The votes are in! As of press time, 49 percent of you felt the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Dani California” bites “certain musical elements” from Tom Petty’s 1993 hit, “Mary Jane’s Last Dance,” while 46 percent said “Dani” was totally original. An on-the-fence five percent of readers weren’t quite sure. Petty, meanwhile, is said to be seeking legal action to prove his case.
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Here are some hot comments from our message boards:
“the chili peppers are nowhere near as bad as nirvana when it comes to ripping a particular song off…anyone remember the hot water kurt and company got into over stealing more or less an entire song from killing joke.” — CAPacelli
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“There’s a lot more similar stuff, plus Tom Petty has ripped off people and he’s been ripped off before, it happens ALL THE TIME in music. Plus just how many practical chord progressions are there?” – Razorback
“Did they intentionally rip off Petty? No. Do they lack the depth to write songs that are not trite or derivative? Mose assuredly, yes. Condemning them for these similarities in song is like yelling at a retard for drooling.” — x33rpm
“I bet the chillies have never even heard of this guy so i dont think they would do something like that.” — thelegionofrock
“Is it possible to rip off Tom Petty and Lynyrd Skynyrd (Sweet Home Alabama) at the same time?” — egebamyasi
Talk: Continue the debate! COMMENT
