Pizza Hut, Home Depot Deny Stealing The Black Keys’ Music

In June, Black Keys’ members Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney along with producer Danger Mouse filed a lawsuit against both Pizza Hut and Home Depot. According to them, the companies used their songs with permission, which, as we all know, is a serious no-no. The musicians claim the pizza joint used their song Gold on the Ceiling to promote the company’s Cheesy Bites, while Home Depot borrowed the tune Lonely Boy to pimp power tools. Now, it would seem, they want proper compensation.

Two months later, Pizza Hut and Home Depot have finally responded to the lawsuit. Rolling Stone reports that both companies have flat-out denied using the songs in their respective advertisements. In fact, so shocked are the businesses by these allegations that they intend to collect legal fees from the plaintiffs should they lose their case.

The two companies separately denied everything when their attorneys filed court documents on Thursday and Friday. Presently, a court date has not been set.

The aforementioned songs can be found on The Black Keys’ seventh album, 2011’s El Camino. The two-man outfit, which consists of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, formed in 2001. The duo’s first proper album, The Big Come Up, was released by Alive Records in 2002.

In a June interview with Rolling Stone, Carney revealed the band intended to return to the studio in July to begin work on their eighth album:

“We don’t know when we’ll be done but we’re starting it in July. We might not finish it until March since we have to tour so much, but we’ll see,” he explained. “We don’t know what’s going on. After July, we’ll be able to know how long it’ll take.”

If it turns out Home Depot and Pizza Hut used The Black Keys’ music without permission, the band and their producer may not have to worry about money for a very long time.