The 'Inga' Riff Controversy: Did the Stones Borrow from Freddie Mercury's Side Project?

In 1974, just before the Rolling Stones released It’s Only Rock ’n Roll, a rumor emerged that the song’s central guitar riff was lifted from “Inga,” a 1972 single by Larry Lurex. Larry Lurex was actually a one-off pseudonym for Freddie Mercury (with Brian May and Roger Taylor on the record), making this a bizarre pre-Queen brush between the two bands. The Stones never acknowledged the claim, and the resemblance is vague at best—both riffs share a descending blues pattern, but the timing and feel are different.

The more persistent and serious accusation against the Stones involves their early borrowing of obscure blues riffs without credit. Songs like “Little Red Rooster” (a Willie Dixon cover they did credit), “The Last Time” (which some argue was inspired by the Staples Singers’ “This May Be the Last Time”), and “Satisfaction” (built on a riff that Keith Richards said just came to him, though blues scholars point to earlier motifs) have sparked decades of debate. The band often acknowledged their debt to blues tradition, but the line between homage and plagiarism blurred in the pre-sample era. The “Inga” story remains a footnote, but the broader blues-lifting controversy is part of the Stones’ legacy as both preservers and appropriators of American roots music.