"Dani California" is a song from American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers' ninth studio album, Stadium Arcadium (2006).

The song narrates much of Dani's life, starting with her birth in Mississippi and apparently culminating with her death in the badlands, by a North Dakota policeman, while en route to Minnesota.

[8] Two of the station's talk show hosts, Dan Gaffney and Jared Morris, alleged that the Red Hot Chili Peppers had plagiarized Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' 1993 hit "Mary Jane's Last Dance".

They stated that the chord progression, key, and the lyrical theme of the songs (both produced by Rick Rubin) showed "startling similarities" and urged listeners to "decide for themselves.

"[8] Although the chord progressions sound similar, they do in fact differ as "Mary Jane's Last Dance" follows "Am, G, D, Am" (A Dorian mode), while "Dani California" follows "Am, G, Dm, Am" (A minor).

University of Chicago musicologist Travis Jackson said the songs' chord progressions were similar, but were a "pretty standard groove" in music and not necessarily evidence of copying.

[9] In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Petty denied rumors that he planned to sue the Chili Peppers and said, "I seriously doubt that there is any negative intent there.

[5] Flea affirmed that "[The band] mainly did eras, not actual people: rockabilly, British Invasion, psychedelia, funk, glam, punk, goth, hair metal, grunge, and ourselves being the sum of all those parts.

"[5] While the band's appearance was intentionally generic in each scene, obvious nods were made to certain specific artists, including Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Parliament-Funkadelic (as Flea was dressed like Bootsy Collins), David Bowie (as Flea was dressed like Bowie in his Ziggy Stardust persona), Slade, Sex Pistols, The Misfits' Glenn Danzig, Poison, Mötley Crüe, Nirvana, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers themselves.

[12] The video finishes with the Red Hot Chili Peppers as themselves, occasionally flashing back to the imitated transformed artists featured earlier in the film.