There are a lot of things in the music business that are copyrighted and can’t be poached — album titles are not one of them.
Just like bands often share song titles with other acts, album titles also have a habit of cropping up more than once.
In some cases, there’s a direct correlation between the two. Take, for example, the Replacements’ 1984 release Let It Be, which they took from the Beatles’ song and album of the same name.
“We were going to call it Whistler’s Mammy, and then we were going to call it Stunk,” singer Paul Westerberg told Magnet Magazine in 2002. “And then we decided that the next song that came on the radio was going to be the album title. The next thing you know, ‘When I find myself in times of trouble…’ comes on the radio.”
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And then there’s the instances of pure coincidence. Pink Floyd had already started calling their 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon before finding out that another British rock band, Medicine Head, had already used it in 1972. But that release had made very little commercial impact, so Pink Floyd went ahead and used it the title again — an astute decision it turned out.
As the saying goes, great minds think alike, and more often than you might assume. We’re taking a look at 55 Albums With the Same Name in the below gallery.
Repeat Records: 55 Albums With the Same Name
Gallery Credit: Allison Rapp
