Analysing

Intertextuality (Kiss
and Robbie Williams)
By Becky and Liam

Biography of Bands
Kiss
Origin
New York City, New York, United States
Genres
Hard rock, heavy metal, glam metal

Robbie Williams
Born
13 February 1974 (age 41)
Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England,
United Kingdom

Years active
1973present

Genres
Pop rock, soft rock
dance
Britpop (early solo work)

Associated acts
Vinnie Vincent Invasion, Wicked Lester,
Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath

Occupation(s)
Singer songwriter musician
record producer
actor

Members
Paul Stanley
Gene Simmons
Eric Singer
Tommy Thayer

Years active
1990present
Associated acts
Take That Gary Barlow
Kylie Minogue
Avicii

Details of Texts Used

Intertextuality in Video
Robbie Williams used Kiss as an inspiration for his
Let Me Entertain You video as this was the music
he looked up to as a child. Robbie and Kiss had
careers that focused on the rock genre however,
Robbie then removed his focus from this genre to
pop as this became the most popular genre of
music as time evolved. Robbie used facial paints
to represent his respect for Kiss and drew
inspiration from the way the acted as a band.
Robbies music video was not about creating a
parody of the band and making the video
humorous, it was about showing his influences
and respect for a band who help to shape his
career today. The texts used in the video refers to
the costume and make up but also includes the

How the Intertextual

References Are Created
Robbie Williams video uses nostalgia
to create a memory for the audience
to refer his choice of mise en scene
back to the Kiss style. The costume
and make up that Robbie wears in the
video helps to make this reference
clearer. The intertextuality in the video
is also represented through the use of
the blurring of genres. Kiss are mainly
a hard-core metal band similarly,
Robbie was also based around this
type of genre at the time of the video
however the video also has a punk
pop style to it which brings it into the
21st century. As I said the video does
not create a joke feel the video is
used to respect Kiss which is shown by
Robbie in the video.

How Intertextuality is
Used
Homage is the type of Intertextuality used by
Robbie Williams in Let Me Entertain You but also
Pastiche as in the first scene of the song he goes
to bite the head of a dove but instead kisses it
this relates to Ozzy Osbourne and what he did on
stage this helps him distance himself from Take
That. The use of Homage Is to tribute to Kiss the
heavy metal band. Pastiche does play an element
in it to make it seem slightly less serious.

Why is Intertextuality is
Used?
Intertextuality is used to create a tribute to Kiss
by Robbie Williams, the use of Homage creates
quite a serious type of effect in the videos. The
audience are supposed to make the link between
Robbie Williams and Kiss but also other rock icons
like Ozzy Osbourne helping the audience change
the view of him. He chose to do this as he wanted
to leave the Boy Band type of music which
referencing Kiss and Ozzy Osbourne would do.
Intertextuality creates ideas about the artist as he
has referenced to serious rock groups and the fact
he wanted to change his appearance in the music
industry.