wrote, referencing Maroon 5’s 2012 song ‘Payphone’.

From there, people really jumped on to point out that Maroon 5 didn’t invent colourised photos of individual band members against a black background.

Considering The 1975’s love for referencing, we’d say, if anything, the image’s most likely a nod to the poster for Larry King’s 1995 film Kids.

Even Hot Chelle Rae weighed in to point out they’ve got a similar image on the cover of 2011 album Whatever, saying “one of us is going to have to change”.

The 1975 arrive in Australia next week to headline Laneway, alongside Charli XCX. Listen to ‘You and Me Forever Song’ below.