Mark, my Words on 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' verdict: Rock music relies on a certain level of creative honour

"You sample a song, you get it cleared. The music industry has always been a wild west of rip-off artists, snake oil salesmen and manipulative profiteers but the plagiarism lawyers have beaten some sort of gentlemanly practices into it over the decades. Talent borrows, genius steals, previous genius sends legal letter outlining their cut. There’s a knowing give-and-take to it... But it also relies on magnanimity from the injured party, a recognition that chords and notes can’t really belong to anybody, that no art is truly new, music flows unchanneled through time and sometimes just an acknowledgement (and a point or two on the album) is enough" - NME's Mark, my Words writes after Rolling Stones gave Verve their most famous song back.