Guns N’ Roses accused of plagiarizing “Sweet Child O’ Mine”

The authenticity of one of rock’s most iconic tracks has come into question.

According to NME, Australian music website Max TV highlighted the similarities between Guns N’ Roses' hit single, “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” and a song by the band Australian Crawl, “Unpublished Critics.”

“[‘Unpublished Critics’ has] the same chugging chord progression, a similarly-sweeping lead break, the verse melody, and the elongated one-syllable vocal in the chorus,” said Max TV, who have since deleted their post on the matter (hmmm).

Australian Crawl singer James Reyne told the Daily Mail it's “not inconceivable” that Guns N' Roses heard the song first. But he added, “I'm not about to take on the might of the Guns N' Roses lawyers.”

“Unpublished Critics” is taken from the Australian band’s album Sirocco, which was released in 1981 via Geffen Records—a full six years before Guns N' Roses released 'Sweet Child O’ Mine,’ also on Geffen Records.

Listen to “Unpublished Critics” below, and hear for yourself: