Did the Red Hot Chili Peppers plagiarize Tom Petty?

Inquiring minds want to know...

Of course, I always thought "Mary Jane's Last Dance" was a little too similar to "Subterranean Homesick Blues"...

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06012006/gossip/pagesix/pagesix.htm

CHILI TUNE CALLED PETTY THEFT

June 1, 2006 -- Are the Red Hot Chili Peppers really stone-cold copycats? The Peppers have just come out with a huge new album, "Stadium Arcadium," but its success is marred by insiders' charges that the CD's hit single is uncomfortably similar to a Tom Petty hit from the '90s.

"The single 'Dani California' [currently No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart] is a huge hit - but there is a major problem," one source claimed. "The song has the same chord progression, melody and tempo of Petty's 'Mary Jane's Last Dance.' The song even has a similar lyrical theme."

"Dani California" starts off: "Gettin' born in the state of Mississippi / Poppa was a copper and her momma was a hippie / In Alabama she was swinging hammer," while "Mary Jane's Last Dance" goes: "She grew up in a Indiana town / Had a good-lookin' mama who never was around / But she grew up tall and she grew up right / With them Indiana boys on an Indiana night."

Our source said, "Tom Petty was made aware of this and is looking into legal ramifications. The Chili Peppers could be facing a huge plagiarism lawsuit - which is a major problem for Warners. Both bands are on the Warner Bros. label. If Tom sues, the album, which is Warner's biggest hit of the year, would have to be pulled from shelves pending litigation."

Petty's rep, Heidi Robinson, said: "I am well aware of this situation. [The two songs] certainly do sound similar, don't they? I guess imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Tom doesn't have a comment on this at all. I have no idea if he is going to sue the Chili Peppers, and am not prepared to make a comment on that."

Chili Peppers' rep Liz Rosenberg referred calls to Warner Bros. spokesman Link Burland, who said, "This is the first I have heard of it."

Meanwhile, Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis talked about the album to Rolling Stone and noted: "Love and women, pregnancies and marriages, relationship struggles - those are real and profound influences on this record." Nowhere did he mention Tom Petty.

 

We already had a thread about this. Two dorky DJ's manipulated the tracks and played them simultaneously. Dunno......no big deal to me.

 

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=81485

 

Ah, so the New York Post and I are late to the party on this one. Feel free to close at will, Gorts.

 

Tom Petty is looking into legal ramifications? Puhleeze! As I mentioned in the other thread, he, um, "borrowed" the opening of "Waiting for the Sun" by the Jayhawks for "Mary Jane's Last Dance." Good luck there, Tom...

 

I went on rant on another forum about this....the DJs were musically illiterate morons basically, and its sad to see that the NY Post is so naive. I picked apart every single one of their points.....many of which are just plain lies.

 

Tom ripped himself off! There's a song on "Wide Open" that he himself referred to as Re-Falling since it sounds just like Free Falling!

 

Not to nitpick, but it was Stan Lynch who referred to "All The Wrong Reasons" as "Re-Fallin'". I thought that was hilarious. Lynch was pretty bitter about his role in the band at that point and left a few years later.

 

My word, with all the sampling and everything else that goes on in the business, I guess someone thought this was news? OK, there is a similarity in the intro/verse, but the choruses are dissimilar. Somewhere, George Harrison is having a good laugh!


Dan

 

Both songs were produced by Rick Rubin as well.

There is a similarity. I'm sure Petty could care less. If anything he is probably flattered.

 

...and the Jayhawks' Hollywood Town Hall was released on Rubin's label. So we've got a hat trick!

Incidentally, Petty's keyboardist, Benmont Tench, played on HTH, so maybe he's responsible for borrowing the opening of "Waiting for the Sun" for "Mary Jane's Last Dance." Benmont: "Say, uh, Tom, I've got an idea for the arrangement..."

 

Tom Petty potentially accusing anyone of plagarism is pretty hilarious. I bet he sits this one out.

 

Right....I couldn't recall who said it, so I just said Petty. Thanks for the info.

 

Take it here..........

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=81485