Music

This artist sampled The Cars and must destroy every copy of his record

by Jeremy Mersereau

Got a new album coming out? Better make sure any samples or musical references used are 100% legally cleared, lest you find yourself in the unenviable position of indie-rock project Car Seat Headrest.

Car Seat Headrest, the Seattle-based project of songwriter Will Toledo, is being forced to have all physical copies of his newest record destroyed due to an uncleared elements of The Cars’ “Just What I Needed” in a song formerly known as “Just What I Wanted/Not Just What I Needed”. Oh yeah, I see what he did there. The new CSH record, Teens of Denial, was supposed to be out both physically and digitally May 20th via his label Matador, but the clearance issue has pushed back the record’s physical release to the summer.

No, Toledo and Matador weren’t trying to pull a fast one on Ric Ocasek: according to a press release issued by the label, they were under the impression that the “Just What I Needed” sample had been properly licensed and cleared by the publisher, but it soon became clear that wasn’t the case. As per the label:

“Matador had negotiated for a license in good faith months ago, only to be told last week that the publisher involved was not authorized to complete the license in the United States, and that Ric Ocasek preferred that his work not be included in the song. Matador regrets that it was not informed of this much earlier, and has made changes to respect Mr. Ocasek’s wishes.

Not one to let adversity get in the way of his never-say-DIY ethic, Toledo immediately sprang to work altering the song to remove the Cars reference, and ensured that Teens of Denial will still hit its promised digital release date by transforming the track in question into a sample-less new beast under a different title.

“Nevertheless, Teens of Denial WILL COME OUT ON MAY 20TH, at least digitally. I spent the last 48 hours working on an alternate cut of the track, which is now called “Not What I Needed”. It’s not merely an edit – it is its own thing, about half a minute longer than the original track, and goes in a much different direction. Honestly, despite the apparent clusterfuck, I had fun doing it, and I think it’s a stronger song now.

You can hear the original version of “Just What I Wanted/Not Just What I Needed” below. Just don’t tell Mr. Ocasek.

[h/t Exclaim!]