Thursday, May 21, 2026

Bruno Mars in Pop Plagiarism Claim of the Week: “Uptown Funk” Came from 1983 Record

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If it’s Tuesday, it must be time for a new pop plagiarism claim: the writers and makers of a 1983 record called “Young Girls” by a group called Collage say Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk” comes from their record.

“Uptown Funk” was already acknowledged to be nicked from a Gap Band record.

There’s a weird coincidence here. The lead track from the last Bruno Mars album was also called “Young Girls.” That’s from the same album that had Bruno’s Police soundalike song “Locked Out of Heaven.” Hmmmm….

You be the judge. Does “Young Girls” sound like “Uptown Funk”? Has sampling and interpolating gotten completely out of hand?

 

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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