Oh, nice idea to move the discussion to this thread...!
Let me copy/paste my post on the other thread:
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While the melody is very similar, I dont think its a rip-off or inspiration but a coincidence, something like the Astrud Gilberto piano riff that sounds like Smoke on the Water in Maria Moite: link
^Yes, no doubt it could be like this, but there is one big factor that make me think....five Rockstars assumingly some of them on Coke...and no one is willing to take the credit for a Number 1. Basslick...
I saw two interviews Mack and Roger and both trying to dodge a clear comment "Well...ahhh...I think it was..." And then I 've heard here on QZ that John himself was giving the credits to Bowie !
It brings me to the assumption that they actually had known about the real originator of the lick.
There are lots of rock songs based or inspired on classical music, I would not see any problem if it turns out that it was based or inspired by another piece of music.
Under Pressure from Handel. Juicy, ain't it ?
I say who cares if it came from the public domain. That's the beauty of art - take something someone else did and make it your own. With a few exceptions, it was only until very recently that this method was almost exclusively seen as a form of flattery. Greed and lawyers changed all that.
Please don't get me wrong...I didn't doubt that the song itself is a legit work of Queen/Bowie...it's just that lick....
And they could have been easily in knowledge of Händel music cause, despite the name, he was more a brit( worked/lived there) than a german.