Dream Theater nicked Queen riff?

I happen to be a BIG metalhead and Dream Theater incidentally is a band I like very much. Today I was listening to their song "Surrounded" which is by the by, a great song. What flabbergasted me was that the intro was NOTE FOR NOTE copy of the intro of Queen's "Father to Son" from Queen II. Dream Theater has acknowledged Queen as a tremendous influence on their music and has played many Queen songs live but they haven't given Queen credit for the intro...

Have a listen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muIxc0w2Q_A

I mean seriously, that's not cool.

Total ripoff

They do a great cover of "Death On Two Legs"... They've covered "Bohemian Rhapsody" as well as a plethora of Queen's harder songs. Look for them on YouTube.
But this was just atrocious. They thought no one would notice since the intro was ripped off from one of the most under-rated and lesser-known albums of all-time.

Agreed, it's a ripoff.

Well, it's all about how you define a rip-off...

Theoretically-speaking, it's a D sus arpeggio played repeatedly.  Queen probably weren't the first to think about that, either.

As Brian May recently said, one can't create music from a vacuum.  You're bound to be influenced by things around you.  It may be the same notes, but Dream Theater do something completely different with them.

Although Dream Theater often wear their influences on their sleeve, Images And Words is a superb album - one of the best rock albums ever, as far as I'm concerned.  It's the one record they did that is completely focused on the songwriting.

To me, this thread just sounds like yet another case of Queen fans somehow trying to justify the ever-growing view that Queen were the first band to come up with countless musical ideas and are somehow not allowed to influence others, discrediting other artists when they do.  Until marketing became a big tool for music in the 50s and copyright laws came to be, it was seen as the greatest possible compliment and honour when someone quoted your song in their own.

History and details aside, really, who cares if a few notes are the same as a Queen song?  Queen were great, as are other bands.  Peace, love, and enjoy the music.

I agreed with Sir GH.

What about Pink Floyd´s Arnold Lyne and Now I´m Here?

a rip off,or a small bit of silent praise?.

[i]I would say it´s a "riff-off".[/i]

Sir GH was spot on with every point.

Surrounded is a great song, and if the opening little arpeggio is lifted off Father to Son, I see it as more of a clever tribute than a ripoff.

Tribute...never thought of it that way, I guess. But it makes sense, they routinely pay tribute to Queen, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.
I don't have the view that Queen was the first band to come up with every musical idea. I guess I was so shocked that this wasn't mentioned anywhere before that I decided to post it.

Look for Dream Theater's "Big Medley." It's twelve minutes long, and a medley of songs by Kansas, Queen (hard rock part of Bo Rhap and the guitar solo), Pink Floyd, and a couple other bands. It's actually a great song, and not a note of it is Dream Theater's original work.

I know that song and love it. The medley contains songs that otherwise I would never listen to separately. Dream Theater sometimes covers entire albums, such as Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon. In some countries, they are widely anticipated to cover A Night At The Opera but James LaBrie said in some metal magazine that they "weren't ready" but it was inevitable. Let's wait and see. Here's to hoping they cover Queen II!

Dream theater is a perfect example of highly skilled musicians who cant write a single decent song.

^ whats your excuse then?

what's yours Doxysomething ?