Commentary on music video

'By The Way' - Red Hot Chili Peppers

This music video has the purpose of promoting the bands image as a funk rock band which is shown in the way the band dresses as well as the sound of the song itself. The band uses the standard rock band instruments with funky sounds on the bass guitar solo which is a unique blend which defines them as a band. In the video there is editing to cut back and forth between the narrative and the band. When we see the band their appearance is the whole band topless which is a defining image for the chili's because they all grew up in the heat of their homeland California.

The music video is mostly narrative based with the main story about a crazy die hard fan of the red hot chili peppers being a cab driver who kidnappes the main vocalist (Anthony Kiedis). This is followed by a hectic car chase where the other band members chase the cab driver and rescue the main vocalist with an epic leap in the middle of the street. There is a small amount of intertextuality with the car chase which can be linked to other action films with car chases in the city. The record label for this music video is warner bros who have been the band record label since 1999. The music video was directed by Jonathon Dayton and Valerie Faris, a couple who have collaborated with the band to create music videos on other numerous occasions.

The fast paced camera movements and song parts work well with the suspenseful scenes in the music video such as the quick editing between shots when the main singer jumps from the taxi to the band members car. What makes this video stand out is it keeps you on the edge of your seat in anticipation of whether the lead vocalist will escape the kidnapper with support from the stunts that happen in the video. The target audience for this music video is mostly male teenagers and adults although other work done by the chili's has appealed to females. The music video was successfully viewed by many on youtube and music channels such as kerrang.