Does One Direction's new hit borrow too much from The Who?

[<a href="//storify.com/cbccommunity/does-one-direction-s-new-hit-borrow-too-much-from" target="_blank">View the story "Does One Direction's new hit borrow too much from The Who?" on Storify</a>]<h1>Does One Direction's new hit borrow too much from The Who?</h1><h2></h2><p>Storified by <a href="http://storify.com/cbccommunity">CBC News Community</a>&middot; Thu, Aug 15 2013 07:08:04</p><div>Music critics and fans are pointing out some similarities between One Direction's hit single <i>Best Song Ever </i>and The Who's 1971 classic <i>Baba O'Riley</i>, with the verdict ranging from "homage" to outright "plagiarism." <br></div><div>Does One Direction's Best Song Ever sound too similar to The Who?One Direction , the boy band inspiring awe from teenage girls around the world, have come under fire for their new song Best Song Ever. A...</div><div>A scathing review on Clickmusic reads, "we find the 1D team resorting to plagiarism once again as The Who's <i>Baba O'Riley</i> is sterilised and repackaged for fans who probably don't know any better."<br></div><div>One Direction: 'Best Song Ever' single reviewSomeone should call Trading Standards over the song title as 1D sterilise The Who's Baba O'Riley Read more on One Direction Listen to One...</div><div>But Amy Sciarretto of PopCrush, in her review of the song, wrote that while the tune's first 20 seconds do sound very similar to The Who, "it<em> has</em> to be intentional and an homage, since it's <em>that</em> obvious. But that's where the similarities end, people."</div><div>One Direction, 'Best Song Ever' - Song ReviewLet's get it out of the way now. Yes, the first 20 seconds and the intro of One Direction's new single 'Best Song Ever,' which factors in...</div><div>You can judge for yourself here: <br></div><div>Best Song Ever (Audio) - One DirectionVEVO</div><div>The Who - Baba O'rileyzumie94</div><div>Some people say the similarities are obvious if the intros are played back-to-back, as they are in this YouTube video. <br></div><div>Baba O'Riley vs Best Song Ever - just coincidences?simomac97</div><div>London's XFM posted a remix of the two songs on SoundCloud a few weeks ago, saying that 1D is "borrowing a couple of bits and bobs" from <i>Baba O'Riley</i>. <br></div><div>THE WHO vs ONE DIRECTION by The Xfm Breakfast ShowPopsters One Direction borrowing a couple of bits and bobs from the legendary The Who...</div><div>When the comparison hit Twitter today after the Telegraph's coverage, some One Direction fans wondered who these "The Who" guys were, anyway. <br><br>"They're called 'The Who' for a reason," read <a href="https://twitter.com/OnlyLove1D/status/367995907456790530" class="">one tweet from a IDer</a>. The hashtag <a href="http://topsy.com/s?q=%E2%80%8EDontTouchBestSongEver" class="">#‎DontTouchBestSongEver</a> briefly trended when fans got it into their heads that someone was trying to take down the song over the controversy. <br><br>Other, perhaps older, Twitter users mocked One Direction fans for their musical ignorance.<br></div><div>Seeing Directioners question who The Who are is making me lose the very little faith in humanity I had left‏‏ ‏ ‏‏ ‏ ‏</div><div>Directioners are asking who The Who is though, hahaha http://pic.twitter.com/ZfMSCWCx3WHold The Jars.</div><div>Tumblr</div><div>I am laughing at how Directioners are actually Tweeting &quot;Who are The Who?&quot; http://pic.twitter.com/kvoccEX0i6consulting detective</div><div>&quot;Who even are The Who? They're nothing compared to One Direction.&quot; http://pic.twitter.com/Qx0eaH5iw2 peter parker </div><div>What do you think? Is <i>Best Song Ever </i>a ripoff of <i>Baby O'Riley</i> or an homage to The Who hit? <br></div>