Outside ardent fans of '70s power-pop, The Rubinoos–onetime Berserkly Records labelmate of Jonathan Richman And The Modern Lovers–is a band the world has pretty much forgotten. That is, until two members of the group filed a lawsuit on Monday alleging that Avril Lavigne's current hit "Girlfriend" is a ripoff of The Rubinoo's 1978 song "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" (itself a title lifted straight from The Ramones.) Both songs bear a strikingly similar "Hey! Hey! You! You!" refrain, though Lavigne's manager Terry McBride claims the suit is baseless, stating that a musicologist has said "there is [sic] no similarities of melody, choral progression, or meter." Lavigne is listed as the coauthor of "Girlfriend" alongside Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald, one of the insidious pop geniuses who masterminded Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone."
Below is one of the YouTube testimonials pointing out the similarity between Avril's "Girlfriend" and The Rubinoos' "Boyfriend." Our question is: When are The Rolling Stones, the men behind "Get Off Of My Cloud," going to sue them both?