Dani California, Plagiarism?

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Dani California, Plagiarism?

democlez

Dani California, Plagiarism?

Posted over 3 years ago

In my boredom between reading mog postings, I found a wikipedia article on Dani California by Red Hot Chili Peppers (the article in full can be found "here":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dani_California ) According to the article, a radio morning show accused the Red Hot Chili Peppers of plagiarising the cords, lyrical and singing style of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' 1993 hit Mary Jane's Last Dance. A comparison of the two tracks can be found "here":http://www.jared-morris.com/blog/petty.mp3 . The two samples they use to compare are shockingly similar but I think if you look at the tracks as a whole, there isn't enough there to accuse them of plagiarism. Any thoughts?

Comments (13)

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Tyler says yeah, personally, i think they are too different, but in this day and age, you can sue for anything and get away with it. if they really wanted too, they could win an argument and some cash for it.

Permalink posted 08/14/2006
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Putty says i agree with you. just pure coincidence.

Permalink posted 08/14/2006
Anonymous says people have too much time on their hands.

Permalink posted 08/14/2006
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samuraijohnny says The 2 tracks are very similar, but I wouldn't go so far as calling it plagiarism. As a musician, I know I sometimes regurgitate things I've heard before, but didn't realize it until later on. After all, there are only so many things you can do with the diatonic system. I'm sure if you dig hard enough, you can find other songs that sound similar to Tom Petty's song and you can probably find a song made earlier that you could say Tom Petty ripped off of. One of my teachers in high school said Mozart actually composed all the music you can ever have, everyone else is just regurgiating things he's done already.

Permalink posted 08/14/2006
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phantom says In all likelihood it'd just coincidence, Having said that. Musicians have an old saying, Adam and Eve wrote the first song and we've been ripping it off ever since.

Permalink posted 08/14/2006
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democlez says Every artist is inspired by other artists who were inspired by other artists. Not much in any media is completely original anymore, but that's not a bad thing. I think the collaborative nature of today's society is one of it's greatest strong points. Just take Mog for example or my favorite information source "wikipedia":http://www.wikipedia.org/ .

Permalink posted 08/14/2006
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chucky says For what it's worth, I read an interview with Tom Petty not too long ago. In the interview, Petty said he didn't feel that RHCP was ripping him off and that he had no intentions of sueing.

Permalink posted 08/14/2006
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Puffmagic says As Solomon said, there's nothing new under the sun.

Permalink posted 08/14/2006
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Nutcase says well, if you go from a mathematical perspective, the chances are astronomical of even having 1/4 of them similar/same. However, there are actually a LOT of bands that steal bits and pieces from other bands. Listening to the radio I can almost make a trail from one to another to another. And if Petty, like most artists, doesn't care then everything's fine. Oh, by the way... I call Final Destination a 'needlessly bloody carnage' flic... same as Saw I and II, Hostel, and the Descent.

Permalink posted 08/15/2006
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democlez says (It's true, Final Destination, Saw, ect... all rely heavily on gore. Regardless, it can be entertaining. I have Final Destination II as well as Saw I in my DVD collection, not because of the gore but because I was entertained. Saw I has a great, twisted plot (with horrible acting) while Final Destination II has an unbelievably intricate car accident scene that was filmed in BC wahoo. I don't even watch the rest of the movie besides the first car crash)

Permalink posted 08/15/2006
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mourning says they do sound similar, except for the fact that i can't even make out a bassline in the Tom Petty track. You can't ignore Flea.

Permalink posted 08/24/2006
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mourning says they do sound similar, except for the fact that i can't even make out a bassline in the Tom Petty track. You can't ignore Flea.

Permalink posted 08/24/2006
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sawthechilis says Seeing that Tom Petty did not sue then he either did not oppose or maybe gave consent. and if you ask me it is just part of the motif shown in the filmclip about their musical influences. and i thought last dance with mary jane was mid eighties. o well

Permalink posted 04/19/2007