R.H.C.P. ripped off Tom Petty

Dudess

iFight wrote:

Never even heard of Tom Petty,is he still alive?

Wha??? Well you may not have heard of him, but you've surely heard his songs. Freefallin' is one of his best known. The chorus goes "I'm FREEEEE. Freefallin". Ok, it's difficult to put a melody into words, but you'd definitely know it. He's an American artist - guitarist/singer/songwriter. Kind of influenced by The Byrds and Californian rock (think along the lines of the movie Almost Famous). Been around since about the 70s. Had a band, The Heartbreakers. Some of his stuff is pretty fabulous. Some I personally find a bit dad-rocky and boring, but that's just me. He was a guest on The Simpsons. You know the one where Homer goes to Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp run by the Rolling Stones with Lenny Kravitz and Elvis Costello there too? All in all, a good artist. Recommended song: Don't Come Around Here No More from '85. Quality.

elvis2002

pfffft, RHCP, I've been saying for years how this group of tossers are one the most overated bands in history. Their guitar player should jump off a cliff for some the crap he tries to play

Dudess

Me agrees

Earthhorse

elvis2002 wrote:

Their guitar player should jump off a cliff for some the crap he tries to play

Only if Tom Petty does it first.

Wertz

I was discussing this with someone on another forum and he reckoned the album cover credits Petty in some way for this track (as a tribute)....he could have been telling porkies and I have litttle intention of buying the album to take a look...anyone with the album confirm/deny this?

OctavarIan

Meh. You're mainstream for long enough, it's bound to happen. If you're ever forced to (cos you wouldn't willingly, surely not) listen to Spin 1038 after 8pm, it's like the who's who of remixes. While working one night I had fun trying to listen out for 'songs' that didn't copy/remix other artists music. I'm surprised RHCP would do this though, but then again I only listen to BloodSugar so I wouldn't know.

MagnumForce

OctavarIan wrote:

If you're ever forced to (cos you wouldn't willingly, surely not) listen to Spin 1038 after 8pm, it's like the who's who of remixes. While working one night I had fun trying to listen out for 'songs' that didn't copy/remix other artists music.

Thats really annoyed me lately, all these remixes of 80's songs, and they're not even any difference except for a dance beat behind them, and most of the time the original artists arnt named, they say "That was Sunblock and I'll Be Ready", it wasnt f*cking sunblock, it was Jimi Jamison and it was called I'm Always Here damn it!! and when they do credit the artist they get it wrong like Beatfreaks feat.Micheal Jackson, while Jacko sung that one line - "I always feel like somebody's watching me", it was a song by Rockwell whose vocals are sampled on it aswell.

But the problem is if you asked all the people (mostly teenagers really) who listen to Spin and these remixes, theyd have no idea that these songs were actually released 20 years previous, they actually think these are new songs!!!!

Thats basically the problem with the RHCP/Tom Petty thing aswell, the problem is, the people getting into their music now wouldnt have a clue who Tom Petty even is, case in point: yer man in one of the above posts. Nobody even noticed it on Boards until now, and it had to be pointed out by a recording on the net!

Tom Petty should kick their ass if they didnt discuss it with him first!! It doesnt matter if his version is slower, its still the exact same song, its even played in almost the same style and sound, and the subject matter of the lyrics are strikingly similar aswell!!

arbeitsscheuer

MagnumForce wrote:

Thats basically the problem with the RHCP/Tom Petty thing aswell, the problem is, the people getting into their music now wouldnt have a clue who Tom Petty even is, case in point: yer man in one of the above posts. Nobody even noticed it on Boards until now, and it had to be pointed out by a recording on the net!

Tom Petty should kick their ass if they didnt discuss it with him first!! It doesnt matter if his version is slower, its still the exact same song, its even played in almost the same style and sound, and the subject matter of the lyrics are strikingly similar aswell!!

Absolutely spot on, and tbh I don't think his version is slower - I think they are, more or less, exactly the same song. It beggars belief that the RHCP could get away with this without practically anyone (cept that US radio station) voicing criticism.
Last Dance With Mary Jane isn't even an obscure song, it's on the Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Anthology (which I, being a massive Petty fan, have).

I actually can't put into words how p*ssed off I am about this. And as you rightly say, "the people getting into their music now wouldnt have a clue who Tom Petty even is", and that's what p*sses me off - the RHCP are making money off the back of a far more talented bloke's music, and the people lining the RCHP's pockets don't even f**king know.

ARGH!:mad:

lodgepole

I'd be very surprised if the combined gang of Rick Rubin, RHCP and the record label weren't well aware of the similarities. Thus, there must be more to it. I'd be inclined to wait until either Tom Petty, the RHCP or either record label make a statement about it before going off an a patented "Red Hot Chilli Peppers suck" rant.

Incidentally, did somebody say that the guitar on the new album (or indeed previous albums) is poor? Talking out of your proverbial arse.

eoin5

Plagerism is the best form of flattery!
Everyone ripped off the beatles anyway.

WetDaddy

Mmmm... A few things:

1. Nobody (that US radio station included) seems to have mentioned anything at all about the *other* parts of the song. That's the verse to 'Dani California'. I sincerely doubt the chorus of 'Last Dance With Mary Jane' is anything similar.

2. Tom Petty's drummer uses the same beat for EVERY frickin' song. All well and good for him, but eventually the chords put over it will be the same as another tune. Moreover, the chords (Am, G, Dm, Am) are a very common progression anyway.

3. There's an interview with John Frusciante (RHCP guitarist) saying where he actually got the idea for the music. He was listening to Wu-Tang's 'Return To The 36 Chambers" and that beat is used a lot throughout that album.

So, that's what the gist of what I think. Also, there's 27 other tracks on the album. And probably countless more from the recording sessions. Whether your a Chillies fan or not, you have to admit that they've written a shedload of tunes in the 20 years they've been together. I doubt they're *so* hard up on ideas that they have to blatantly rip-off other people.

What I reckon happened was that they wrote the tune, got it together and at some point along the way, somebody probably heard it and told them "Y'know, the verse is very similar to that Tom Petty tune". At that stage (I speculate), they would hardly have gone and changed it.

ThousandLeaves

Ah, but take into account the lyrical similarity. Both 3rd person stories of a girl growing up, with Mississippi substituted for Indiana in the case of the latter.

Not that it matters too much. Personally I don't care for RHCP much at all, quite a catchy tune though. Blues, rock, jazz, in fact most everything have borrowing traditions & stock riffs, but generally it would be in some acknowleged.

Pretty funny though.