Red Hot Chili Peppers - Dani California (2006)
*** (of four)
It's good to have you back, Chili Peppers. What's it been, six years since your last video? Missed you guys. And here you are, mugging it up in your version of that subgenre of music video known as Impersonate The Greats. You've seen Phil Collins and Phil McCartney put on their Buddy Holly wigs and Eminem do his best Dope Show-era Marilyn Manson. You even probably cracked up when David Lee Roth shoved the Billy Idol impostor into the electric wires in "Just a Gigolo."
So you guys got together and talked about all your favorite rock and funk acts over time, the ones who influenced you, the ones you wished you could have been, the ones who you figured passed the torch on to you. You didn't want to leave anyone out - Elvis, Hendrix, P-Funk, the Stones, Iggy, Bowie, Sex Pistols, Prince, Motley Crue (fucking Motley Crue?!), Nirvana, Green Day. And, let's be honest, you guys all kind of wished you had the cultural relevance of any of the above acts instead of frequently seeming on the novelty or mush-ballad side of music.
But don't get me wrong, you guys are impossible to dislike. I've always been in your corner. And I like "Dani California," the song and the video. Sure, you mug it up hardcore - on an almost cutely fierce level - but it's obvious that, unlike Roth slamming Idol into the electric wires, you guys made this video out of love and reverence. You got to do a lot of wardrobe changes, take a lot of fun pictures and just generally goof off on the same black soundstage all day. The result is a gleeful mess that almost makes me forgive the fact that you put out a double album.
It's good to have you back, Chili Peppers. What's it been, six years since your last video? Missed you guys. And here you are, mugging it up in your version of that subgenre of music video known as Impersonate The Greats. You've seen Phil Collins and Phil McCartney put on their Buddy Holly wigs and Eminem do his best Dope Show-era Marilyn Manson. You even probably cracked up when David Lee Roth shoved the Billy Idol impostor into the electric wires in "Just a Gigolo."
So you guys got together and talked about all your favorite rock and funk acts over time, the ones who influenced you, the ones you wished you could have been, the ones who you figured passed the torch on to you. You didn't want to leave anyone out - Elvis, Hendrix, P-Funk, the Stones, Iggy, Bowie, Sex Pistols, Prince, Motley Crue (fucking Motley Crue?!), Nirvana, Green Day. And, let's be honest, you guys all kind of wished you had the cultural relevance of any of the above acts instead of frequently seeming on the novelty or mush-ballad side of music.
But don't get me wrong, you guys are impossible to dislike. I've always been in your corner. And I like "Dani California," the song and the video. Sure, you mug it up hardcore - on an almost cutely fierce level - but it's obvious that, unlike Roth slamming Idol into the electric wires, you guys made this video out of love and reverence. You got to do a lot of wardrobe changes, take a lot of fun pictures and just generally goof off on the same black soundstage all day. The result is a gleeful mess that almost makes me forgive the fact that you put out a double album.
posted by daytime at 6:18 AM
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