Dani California – RHCP

Dani California is the latest single from Red Hot Chilli Peppers and is also a part of their latest album, Stadium Arcadium. The music is typical RHCP but it’s the video which is very different. In this, they have, in their way, paid homage (parodied ?) to the best rock bands from the sixties.

I watched the video yesterday and was left laughing at their idea and antics. I mean, some of the bands they have represented (which I could identify) were so real looking I was amazed. Watch the video and try to identify the bands on your own before reading further. It contains the bands I identified, and am quite certain about.

The first part is to indicate which of their get-up’s I’m indicating, mainly by the dress/makeup of the lead singer Anthony Kiedis.

  • Rock and roll style dance – Elvis (?)
  • Everyone with prescription glasses – Unknown The Byrds (?)
  • Brightly colored outfits – The Beatles (Mainly cos the guitarist looks very similar to John Lennon)
  • White fur coat open in the front – GnR
  • Gaudy Makeup, Shiny blue suit with a hat – Aerosmith
  • Set Hair down the face & the drummer with face paint – The Mistfits (Kiss maybe?)(Thanks TXC)
  • Wild Rockers with platinum blond hair – Unknown
  • 3/4 Shorts with a tie – Themselves

It’s a very nice video and is typical RHCP style where they do all sorts of crazy jumping around on the stage ;)

36 Comments

  1. Ankur May 19, 2006

    An RHCP video better than “RHCP – Can’t Stop” …. Havent seen the video … Btw where’s my tribute to AC/DC …

  2. Ankur May 19, 2006

    know of ne torrent where i could get the video … the re-read ur post sp the list of who’s who they enacted … :(( … now where do i get a copy frm …

  3. AJ May 19, 2006

    I’ve not seen the Can’t stop video.. Will try to watch it somehow.
    I watched the video on Mtv though am sure there should some torrent somewhere..

  4. Ankur May 20, 2006

    Thanx for the torrent link Mr. \:d/ … Trust me u’ll luv Can’t Stop … I downloaded it … hv to watch it yet … take a look at this btw http://culturebully.blogspot.com/ their latest post is a testimony of ur good taste in music :)>- …

  5. Ankur May 20, 2006

    One of ur unkown is the sex pistols

  6. AJ May 20, 2006

    You’re most welcome :)
    RHCP is quite good, and Dani California is actually a pretty good song too.. Now I want to listen to the rest of the album!

    Btw, I read somewhere yesterday that they have apparently been served with a legal notice because supposedly the chorus is similar to another song by another band..

  7. AJ May 20, 2006

    Which one? I’ve never watched any of their videos so I would not know :(

  8. Ankur May 21, 2006

    White Shirt – Unknown … they have the Union Jack (UK) Flag in the background … they are the sex pistols … grand daddy of punk rock … i hv littered ur blog to much …

  9. AJ May 21, 2006

    Ah.. Maybe I should watch a few of their videos!
    I watched the “Can’t Stop” video and it’s funny! Yeah, typical surreal RHCP ;)

    And nope, you’ve not littered the blog! Thanks for your information though :)

  10. TXC May 28, 2006

    Kiss = No.
    Misfits = Yes.

  11. james June 4, 2006

    Rock and roll style dance – Buddy Holly
    Everyone with prescription glasses – Unknown The Byrds (?)
    Brightly colored outfits – Prince
    White fur coat open in the front – NOT GnR
    Gaudy Makeup, Shiny blue suit with a hat – David Bowie maybe
    White Shirt – Sex Pistols
    Set Hair down the face & the drummer with face paint – The Mistfits
    Wild Rockers with platinum blond hair – Poison
    Unknown Sitting on a stool – Nirvana
    3/4 Shorts with a tie – Themselves
    The beatles are in there too in black and white

  12. Mike Francis June 4, 2006

    Just watched the vid and thought I would throw in my two cents:

    1-Elvis with a little mix of Jerry Lee Lewis in there

    2-The Byrds are a good guess…but they were not as clean cut appearance wise as the Beatles which would be my guess…The set is almost an exact sldup of their appearance on Ed Sullivan.

    3-While it has that Sgt. Pepper look they are definitely in the pyschedelic range with a mix of The Yardbirds, Jefferson Airplane, Sly and the Family Stone…

    4-(White Fur coat sequence) Funkadelic (the band) mixed with George Clinton

    5-(Gaudy Makeup) Ziggy Stardust, aka David Bowie, Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground and the who Glam Rock scene.

    6-Spot on Sex Pistols

    7-Misfits, with a nice imitation of Glen Danzig by Anthony

    8-(Hair Band) Poison

    9-Nirvana

    10-Late 80’s Chilli’s

    Hope this reply doesn’t come off as too know it all…Hyst gave a deeo appreciation for this stuff.

  13. tony June 6, 2006

    Guy’s, the scene with the hat is def. tom petty,
    the seen with the white coat and bandana could be gnr, or aerosmith.
    black and white is the beatles…the sphyadelic is poss. Jimi hendrix experience

  14. Kirstin June 16, 2006

    I think the blond rockers are Poison

  15. Stephani June 18, 2006

    The wild rockers with the platinum blonde hair are none other than Bon Jovi in their early days, at least, that’s what I have been told. And the band with the brightly coloured outfits are not the beatles, the frontman’s moustache and the whole psychedelic 70’s look, are no where near that of The Beatles. In fact, the prescription glasses band are closer to being The Beatles then The Byrds.

  16. Stephani June 18, 2006

    The wild rockers with the platinum blonde hair are none other than Poison.

    The band with the brightly coloured outfits are not The Beatles, the frontman’s moustache and the whole psychedelic 70’s look, are no where near that of The Beatles, though it does have that Sgt. Pepper feel. The fisrt person I thought of when I saw this was Prince, but I’m pretty sure it’s The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
    I’d say, the prescription glasses band are closer to being The Beatles then The Byrds, at least, that was my first guess.

    The guady makeup aren’t Aerosmith, I’d say David Bowie, bit of Velvet Underground, it’s definetely Glam Rock…

    BTW I’m so sorry I feel like I’m picking you to pieces, I’m really not trying to sound like a know-it-all…

    Finally, the white fur coat is not the Gunners. To be honest I don’t know who they are, possibly Funkadelic?

    Anyway man, I’m sorry if this sounded harsh, I really am…

    Rock On!

  17. AJ June 18, 2006

    Stephani: It’s Bon jovi or Poison? :-/ :P
    Nah.. You weren’t harsh.. I would like to know more about which bands are represented..

    One more thing, I’ve recently read somewhere that they have not tried to imitate any one band in one scene but always a slight mixture.. I would provide the link here but I can’t remember where I read it :(

  18. Laloser05 June 21, 2006

    I thort the brightly colour outfit guys… well certainly the main singer looks like prince…. or is tht me….:S

  19. Laloser05 June 21, 2006

    o yer, and the gaudy make up – KISS – ?

  20. Stephani June 23, 2006

    LaLoser05…
    The gaudy make-up aint KISS…
    KISS have very distinctive make-up…and it doesn’t inclue bright blue top hats…..

  21. babykobez June 26, 2006

    I’m almost 100% sure that the psychadelic part is not Prince but Jimi Hendrix. Altough Prince does come off with the crazy colourful outfits, with the whole band dressed that way, it comes more off as the experience.

  22. Josh June 30, 2006

    3/4 shorts with a tie are Green Day not themselves. You have to look at all 3 band members and it is best to compare the 3/4 shorts sceen with Green Days video for Basket Case

  23. K June 30, 2006

    Its not the Byrds…its Buddy Holly and the Crickts

  24. Stephani June 30, 2006

    Yeah, this is to Josh…
    Of course the 3/4 shorts and tie are themselves…
    It has the Red Hot Chili Peppers Symbol in the background AND there are four members shown NOT three like Greenday because it is the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS!!!

  25. andrew July 2, 2006

    i thought the 3/4 shorts was greenday thats what the video told me,since the rest of the video was band other than rchp if they did themselves for the last part why not the earlier scenes too rhcp where around then

  26. dan July 3, 2006

    Everyone needs to get this right

    1. Elvis
    2. Buddy holly (definitely not beatles)
    3. jimi hendrix experience
    4. kid rock
    5. david bowie
    6. sex pistols
    7. misfits
    8. twisted sister
    9. nirvana
    10. our beloved RHCP

  27. Viktor July 17, 2006

    I may be wrong but I’m pretty sure that the last band are not RHCP themselves but Avril Lavigne’s band; I thought that they are RHCP, but after few watchings I realized that I was wrong: look at the sign in the back, the way Anthony jumps, the looks of the other members. Get it?

  28. greg July 17, 2006

    Ok, first of all, don’t leave quotes if you dont know your music. This whole video is in chronological order from elvis to RHCP.
    1) Elivis— self-explanatory, or at least it should be.
    2) BEATLES
    a) Hofner bass
    b) matching suits
    c) Vox amps
    d) Rickenbacker guitar
    3) Cream — Frusciante uses a Gibson SG that is painted almost exactly to the way Eric Clapton hand painted his own.
    4) Parliament Funkadelic, definitely. The mothership coming down would never be G’N’R, and they dont fit into that time slot.
    5) Top hat is probably glam rockers like New York Dolls. Flea looks very, very similar to David Bowie in this slot, so you can tell they were going for glam.
    6) Sex Pistols, no questions asked. Only Johnny Rotten makes those faces, and the English flag in the background should be a give-away too.
    7) As someone said before, black facepaint is the misfits.
    8) Some hairmetal band like Twisted Sister or Poison.
    9) This is Nirvana, for sure. This set models the MTV Unplugged Set almost exactly, with the candles, rugs, and chairs.
    10) And finally, the last set IS NOT GREEN DAY. If you look in the background, there is a large red asterisk…. This is one of the logos of the RHCP. Also, Mike Dirnt never freaks out like Flea is in this scene.

    I am very sorry if i come off as a know it all ass, but this stuff is my specialty. I’m doing this so anyone who really wants to know can.

  29. perpet January 8, 2007

    Have to say, I’m pretty darn sure the second band is more Beatle-esque than anything else. They’ve got the John Lennon rhythm guitar stance down and everything.

    Neat video, anyway.

  30. SHAM January 26, 2007

    look dont leave comments if u dont know wat ur writing! it s no way greenday the last one and im 1 of the biggest gday fan ever , the last one is chillis with their 06 07 wear! its in the snow vid and thats what they wer live !

  31. Deb February 2, 2007

    The platinum blond rockers in the video are a homage/parody to POISON

  32. hj February 14, 2007

    3rd is jimi hendrix the pepers said it themselves in a interview

  33. Atomic Kitten January 30, 2008

    Hi there…I Googled for union jack flag, but found your page about lifornia – RHCP | Living Life…and have to say thanks. nice read.

  34. Alex March 29, 2011

    I think the band with the brightly colored outfits might be either Prince or The New Generation, which includes Prince. Anthony Kiedis’s hair and mustache are very similar to Prince. And let’s face it, the latter always wore bright colors.

  35. Alex March 29, 2011

    Just rethought about it and 3rd band is DEFINITELY jimi hendrix

  36. skipper October 11, 2011

    dude you got so many bands wrong the one u say is the byrds is actuaully the beatles, the one you say is beatles is prince, the dude with fur coat even though its open i dont think its guns n’ roses, the one you say is aerosmith is actually alice cooper outfit wise, the white shirt is green day, platinum blonde is twisted sister, sitting on a stool is bon jovi, and the misfits you got right, elvis you got right, and themselves you got right.

Comments are Disabled