Red Hot Rip-Offs

Oct. 14, 2006  

The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources–Mark Twain

Stadium Arcadium maybe the most entertaining rock album of the year, but it is certainly not the most original. Their songs are BLANTANT rip-offs of songs written 20 or more years ago.

The Evidence:

  • Dani California’s tempo and opening guitar rythym is lifted almost directly from Tom Petty’s Last Dance with Mary Jane to the point where if you hear Last Dance on the radio you might think it’s Dani until the singing starts.
  • The last 30 seconds of Dani contains a guitar solo that steals the original guitar riff from Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze and then adds on to it at the end in an attempt to camoflauge it. Nevertheless, when listened to back to back, the similarity is unquestionable. Listen:
  • The guitar rythym on Wet Sand is yet another rip off of a classic rock tune. It is set to the same tempo and even contains the same chords as Led Zeppelin’s Over the Hills and Far Away. The only difference is in Wet Sand the guitar is strummed more than it is picked. Listen to both intros:

There may be plenty more examples. I’ve only listened to the first disc and a few times at that. Now if it just wasn’t so damn catchy…

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