So I caught the episode of the Office called “Cafe Disco” last night (which I’d link to Hulu but they only have 5 episodes available — ridiculous). I’ve seen this episode a few times and every time I get taken aback when Kelly hits play on the stereo and starts dancing with Erin. Here’s the song they play — it’s “Boy Hangover” by Bonnie McKee:

Sound familiar? Listen to this:

Yeh, it’s the same drum loop and synths as Katy Perry’s “Hot N Cold.” Startling, right?

BTW, I’m embedding that lame audio clip instead of the actual video because Capitol Records has disabled embedding on Katy Perry’s actual video. How idiotic is that?

Public: Hey Capitol Records, we’d like to do some free advertising for you!
Capitol Records: No.
Public: Um, but we’re big fans and we’re not making any money.
Capitol Records: Even still.

(UPDATE: Looks like they realized the error of their ways.)

Totally lame. But this is also lame: on another posting of that Bonnie McKee song, the writer of the song posts:

I’m working on getting it available for a paid download on MySpace if anyone is interested, although I know a lot of you industrious webbies have already ripped this to your mp3 player. But the download will sound WAY better when it’s up!

Guy, just make it free. It’s out already. Who’s paying for a “WAY better” sound when it’s ripped and free already.

Has anyone heard of Lester Lewis or Bonnie McKee? No. Have they gotten tons of free publicity from this? Yes. So just let it be free.

But back to the song. I think objectively “Hot N Cold” is a much better (some might even say WAY better) song than “Boy Hangover.” And I kinda figured the latter got buried to make room for the former. After all, Bonnie McKee is a writer on Katy Perry’s new single “California Gurls” so it doesn’t sound like Perry ripped off McKee.

I’m just intrigued by the recycling of that intro. Mostly because it’s kind of a signature of the song. It’s not like a sample. It’s two songs that start exactly the same.