Red Hot Chili Peppers guilty of Plagiarism?
June 25, 2006 by Jan Welch
The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been accused of plagiarism by Deleware radio station WGMD. The station has brought forth very strong evidence that suggests the Chili Peppers ripped off the chord progression, the melody, the tempo, the key and the lyrical theme of Tom Petty’s 90s hit ‘Mary Jane’s Last Dance’ in their newest single ‘Dani California’.
Both songs were produced by legendary producer Rick Rubin. Tom Petty is reportendly in discussion with attorneys over filing a copyright lawsuit against both the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rick Rubin.
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WGMD's Dan Gaffney has produced this MP3 to show the similarities of the two songs. [0:50m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
definately sounds allot alike but people have been remixing songs for years, whats wrong with that? you hear something good and it inspires you to make something with a similar style. plus they are only focusing on small portion of both songs, what about the rest of the two songs, which sound completely different.
Even the drum beat sounds the same. If you pay attention to the hi-hat you can tell how it gets slushy at the same parts, well atleast to me.
It’s all a bit fishy. Pretty much the same chords and progression, same timing, same producer. As much as I like the chilli peppers i can’t help but feel a little disappointed. Tom Petty may have a bit of a case going for him. If anything rick rubin should get the blame. He of all people should have noticed the similarities between the two songs. There’s BEEF now sucka!!
So the verdict is in and Tom Petty is not suing the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This is what he told Rolling Stone magazine:
Everyone everywhere is stopping me. The truth is, I seriously doubt that there is any negative intent there. And a lot of rock & roll songs sound alike. Ask Chuck Berry. The Strokes took “American Girl†[for their song “Last Niteâ€], and I saw an interview with them where they actually admitted it. That made me laugh out loud. I was like, “OK, good for you.†It doesn’t bother me … If someone took my song note for note and stole it maliciously, then maybe. But I don’t believe in lawsuits much. I think there are enough frivolous lawsuits in this country without people fighting over pop songs.