Dani California- music video- Red Hot Chili Peppers

Dani California is one of the best music videos of all time, fact it was nominated for 11 awards for best video and really shows off Red Hot Chili Peppers creativity, especially Anthony Kiedis as it was his idea for this video. The video explores all the different eras of rock music from the very beginning, Flea, the bass player has said the band focused more on the eras than actual people however some of the people shown are crucial to the evolution of rock music and defined the era like The Beatles, Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, Prince, David Bowie, Nirvana and the Chili peppers themselves of course, Flea said the eras the band focused on were rockabilly, British invasion, psychedelic, funk, glam, punk, Goth, hair metal, grunge and of course themselves as flea said, whatever they fall into  The video starts with a curtain opening and Anthony Kiedis is behind it dressed as Elvis.



I think the primary target audience for this music video would be fans of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, I also think the secondary target audience for this video would be fans of music in general especially rock music, fans of rock music of all ages and genders also seen as they cover almost every era of rock music and the evolution of the genre so this would draw a lot of attention in my opinion because a video as creative as this would get people talking so people would watch it for all different types of reasons for example you could have an old person who is a fan of Elvis and the Beatles watch it for the reason that they imitate those performers in this video or a young teenager, which is predominantly the fan base of Nirvana would view this video because of the part where they imitate Nirvana so this video would bring people into watch it from old to young so in this case that is a very smart idea, I think the purpose of the video is to do this also and is very clever by the band.

This is Kiedis as Elvis with the other members of the band john flea and chad surrounding him, this is representing the beginning of rock and roll.

Throughout the video the band pose as many others people from different eras of rock n roll.

The next era they imitate is post Beatles rock n roll and all that followed.

The next era is the band imitating the Beatles (60s) from their first US TV performance when the British takeover begun on the Ed Sullivan show.

 The next the band imitate is the Jimi Hendrix experience falling under the psychedelia era.


The band then move onto the grunge era in the 90s and in this image Anthony Kiedis is imitating Kurt Cobain from nirvana, this is almost a tribute to nirvana, the two bands were good friends as they toured alot together flea also has played with Nirvana before, this particular image is kiedis imitating kurt cobain from his last Tv performance on mtv unplugged before he died.

These are just a few of the themes from the famous, award winning music video from one of the best bands in the world.

However, even with the video being so brilliant, the video doesn't really have anything to do with what the lyrics are about, Dani california is about a girl who keidis was in love with her name was Dani, he is talking about her young death , she is a poor young girl from the south who eventually ended up living in california, she became a mother and lived a fast unsettled life, the song basically narrates Danis life and how she was born in Mississippi and her death to a man who was from North Dakota whilst she was on her way to Minnesota. Dani has appeared in a few of the bands songs from several albums over the course of 7 years she first appeared in the song Californication, from the album Californication from 1999 the lyric that refers to her is 'teenage bride with a baby inside getting high on information', this was her first of many references in some of the bands hit songs. She was next mentioned in the 2002 single By the way, from the album By the way the reference is in the chorus of this song too 'dani the girl whos singing songs to me beneath the marquee'.

Dani California was released onto the album Stadium Arcadium in 2006, it wasn't just the video for Dani california that was grabbing all the awards, the song itself won the grammy for best rock song 2006 and best rock performance.

I really cant think what relevance there is from the video to the song and the lyrics, but they are both great, here are the lyrics :

Getting born in the state of Mississippi
Her papa was a copper, and her mama was a hippy
In Alabama she will swing a hammer
Price you got to pay when you break the panorama
She never knew that there was anything more than all
What in the world does your compliment take me for?
Black bandanna, sweet Louisiana
Robbing on a bank in the state of Indiana
She's a runner
Rebel, and a stunner
Come to Mirawais saying baby, watcha gonna?
Looking down the barrel of a hot bell forty-five
Just another way to survive

California, rest in peace
Simultaneous release
California, show your teeth
She's my priestess
I'm your priest
Yeah, yeah, yeah

She's a lover
Baby, and a fighter
Should a seen it coming when I got a little brighter
With a name like Dani California
Day was gonna come when I was gonna mourn ya
A little low
That she was stealing another bread
I love my baby to death

California, rest in peace
Simultaneous release
California, show your teeth
She's my priestess
I'm your priest
Yeah, yeah, yeah

Who knew the hardest side of you?
Who knew the hardest time to prove?
Too true to say goodbye to you
Too true to say, say, say

Pushed the fader
Gifted animator
One for the now
And eleven for the later
Never made it up to Minnesota
North Dakota man
Wasn't gunnin' for the quota
Down in the Badlands she was saving the best for last
It only hurts when I laugh
Gone to fade

California, rest in peace
Simultaneous release
California, show your teeth
She's my priestess
I'm your priest
Yeah, yeah, yeah

California, rest in peace
Simultaneous release
California, show your teeth,
She's my priestess
I'm your priest
Yeah, yeah, yeah 

This is one of my favourite songs from my favourite band, and it has a brilliant video, this is why i chose it, the song lasts 4 minutes 42 seconds, the working name of the song was Wu-tang because chad smiths drumming sounded like drumming from Wu tangs fist Album, though they ended up sounding like the drumming from sweet home Alabama.

The label for the brand is Warner Bros, it was produced by Rick Ruben, like so many others of the Chili peppers songs and videos.

The song entered the billboard hot 100 at number 26 and peaked to number 6 it remained at number 6 for two weeks once reaching there, it is only the second song ever to debut at number 1 on the modern rock track charts, the music video was premiered on mtv on the 4th of April 2006, it was directed by Tony Kaye, director of american history x who was only accepted after initial choice mark romanek declined the opportunity.  The song has been the band's most performed from the album with over 330 performances as of 2017 , still never played it when i went though. 

I chose Dani California because it is one of my favourite songs by my favourite band, also it is probably the best music video of all time, it is so creative and nobody has done anything like it before, its just special, there's a reason its won so many awards I also have decided this is the video I want to do for my music video, it will be a challenge and I like a challenge and I know it will take a lot of planning but I would love to recreate my favourite music video and one of the best and more abstract videos of all time


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb5aq5HcS1A


Below is a storyboard of the video I have chosen the key points and transitions of the video mainly where the band switch to the next era which is every 2 or so verses. The song opens with the era of rockabilly (Elvis) then second era is the British Invasion (the Beatles) followed by psychedelia (Jimi Hendrix) fourth then being funk, the fifth era is glam, then the sixth is punk (sex pistols) seventh then being goth, then the eighth era is hair metal followed by Grunge (Kurt Cobain) then the last era is the Chili Peppers as themselves. 

This is the first scene (rockabilly and Elvis)

This is the second scene (The British Invasion, the Beatles)

 

This is the third scene (Psycedelia, Jimi Hendrix)

This is the fourth scene (Funk)

This is the fifth scene (glam)

This the sixth scene (punk, the sex pistols)

This is the seventh( Goth)

This is the eight scene (grunge, Kurt Cobain)

This is the ninth scene (Hair metal)