Plagiarism in Song

The Red Hot Chili Peppers' song, "Dani California", is rumored to plagiarize Tom Petty's "Mary Jane's Last Dance". After listening to the two songs, I believe that there are a few similarities between the songs, but it wasn't meant to be intentional. In an interview, Tom Petty stated that he didn't care whether or not they plagiarized his song. He believed that RHCP had no negative intent in writing "Dani California", despite the similarities. A lot of rock and roll songs sound alike, and that's what Petty believes happened in this case.

I believe that Coldplay's song "Viva La Vida" plagiarized Joe Satriani's "If I Could Fly". The similarities between Satriani's guitar riffs and Coldplay's chorus are very obvious and easy to pick up on. In an interview, Satriani said that as soon as he heard "Viva La Vida" he recognized that they stole part of the song that he slaved over writing for ten years. He tried to avoid bringing the case to court, but Coldplay tried to ignore his call for attention. I believe that if Coldplay really didn't plagiarize Satriani's song, then they would have confronted him rather than ignoring him and hoping that the issue would disappear.