Dani California is Stolen.

[da_pope]

According to a recent Drowned In Sound report, a US radio presenter has accused the Red Hot Chili Peppers of plagiarism, claiming that the band's "Dani California" single is near identical to Tom Petty's "Mary Jane's Last Dance".

Dan Gaffney, of Delaware-based WGMD, told his listeners of the similarities. Subsequently, the show's producer Jared Morris told reporters:


"The chord progression, the melody, the tempo, the key, the lyrical theme... they're identical."

To prove the point, Morris has posted an MP3 on his personal blog. Check it out at this location.

Holy Shit. This link compares both.
http://www.jared-morris.com/blog/petty.mp3

The Song Are Identical in every way!
Chords, Melody, Lyrics... Wow. Just Wow.

[Lisa]

this is old news....please...such utter crap....when hasn't an artist taken ideas from another artist? thinking, 'hey, I dig the sound of that and turn it into something similar and/or better....in this case I am sure it is purely coincidence and nothing contrived by the band....personally, I used to listen to alot of Tom Petty back about 10 years ago abd quite familiar with that song in particular....they are nothing alike to me  in feel or tune.
jebus, what people won't complain about

[da_pope]

Are you kidding.
The Lyrics are even about the same thing.

It's flat-out stolen.

[Lisa]

Are you kidding.
The Lyrics are even about the same thing.

It's flat-out stolen.

I am embarrassed for you...sorry my friend but in this instant you are wrong, entitled to your opinon as I am mine, but very very wrong.
any real musician will tell you it has a comletely different feel, a completely different flow.........to each their own I suppose..

[Gunner80]

Are you kidding.
The Lyrics are even about the same thing.

It's flat-out stolen.

Get over it already!

[da_pope]

Are you kidding.
The Lyrics are even about the same thing.

It's flat-out stolen.

I am embarrassed for you...sorry my friend but in this instant you are wrong, entitled to your opinon as I am mine, but very very wrong.
any real musician will tell you it has a comletely different feel, a completely different flow.........to each their own I suppose..

Ha, any real musician.
I've been playing guitar for 6 years, In a touring band and about to put out a record.
 
Plus I'm only 17.

It doesn't take musical knowladge to hear that these 2 songs are identical.

[Lisa]

also does not take an idiot to be wrong.....17 eh? you still have alot to learn, when you get to be my age you accept things for what they are, there is no black or white but many, many varying shandes of gray....you are stil wrong my friend, imo.
btw, I have been playing guitar for 24 years and still profess to know nothing..

[Walk]

Stop listening to bland radio rock and appreciate heavy metal. Radio rock all sounds the same anyway. Hail metal. Hail elitism. 

Good bands do cover songs and make them their own. Judas Priest's version of Diamonds and Rust is the biggest example.

[da_pope]

Stop listening to bland radio rock and appreciate heavy metal. Radio rock all sounds the same anyway. Hail metal. Hail elitism.?

Good bands do cover songs and make them their own. Judas Priest's version of Diamonds and Rust is the biggest example.

Dani California isn't cover though... They take credit for it.

[Walk]

also does not take an idiot to be wrong.....17 eh? you still have alot to learn, when you get to be my age you accept things for what they are, there is no black or white but many, many varying shandes of gray....you are stil wrong my friend, imo.
btw, I have been playing guitar for 24 years and still profess to know nothing..

This is still a blantant example of stealing music. It's worse than Vanilla Ice stealing Queen bass lines. It's almost as bad as Nickelback copying their own songs. 

[Walk]

Dani California isn't cover though... They take credit for it.

Exactly. They should have made a cover instead of just stealing a song and calling it their own.

[journey]

It's not stolen. I can hear a subtle difference between the two. Besides, the Chili Peppers would never rip another artist off like that.

You can hear similarities in many songs by different bands. It happens. People can't go through every single song on the market to make sure they're not sounding like someone else. That's virtually impossible.

Here's a thread from a while back discussing this kind of thing: http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/board/index.php?topic=19494.0

[Izzy]

Thats a rip off to my ears - but we already knew RHCP couldn't write decent stuff on their own so its no real surprise

[Butch Français]

Thats a rip off to my ears - but we already knew RHCP couldn't write decent stuff on their own so its no real surprise

yeah, you're the one to talk

get over it people, they sound nothing like the same to me.
bands making similar songs are bound to happen, even if they have never heard of each other.

[Axls Locomotive]

i dont think its stolen from petty...lets face it, the chord progression is not exactly a difficult one is it? and besides , the peppers song sounds like it has a minor chord in it the petty one sounds like all major chords

and what about the chorus? no mention of it...does it sound similar?

[2NaFish]

i always thought the intro sounded just like blur's country house

[Mikkamakka]

As far as I know Frusciante stole the riff from Hendrix. BTW that's te only good thing in this song.

[Walk]

Even Hendrix would steal old blues songs. Almost all mainstream bands are thieves who steal ideas from the underground.

[Gunner80]

Even Hendrix would steal old blues songs. Almost all mainstream bands are thieves who steal ideas from the underground.

blah..blah...blah... we've heard this from you enough times to last a life time.

[Butch Français]

As far as I know Frusciante stole the riff from Hendrix. BTW that's te only good thing in this song.

no, the first 3 notes on the solo is taken from Purple Haze. as sort of a tribute to Jimi.