US Air Force stole White Stripes song for Super Bowl Ad
9 February 2010, The White Stripes accused the US Air Force to have used one of the group's songs 'Fell In Love With A Girl' in a TV advert without permission.
The band wrote on their official website and social accounts:
"We believe our song was re-recorded and used without permission of the White Stripes, our publishers, label or management. The White Stripes take strong insult and objection to the Air Force Reserve's presenting this advertisement with the implication that we licensed one of our songs to encourage recruitment during a war that we do not support."
The musician who wrote the music for the Air Force Reserve commercial, Kem Kraft, told The New York Times that the similarity is entirely unintentional.
He said: "I'm sorry it sounds the same. It wasn't my intention, truly, truly, truly. [If they] want to call me and talk to me, as far as I'm concerned, I'm responsible for this. Just me. I'm pretty much a one-man band here. It doesn't have anything to do with the Air Force. They didn't know anything, and I didn't know anything either".
The song was critically acclaimed as a big success; the May 3, 2007 issue of Rolling Stone magazine listed the song as one of the forty songs that changed the world.
Moreover, the music video, a LEGO animation directed by Michel Gondry, is considered one of the most innovative of all time. Realized using no digital effects, it won 3 MTV video music awards.
