Sounds Just Like

Stone Temple Pilot’s “Interstate Love Song” sounds like Jim Croce’s “I Got a Name”

Like Monday’s Sound-a-Like, today’s involves a 90s rock song and a classic track now heard on Oldies stations around the country.

Wikipedia calls the guitar riff from Interstate Love Song “memorable“, and I’ve got a good guess about why: it’s taken directly from a memorable bass line in Jim Croce’s timeless “I Got a Name”.

The note-for-note similarity is not really that surprising once you know that the music for “Interstate Love Song” was written by STP bassist and harmony vocalist Robert DeLeo. Clearly he was familiar with the line from Croce’s tune. The riffs are in the same key and similar tempo. Luckily, you don’t have to take my word for it. I’ve created a mashup to let you hear just how uncanny the similarity is.

The mashup begins with the chorus to “I Got a Name”, then plays the chorus again with the guitar riff from “Interstate Love Song” overlaid on top. Finally, the riff from “Interstate Love Song” plays in it’s full copycat glory.