Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Californication" Transcends One Billion YouTube Views

Everybody's been there — and I don't mean on vacation

BY Megan LaPierrePublished Dec 6, 2022

After becoming a playable game earlier this year, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' ubiquitous Y2K video for their hit single "Californication" has transcended from its Windows XP-screensaver skies to reach one billion views on YouTube.

The video for the track from RHCP's 1999 Californication album was directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. It famously places avatar versions of every band member in a fictionalized video game, each taking on their own distinctly Californian quest. There's also performance footage of the shirtless Chilis rocking out as Anthony Kiedis fittingly repeats the "hardcore soft porn" line. 

In retrospect, it's funny how the band's game characters are shredding down the Golden Gate Bridge, riding dragonflies or otherwise being classic death-defying game heroes, when Conan O'Brien recently issued a public safety announcement about why you shouldn't listen to RHCP while driving even the most normal of cars. We'll have to wait and see which mode of transportation they take on their 2023 tour.

Keep the dream alive with the "Californication" video below.


"Californication" joins the ranks of Evanescence's "Bring Me to Life" and Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up."

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