put ur phattys in the air like you just dont care im keeping it real, whilst you keeping it square

1. How does the music video for
the Red Hot Chili Peppers –
Californication appeal to its
target audience?
By Cody Davison

2. Song Information
• Californication is the fourth single from the album with the same name.
The album was their 7th studio release and is the Chili Peppers most
successful commercial release, selling over 15million copies worldwide and
an impressive 5 million copies in America alone.
• The single was released in 2000 and rose to the 69th spot on the Billboard
hot 100 charts. The track claimed 16th on the UK singles chart, with other
accolades including hitting number 1 on both the US Mainstream Rock
Tracks, where it remained for 2 weeks. Also sitting in 1st on the US Modern
Rock Tracks for 1 week.
• Tracks sold isn’t the only category in which the single performed well. The
song quickly became one of the bands most popular and has featured in
nearly every set list since its debut, with over 500 live performances,
making it the bands 3rd most performed song of all time.

3. Band Information
• The Chili Peppers have been making music together since 1983 and formed in the
city of Los Angeles. The bands musical style has foundations of rock whilst fusing
and exploring different genres such as punk rock and psychedelic rock. Similarly
to the group Tempesst who I have created a music video for.
• The group currently consists of Anthony Kiedis on vocals, bassist Flea, with Chad
Smith on drums and former touring guitarist Josh Klinghoffer.
• RHCP are one of the best selling bands of all time, selling over 80 million records
worldwide. They have been nominated for 16 Grammy awards, winning 6 and are
the most successful band in alternative rock radio history. They currently hold the
records for most number one singles, 13, most cumulative weeks at the top spot,
85, and most top ten songs on the Billboard Alternative song chart, 25.
• In 2012 the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

4. • The music videos story is set inside of a
video game with graphics similar to the
original Playstation. The Playstation was one
of the biggest consoles when the album was
released. However, this isn’t used to make
the video appeal to a younger audience, the
subject matter of the Chili Peppers music is
mature and Californication in particular
tackles topics such as teen pregnancy, and the
video features shots of a porn film being
recorded. The average age for a gamer is in
the 30’s so it would make sense for the video
to appeal to an older audience using the
video game setting whilst tackling more
mature topics.

5. The Chili Peppers cleverly integrated
intertextuality into their video to make it
appeal to their audience. From the 2 photos
provided, it is clear that the style of the video
is heavily inspired from the video game
Grand Theft Auto. This can be told from not
only the content of the video but also the
overlays being very similar to the style used
in GTA.
The Grand Theft Auto series is infamous for
its mature topics and has taken a lot of flak
from the media because of it. Its story lines
have featured narratives ranging from
prostitution to drug trafficking. With the Chili
Peppers singing about mature topics, it
would make sense for them use GTA as a
style for the music video. Fans of the GTA
series may see the visual style and be
intrigued to watch the music video.
By using a mature rated game as the setting
for the video, the Chili Peppers are reaching
out the mature audience which they are
trying to target.

6. Californication breaks the style typically used
in rock music whilst also conforming to them.
I have yet to see another music video which
uses the style of placing the band in a video
game, in this way it breaks the genre
conventions. However it also conforms to
them by still having band shots interweaved
in the video and featuring the band members
throughout, through both the character icon
screen on the overlay but also having the
characters carrying out actions in the music
video.
By conforming to genre conventions, the Chili
Peppers video appeals to fans of traditional
band music videos, Goodwins theory can be
applied here and it is likely that the record
label demanded that shots of the band be
integrated into the music video, especially
close ups as these can be used for publicity.
By breaking genre conventions, and using an
experimental style for the video, people who
may have skipped over the song/music video
may decide to have a look, if for the style
used or for its experimental nature.

7. Who is the target audience for the music
video? Consider demographics and
psychometrics – you’ll need to be as specific
as possible e.g. writing: ‘It’s aimed at young
people…’ is too vague. Explore the profile of
the audience – what might their interests
be? Which brands do they buy? Where might
they live? What life style might they have?
Remember to consider the difference
between the constructed audience and the
actual audience.

8. What was / is the audience’s reaction to the
music video? What are the potential
‘readings’ of the music video? Explore Stuart
Hall: preferred, negotiated and oppositional
readings