Twitter has been abuzz with speculation ever since One Direction debuted their latest song, the hyperbolically dubbed 'Best Song Ever', due to speculation that Harry, Niall and,er, the other three, rather obviously ripped off The Who's classic tune 'Baba O'Riley'. Listen for yourself below.
Speculation has been traversing the twittersphere that The Who's Pete Townshend was so furious at the One Direction lads, that he was set to demand the song be withdrawn and was presumably going to be the subject of a copyright infringement claim.
One Direction fans, who do have a tendency to be batshit crazy, responded to these rumours on Twitter. The hashtag #donttouchbestsongever was trending across the globe, with some Directioners resorting to threats of violence.
"WE SPENT HOURS GETTING THIS SONG TO NUMBER 1 IN TURDY (sic) SEVEN COUNTRIES, TOUCH IT AND YOU DIE", read one. "You should be afraid, we're psychotic. If you delete it, you don't wanna know what'll happen;)".
Honestly, the song was never going to be deleted and ruin the "hours" of work that Directioners across the world had spent making it a success. Nonetheless, The Who's Pete Townshend felt compelled to join in the debate.
"I like the single", he wrote. "I like One Direction. The chords I used and the chords they used are the same three chords we've all been using in basic pop music since Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran and Chuck Berry made it clear that fancy chords don't mean great music - not always. I'm still writing songs that sound like Baba O'Riley - or I'm trying to!"
The point remains that One Direction's 'Best Song Ever' does seem to have rather shamelessly borrowed its intro from The Who, but is this plagiarism or tribute? Let us know your thoughts in the comments box below.
Note: The similarities to The Who's Baba O'Riley kick in at around 2.25 of the video.