# Did the Red Hot Chili Peppers plagiarize Tom Petty? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 4, 2006, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-red-hot-chili-peppers-plagiarize-tom-petty/359400 "2006-06-04T19:07:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-red-hot-chili-peppers-plagiarize-tom-petty/359400/1 "2006-06-04T19:07:47Z")
> **[One moment, please...](https://www.gigwise.com/news.asp?contentid=17507)** > [@](#): > > The station, WGMD in Delaware, has produced pretty damning evidence that the bands last single ‘Dani California’ is a rip off of a Tom Petty track. > > The song in question is Petty’s 90’s hit ‘Mary Jane’s Last Dance’ and the radio stations Morning Show presenter and producer have alleged the plagiarism. > > Producer Jared Morris said: “The chord progression, the melody, the tempo, the key, the lyrical theme… they’re identical.” What do you folks think? Does this cross line into plagiarism? I’m especially interesting in professional musician’s opinions. ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-red-hot-chili-peppers-plagiarize-tom-petty/359400/2 "2006-06-04T19:45:59Z")
(quasi-pro musician) The verse riff is similar, but that’s about where the similarities end. The choruses are different and have completely different melodies and chord progressions. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-red-hot-chili-peppers-plagiarize-tom-petty/359400/3 "2006-06-04T20:09:42Z")
Does your local station have a “Mash-Up” show? The kind where you take an old song, a new song, and combine them? Every song mashes up with something. “Dani California” and “Last Dance with Mary Jane” both mash up comfortably with Burl Ives’ “Blue-Tail Fly.” I wouldn’t mistake any of them for another, though. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-red-hot-chili-peppers-plagiarize-tom-petty/359400/4 "2006-06-04T20:10:24Z")
I don’t know how any music producer could say what this guy is saying and be serious. Anyone who knows anything about music knows that it’s bullshit. The guy is a sleazeball, a liar and a fraud for alleging that. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-red-hot-chili-peppers-plagiarize-tom-petty/359400/5 "2006-06-04T21:10:01Z")
My local radio station played cuts from each song one right after the other, and they sounded eerily similar in a lot of places. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2006, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-red-hot-chili-peppers-plagiarize-tom-petty/359400/6 "2006-06-04T22:53:49Z")
I doubt it was a dirdet rip off and after a quick look at tabs for the music there are some silmilr chord progressions but nothing that would make me believe that the Chilli Peppers are ripping it off. In music there are only a certain number of chords available. Re-using a chord progression is standard, heck you can’t get around it. Last Dance is a G, D, Am with random suspensions thrown in (assuming what I looked at is correct). The Chilli Peppers tune is F, C, D, A though it looks to me like the F might acutally be a ninth (I’ve heard the Chilli Peppers tune but never paid any attention to it). I write a lot. I rarely play covers. I have re-written many a song by accident. For example, one day after my then girlfriend dumped me I wrote a piece. It was a slow song and pretty depressing which, having just been dumped, was what I was going for. I went over to a friends place and played him the new tune. I got through it and my friend looked at me and said “Dude, that is the theme to the Hulk”. The piece actually wasn’t the theme to The Hulk (the tv version) but it was close enough that I stopped working on it. The point being that it is pretty easy to write something that sounds close to another piece without realizing it. Slee ---
**Author:** ![Lama\_Pacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Lama\_Pacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lama_Pacos)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-red-hot-chili-peppers-plagiarize-tom-petty/359400/7 "2006-06-05T01:45:11Z")
The end result is undeniably similar, but I have a strong doubt that there was any intentional lifting. Besides, even if the Red Hot Chili Peppers came out and said, “yeah, we basically took this from Tom Petty”, I don’t think they’re similar enough to constitute a case of actual plagiarism. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-red-hot-chili-peppers-plagiarize-tom-petty/359400/8 "2006-06-05T01:46:57Z")
Well, it may sound a bit like the Petty song, but the Petty song sounded a good bit like many earlier songs. I’d say both the Peppers and Tom Petty used an old, time-honored chord progression. Nothing that warrants a lawsuit on Tom’s part, certainly. . ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-red-hot-chili-peppers-plagiarize-tom-petty/359400/9 "2006-06-05T01:59:01Z")
Just based on this thread I listened to the two songs a few times. Actually, I’d agree that the basic chord progression and melody are strikingly similar; the first time I heard “Dani California” I was immediately reminded of “Mary Jane’s Last Dance.” The final guitar riffs share some similarities too, though of course they’re built off the earlier chord sequences so you’d expect that. But it’s not quite the same, really, and diverges quite substantially once you hit the chorus. I’ve heard far more similar songs. ---
**Author:** ![cold\_cold\_night](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@cold\_cold\_night](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cold_cold_night)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-red-hot-chili-peppers-plagiarize-tom-petty/359400/10 "2006-06-05T03:41:59Z")
You could make a far better case that “Dani California” is a cheap imitation of the Chili Peppers back catalogue. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-red-hot-chili-peppers-plagiarize-tom-petty/359400/11 "2006-06-05T03:52:03Z")
[QUOTE=cold cold night] You could make a far better case that “Dani California” is a cheap imitation of the Chili Peppers back catalogue. [/QUOTE] Their _crappy_ back catalogue. _Freaky Styley_ rules. ---
**Author:** ![cold\_cold\_night](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@cold\_cold\_night](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cold_cold_night)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-red-hot-chili-peppers-plagiarize-tom-petty/359400/12 "2006-06-05T04:05:25Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] Their _crappy_ back catalogue. _Freaky Styley_ rules. [/QUOTE] YMMV. I think RHCP are far more talented as alt-rock balladeers than frat party house band. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-red-hot-chili-peppers-plagiarize-tom-petty/359400/13 "2006-06-05T04:13:44Z")
_The Brothers Cup,_ _Hollywood,_ _Jungle Man,_ and funky-ass hard-driving quirky songs like that are more frat-party music than their later stuff? I don’t see it. The Peppers went downhill when Anthony stopped shouting and started singing! ---
**Author:** ![Othersider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cab0a1/32.png) [@Othersider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Othersider)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-red-hot-chili-peppers-plagiarize-tom-petty/359400/14 "2006-06-05T05:02:42Z")
[QUOTE=sleestak] In music there are only a certain number of chords available. Re-using a chord progression is standard, heck you can’t get around it. Last Dance is a G, D, Am with random suspensions thrown in (assuming what I looked at is correct). The Chilli Peppers tune is F, C, D, A though it looks to me like the F might acutally be a ninth (I’ve heard the Chilli Peppers tune but never paid any attention to it). [/QUOTE] Actually, it’s closer than you might think. The chord progression for the verse to _Dani_ is A minor, G, D minor, A minor. _Mary Jane_ goes A minor, G, D, A minor. I listened to a clip of the radio show where they compared the two songs. Yeah, they had to speed up the clip of _Mary Jane_ a little bit to match it up timewise, but they sound pretty similar. Of course, this isn’t the first time such allegations were made, and it will almost surely not be the last. After all, how different can songs be, with only 12 different notes out there? :smack: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-red-hot-chili-peppers-plagiarize-tom-petty/359400/15 "2006-06-05T06:00:52Z")
Egh, they sould a bit similar, but nothing worth noting, really. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-red-hot-chili-peppers-plagiarize-tom-petty/359400/16 "2006-06-05T13:38:21Z")
[QUOTE=cold cold night] You could make a far better case that “Dani California” is a cheap imitation of the Chili Peppers back catalogue. [/QUOTE] Preach it. When I hear that song, I’m all, “and this differs from _Californication_, how?”