Offspring (Air) Plays With Plagiarism Claims

The last thing a band that’s been accused of plagiarism wants to do is hear its song on the radio along with the one it allegedly copied . . . unless that band is the Offspring.

The Orange County punk group appeared in the studio at KROQ-FM last week and played not one but two records it’s been accused of copping for its hit song “Come Out and Play,” from the 4-million-selling album “Smash.”

First up was “Bloodstains,” by the ‘80s Orange County punk band Agent Orange, which includes a surf-style guitar solo similar to the signature line in “Come Out and Play.”

“You can see why they’re suing us,” singer Bryan Holland said.

Then the band played “Panty Raid” by the now-defunct Boston band Murphy’s Law, again noting similarities between the two songs’ main riffs--they even played the records simultaneously to show that they were nearly identical in places.

Were they admitting that the other bands have legitimate cases?

“Not at all,” Offspring manager Jim Guerinot says. “They’re just saying that they’re not afraid to have people listen.”

And the similarities?

“It’s just a style of music,” Guerinot says. “Some resemblance between punk songs is inevitable, but we had musicologists check them out and they say, ‘No way.’ The only real similarity is the songs are in the same key and the same scale. Of course, none of these people have actually sued us. Our stance all along has been if we did anything wrong, sue us, and we’ll pay.”