"There's one fact about this polarizing band that nobody can dispute -- they love to steal. In fact, their last three proper studio albums have all prominently featured songs that sound suspiciously similar to other musicians' work."

Some of Green Day's biggest hits -- "American Idiot", "Warning", "21 Guns", and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" -- directly rip off music from obscure punk rock bands, the Kinks, ELO, and Oasis.

The Cracked article then goes into how Oasis and five other successful musicians (including John Williams and Madonna) also copied the music of others.

Read more: http://www.cracked.com/article_19848_7-famous-musicians-who-stole-some-their-biggest-hits.html

i am one of those cranky 1990's kids who thinks that Green Day, The Offspring, etc. all turned bad after they gained large fan base. The Green Day of the last ten years does not match the Green Day of my youth. While this type of argument exists for all long term bands, I find it be more the case because of the stealing.

REM and Red Hot Chili Peppers changed over time, but they did it much better and kept my musical respect.