OK Go
Encyclopedia
OK Go is a rock band originally from Chicago, Illinois, USA, now residing in Los Angeles, California, USA. The band is composed of Damian Kulash
(lead vocals and guitar
), Tim Nordwind (bass guitar
and vocals
), Dan Konopka (drums and percussion) and Andy Ross
(guitar
, keyboards
and vocals), who joined them in 2005, replacing Andy Duncan
. They are perhaps best known for their often elaborate and quirky music videos.
The original members formed as OK Go in 1998 and released two studio albums before Duncan's departure. The band's video for "Here It Goes Again
" won a Grammy Award for "Best Short-Form Music Video" in 2007.
, met bassist Tim Nordwind at Interlochen Arts Camp when they were 11. Kulash was in for graphic design, Nordwind for music. The band name comes from their art teacher saying, "OK...Go!" while they were drawing. They kept in touch after camp, often exchanging mixtapes which influenced each other's musical taste and their future sound. They met the band's former guitarist and keyboardist Andy Duncan
in high school, and drummer Dan Konopka in college. OK Go was formed in 1998.
The band served as the house band for the public radio program This American Life
on the show's fifth anniversary tour.
in 2002. In the United Kingdom, "Get Over It" debuted at no. 21, in the UK singles chart
on March 16, 2003, and the band performed it on that week's edition of Top of the Pops
. Also that week, the single's video
was named video of the week by Q magazine. The single was featured in the EA Sports
video games Triple Play 2003
and Madden NFL 2003
.
The band contributed a cover of the Zombies
"This Will Be Our Year" as the lead track of Future Soundtrack for America
, a political benefit album put out by Barsuk Records
in the fall of 2004. Lead singer Damian Kulash wrote a how-to-guide entitled "How Your Band Can Fire Bush" for bands hoping to help unseat President George W. Bush
.
, Sweden, and produced by Tore Johansson
(The Cardigans
, Franz Ferdinand
) in the fall of 2004. After recording, in 2005, Andy Duncan left the band and was replaced by Andy Ross
, who auditioned for them in Los Angeles. The album was released in August 2005.
Oh No gained popularity for its first single, "A Million Ways
", in 2005. The video featured the band in their back yard performing a dance choreographed by lead singer Kulash's sister, Trish Sie
. By August 2006, the video had become the most downloaded music video ever with over 9 million downloads. The band performed the dance live on British TV show Soccer AM
, as well as on the late-night American comedy show, MADtv
.
They also performed a choreographed dance for the song "C-C-C-Cinnamon Lips" at shows after the release of their first album. It was based on N'SYNC dance routines, which they had developed for the Public-access television
cable TV show Chic-a-Go-Go
, which required bands to lip-sync their songs.
On July 31, 2006, the band released a video for "Here It Goes Again
" featuring an elaborately choreographed dance on treadmill
s, also directed and choreographed by Trish Sie
. This video was viewed by over one million people on the media site YouTube
in the first six days. As of April 2010, the original video upload for "Here It Goes Again" has been viewed over 50 million times, putting it in 42nd place for the most views of any video and 29th place for most viewed music video as well as the 7th most favorited video and the top favorited music video of all time on YouTube
. The band has worked with directors including Francis Lawrence
, Olivier Gondry (brother of Michel Gondry
), Brian L. Perkins, Scott Keiner, and Todd Sullivan. On August 23, 2006, Damian Kulash appeared on The Colbert Report to talk about the videos "A Million Ways" and "Here It Goes Again". The latter video won 2006 YouTube Award in the Most Creative category.
In OK Go's choreographed videos, their bassist Tim Nordwind lip-syncs instead of their lead singer, Damian Kulash, following the format from the dance choreographed for the song "C-C-C-Cinnamon Lips", which Tim sings. On August 31, 2006, OK Go appeared live at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards
performing their treadmill routine for "Here It Goes Again". On November 7, 2006, OK Go released a deluxe limited edition CD/DVD of the album Oh No. The DVD contains their music videos (dancing and playing instruments), a video of 180 fans performing the "A Million Ways" dance for a YouTube contest, previously unseen footage, and a behind-the-scenes look at their treadmill rehearsals for the "Here It Goes Again" video and for the MTV VMAs.
In May 2006, they toured with Panic at the Disco; in September they were in the U.K. supporting Motion City Soundtrack
, and continued their U.S. tour supporting Snow Patrol
into Spring 2007.
On February 11, 2006, OK Go and Trish Sie took home a Grammy award for "Best Short-Form Music Video" for their music video "Here It Goes Again".
Also, "Here It Goes Again" was featured in Rock Band, Guitar Hero 5
and SSX on Tour
; while "Do What You Want" was featured in the video games EA Sports
NHL 06
, Guitar Hero On Tour, and Burnout Revenge
.
In 2007, OK Go wrote the fight song for the Chicago Soccer Team, Chicago Fire S.C.. The song was offered on the team's official website as a free download. Also in 2007, OK Go covered the Pixies "Gigantic" for American Laundromat Records
"Dig For Fire – a tribute to PIXIES" CD.
In 2008, Damian Kulash said that the band had not produced the YouTube videos as part of any overt "Machiavellian" marketing campaign. "In neither case did we think, 'A-ha, this will get people to buy our records.' It has always been our position that the reason you wind up in a rock band is you want to make stuff. You want to do creative things for a living."
After visiting New Orleans in 2006, the band recorded an EP
with New Orleans funk rock
band Bonerama
, to raise money for musicians who were still displaced by the 2005 Hurricane Katrina
. The EP, entitled You're Not Alone
, was released on February 5, 2008.
(The Flaming Lips
, MGMT
). The band previewed their third album, titled Of the Blue Colour of the Sky
, on a short sling of dates on the East Coast of the United States that March, starting in Philadelphia on March 6, 2009 at the TLA Theatre. The name of the album, Of the Blue Colour of the Sky
comes from a faux-medical book written by General A. J. Pleasonton in 1876 entitled "The Influence of the Blue Ray of the Sunlight and Of the Blue Colour of the Sky." They have stated that these songs are the "danciest, most anthemic, most heartbroken, and honest songs" of their career, and the album itself takes a much more funky, dance-prone, yet melancholy sound to it, drawing influence from Prince
. On May 7, 2009, a song from the album, titled "Skyscrapers", was released for streaming online. The first single, "WTF?
", was released on November 10. On January 8, 2010, OK Go appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
and performed a song from the album, "This Too Shall Pass
". Of the Blue Colour of the Sky was released on January 12, 2010.
On March 10 it was announced that OK Go had cut ties with EMI
and Capitol
and formed the independent label
Paracadute Recordings. Of the Blue Colour of the Sky was re-released on April 1, when the new label took over the promotional campaign and all distribution responsibilities for the album. While the official statement was that the two parties were departing on good terms, it was speculated that the split was caused by the band's discontentment with the major label over efforts to block viral distribution
of the music videos from Oh No and Of the Blue Colour of the Sky.
On January 12, 2010, the first video for the song "This Too Shall Pass" (University of Notre Dame
Marching Band Version) was released. On March 1, 2010, OK Go released their second video for "This Too Shall Pass"(Rube Goldberg Machine
version), directed by James Frost. On June 15, 2010, the band released a music video for their single "End Love
". On April 29, 2010, the group appeared on The Colbert Report where they performed "This Too Shall Pass". On May 6, 2010 The Baltimore Sun reported that OK Go is selling USB Flash drives with recordings of each show on the Spring 2010 U.S. Tour
s, most of which have been promoted through Internet video sharing sites like YouTube
. Many of these have become viral video
s; the 2006 video for "Here It Goes Again", where the band performed a complex routine with the aid of motorized treadmills, has received over 50 million views four years later. Samuel Bayer
, who produced many music videos in the 1990s, asserted that OK Go's promotion of music videos on the Internet was akin to Nirvana
's ushering in the grunge
movement. Many of the videos also use long or single-shot takes, which Salon
s Matt Zoller Seitz claims "restore[s] a sense of wonder to the musical number by letting the performers' humanity shine through and allowing them to do their thing with a minimum of filmmaking interference". The success of OK Go's music first won the band the 14th Annual Webby
Special Achievement Award for Film and Video Artist of the Year. The video was named both "Video of the Year" and "Best Rock Video" at the 3rd annual UK Music Video Awards
. "This Too Shall Pass" won the LA Film Fest's Audience Award for Best Music Video, UK MVA Awards - Music Video Of The Year Winner 2010, among others.
OK Go has also been recently nominated "Best Music Video That Should Have Won A Moon Man" for their hit video, "Here It Goes Again" in the 2009 MTV Music Video Awards.
Damian Kulash
Damian Joseph Kulash Jr. is the lead singer and guitarist for Chicago-based rock band OK Go.-Early life:Born in Washington D.C., USA, Kulash graduated from St. Albans School in 1994, and later Brown University in 1998 with a concentration in Art-Semiotics. The family name was originally "Kulas"...
(lead vocals and guitar
Rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
), Tim Nordwind (bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
and vocals
Backing vocalist
A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
), Dan Konopka (drums and percussion) and Andy Ross
Andy Ross
Andy Ross , is an American musician most famous as guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist for the rock band OK Go since 2005. He is also behind a solo project, Secret Dakota Ring, which released albums in 2004 and 2008...
(guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
, keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
and vocals), who joined them in 2005, replacing Andy Duncan
Andy Duncan (musician)
Andy Scott Duncan Born was a founding member of the Chicago band OK Go, playing lead guitar and keyboards. He appears on their first two albums, the eponymous OK Go and its follow-up album Oh No...
. They are perhaps best known for their often elaborate and quirky music videos.
The original members formed as OK Go in 1998 and released two studio albums before Duncan's departure. The band's video for "Here It Goes Again
Here It Goes Again
"Here It Goes Again" is an alternative rock/power pop song by OK Go, and is the third released single from the album Oh No. It also appears on the compilation album Now 23. It remains the band's only single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, where it entered the Top 40 at #38, mostly due to the...
" won a Grammy Award for "Best Short-Form Music Video" in 2007.
Formation (1998–2002)
The band's lead singer, Damian KulashDamian Kulash
Damian Joseph Kulash Jr. is the lead singer and guitarist for Chicago-based rock band OK Go.-Early life:Born in Washington D.C., USA, Kulash graduated from St. Albans School in 1994, and later Brown University in 1998 with a concentration in Art-Semiotics. The family name was originally "Kulas"...
, met bassist Tim Nordwind at Interlochen Arts Camp when they were 11. Kulash was in for graphic design, Nordwind for music. The band name comes from their art teacher saying, "OK...Go!" while they were drawing. They kept in touch after camp, often exchanging mixtapes which influenced each other's musical taste and their future sound. They met the band's former guitarist and keyboardist Andy Duncan
Andy Duncan (musician)
Andy Scott Duncan Born was a founding member of the Chicago band OK Go, playing lead guitar and keyboards. He appears on their first two albums, the eponymous OK Go and its follow-up album Oh No...
in high school, and drummer Dan Konopka in college. OK Go was formed in 1998.
The band served as the house band for the public radio program This American Life
This American Life
This American Life is a weekly hour-long radio program produced by WBEZ and hosted by Ira Glass. It is distributed by Public Radio International on PRI affiliate stations and is also available as a free weekly podcast. Primarily a journalistic non-fiction program, it has also featured essays,...
on the show's fifth anniversary tour.
OK Go (2002–2005)
The band released its self-titled debut albumOK Go (album)
OK Go is the debut album by the Chicago rock band OK Go. It was released in September 2002. The cover was created by the well known designer Stefan Sagmeister.-Track listing:-Appearances in other media:...
in 2002. In the United Kingdom, "Get Over It" debuted at no. 21, in the UK singles chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
on March 16, 2003, and the band performed it on that week's edition of Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
. Also that week, the single's video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
was named video of the week by Q magazine. The single was featured in the EA Sports
EA Sports
EA Sports is a brand of Electronic Arts that creates and develops sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to mimic real-life sports networks by calling themselves "EA Sports Network" with pictures or endorsements of real commentators such as John...
video games Triple Play 2003
MVP Baseball series
MVP Baseball was a baseball game series published by EA Sports, running from 2003 to 2007 with five games produced. In 2003, MVP became the official successor to EA's long-running Triple Play Baseball series, and it simulated Major League Baseball from 2003 to 2005...
and Madden NFL 2003
Madden NFL 2003
Madden NFL 2003 is an American football video game. It features then-reigning 3 time NFL Offensive Player of the Year, and former St. Louis Rams running back Marshall Faulk on the cover. This edition of Madden was the first to feature EA Trax...
.
The band contributed a cover of the Zombies
The Zombies
The Zombies are an English rock band, formed in 1961 in St Albans and led by Rod Argent, on piano and keyboards, and vocalist Colin Blunstone. The group scored a UK and US hit in 1964 with "She's Not There"...
"This Will Be Our Year" as the lead track of Future Soundtrack for America
Future Soundtrack for America
-External links:**, the companion book from McSweeney's...
, a political benefit album put out by Barsuk Records
Barsuk Records
Barsuk Records is an independent record label based in Seattle, Washington, started and still managed by the members of the band This Busy Monster, Christopher Possanza and Josh Rosenfeld, who created the label in 1994 to release their band's material. Its logo is a drawing of a dog holding a...
in the fall of 2004. Lead singer Damian Kulash wrote a how-to-guide entitled "How Your Band Can Fire Bush" for bands hoping to help unseat President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
.
Oh No (2005–2009)
The band's second album, Oh No, was recorded in MalmöMalmö
Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...
, Sweden, and produced by Tore Johansson
Tore Johansson
Tore Johansson is a Swedish record producer, composer and musician based in Malmö, Sweden.-Biography:In an interview with HitQuarters, Johansson claimed that the main impetus for his becoming a music producer was the lack of good recording studios in the Malmö area at that time in which to record...
(The Cardigans
The Cardigans
The Cardigans are a Swedish rock band formed in the town of Jönköping in October 1992.Their debut album Emmerdale gave them a solid base in their home country and enjoyed some success abroad, especially in Japan. It was not until their second album Life that an international reputation was secured...
, Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand (band)
Franz Ferdinand are a Scottish post-punk revival band formed in Glasgow in 2002. The band is composed of Alex Kapranos , Bob Hardy , Nick McCarthy , and Paul Thomson .The band first experienced chart success when their second single, "Take Me Out", reached #3 in...
) in the fall of 2004. After recording, in 2005, Andy Duncan left the band and was replaced by Andy Ross
Andy Ross
Andy Ross , is an American musician most famous as guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist for the rock band OK Go since 2005. He is also behind a solo project, Secret Dakota Ring, which released albums in 2004 and 2008...
, who auditioned for them in Los Angeles. The album was released in August 2005.
Oh No gained popularity for its first single, "A Million Ways
A Million Ways
"A Million Ways" is a song by rock band OK Go from their album Oh No. It was the first song from the album to be released as a single and became the band's breakthrough song thanks to the internet sensation that was the accompanying music video....
", in 2005. The video featured the band in their back yard performing a dance choreographed by lead singer Kulash's sister, Trish Sie
Trish Sie
Trish Sie is a Grammy Award-winning American choreographer and director. She has worked in children's entertainment, film, television, music video, stage, and ballroom DanceSport.-Biography:Sie was born Patricia Kulash in Washington, DC...
. By August 2006, the video had become the most downloaded music video ever with over 9 million downloads. The band performed the dance live on British TV show Soccer AM
Soccer AM
Soccer AM is a British Saturday-morning football-based comedy/talk show, predominantly based around the Premier League...
, as well as on the late-night American comedy show, MADtv
MADtv
MADtv is an American sketch comedy television series. It licensed the name and logo of Mad, but otherwise had no connection with the humor magazine outside the animated Spy vs. Spy and Don Martin cartoon shorts and images of Alfred E. Neuman that the show featured during the late 1990s. Its first...
.
They also performed a choreographed dance for the song "C-C-C-Cinnamon Lips" at shows after the release of their first album. It was based on N'SYNC dance routines, which they had developed for the Public-access television
Public-access television
Public-access television is a form of non-commercial mass media where ordinary people can create content television programming which is cablecast through cable TV specialty channels...
cable TV show Chic-a-Go-Go
Chic-a-Go-Go
Chic-a-Go-Go is a Public-access television cable TV children's dance show that airs on Chicago Access Network Television . The show bills itself as "Chicago's Dance Show for Kids of All Ages".-Show description:...
, which required bands to lip-sync their songs.
On July 31, 2006, the band released a video for "Here It Goes Again
Here It Goes Again
"Here It Goes Again" is an alternative rock/power pop song by OK Go, and is the third released single from the album Oh No. It also appears on the compilation album Now 23. It remains the band's only single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, where it entered the Top 40 at #38, mostly due to the...
" featuring an elaborately choreographed dance on treadmill
Treadmill
A treadmill is an exercise machine for running or walking while staying in one place. The word treadmill traditionally refers to a type of mill which was operated by a person or animal treading steps of a wheel to grind grain...
s, also directed and choreographed by Trish Sie
Trish Sie
Trish Sie is a Grammy Award-winning American choreographer and director. She has worked in children's entertainment, film, television, music video, stage, and ballroom DanceSport.-Biography:Sie was born Patricia Kulash in Washington, DC...
. This video was viewed by over one million people on the media site YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
in the first six days. As of April 2010, the original video upload for "Here It Goes Again" has been viewed over 50 million times, putting it in 42nd place for the most views of any video and 29th place for most viewed music video as well as the 7th most favorited video and the top favorited music video of all time on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. The band has worked with directors including Francis Lawrence
Francis Lawrence
Francis Lawrence is an American music video and film director.-Life and career:Lawrence was born in Vienna, Austria. His father is a physicist who taught at California State University, Northridge and his mother is V.P. Technology at a PR agency. He moved to Los Angeles at the age of three...
, Olivier Gondry (brother of Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry is an Academy Award winning filmmaker, whose works include being a commercial director, music video director, and a screenwriter. He is noted for his inventive visual style and manipulation of mise en scène. - Life and career :...
), Brian L. Perkins, Scott Keiner, and Todd Sullivan. On August 23, 2006, Damian Kulash appeared on The Colbert Report to talk about the videos "A Million Ways" and "Here It Goes Again". The latter video won 2006 YouTube Award in the Most Creative category.
In OK Go's choreographed videos, their bassist Tim Nordwind lip-syncs instead of their lead singer, Damian Kulash, following the format from the dance choreographed for the song "C-C-C-Cinnamon Lips", which Tim sings. On August 31, 2006, OK Go appeared live at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards
2006 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2006 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on August 31, 2006, honoring the best music videos from the previous year. The show was hosted by Jack Black at Radio City Music Hall in New York City....
performing their treadmill routine for "Here It Goes Again". On November 7, 2006, OK Go released a deluxe limited edition CD/DVD of the album Oh No. The DVD contains their music videos (dancing and playing instruments), a video of 180 fans performing the "A Million Ways" dance for a YouTube contest, previously unseen footage, and a behind-the-scenes look at their treadmill rehearsals for the "Here It Goes Again" video and for the MTV VMAs.
In May 2006, they toured with Panic at the Disco; in September they were in the U.K. supporting Motion City Soundtrack
Motion City Soundtrack
Motion City Soundtrack is an American rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota, formed in 1997. The band consists of founding members Justin Pierre and Joshua Cain , along with keyboardist and moog synthesist Jesse Johnson, bassist and backing vocalist Matthew Taylor, and drummer, percussionist and...
, and continued their U.S. tour supporting Snow Patrol
Snow Patrol
Snow Patrol are an alternative rock band from Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. Formed at the University of Dundee in 1994 as an indie rock band, the band is now based in Glasgow...
into Spring 2007.
On February 11, 2006, OK Go and Trish Sie took home a Grammy award for "Best Short-Form Music Video" for their music video "Here It Goes Again".
Also, "Here It Goes Again" was featured in Rock Band, Guitar Hero 5
Guitar Hero 5
Guitar Hero 5 is a music video game and the fifth main entry in the Guitar Hero series. The game was developed by Neversoft and published by RedOctane and Activision, and released internationally in September 2009 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, 3 and Wii consoles...
and SSX on Tour
SSX on Tour
SSX on Tour is a skiing and snowboarding game, the fourth title in the SSX series of video games for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, PSP and Xbox. The game was developed under the working title SSX 4. It was released in North America on October 11, 2005, In the PAL region on October 21, 2005 and in...
; while "Do What You Want" was featured in the video games EA Sports
EA Sports
EA Sports is a brand of Electronic Arts that creates and develops sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to mimic real-life sports networks by calling themselves "EA Sports Network" with pictures or endorsements of real commentators such as John...
NHL 06
NHL 06
-External links:**...
, Guitar Hero On Tour, and Burnout Revenge
Burnout Revenge
Burnout Revenge is the fourth video game in the Burnout series of racing games, released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox on September 13, 2005 and Xbox 360 on March 7, 2006, alongside the PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS title Burnout Legends....
.
In 2007, OK Go wrote the fight song for the Chicago Soccer Team, Chicago Fire S.C.. The song was offered on the team's official website as a free download. Also in 2007, OK Go covered the Pixies "Gigantic" for American Laundromat Records
American Laundromat Records
American Laundromat Records is an indie label based in Mystic, CT.The label has produced several tribute albums, including Dig For Fire - a tribute to PIXIES, Cinnamon Girl - Women Artists Cover Neil Young, and High School Reunion - A Tribute to Those Great 80's Films...
"Dig For Fire – a tribute to PIXIES" CD.
In 2008, Damian Kulash said that the band had not produced the YouTube videos as part of any overt "Machiavellian" marketing campaign. "In neither case did we think, 'A-ha, this will get people to buy our records.' It has always been our position that the reason you wind up in a rock band is you want to make stuff. You want to do creative things for a living."
After visiting New Orleans in 2006, the band recorded an EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
with New Orleans funk rock
Funk rock
Funk rock is a music genre that fuses funk and rock elements. Its earliest incarnation was heard in the late 1960s through the mid-1970s by acts such as the Jimi Hendrix Experience , Eric Burdon and War, Trapeze, Parliament-Funkadelic, Betty Davis and Mother's Finest. The 1990s were known for acts...
band Bonerama
Bonerama
Bonerama is a brass funk rock band from New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.Bonerama was formed in 1998 by trombone players Mark Mullins and Craig Klein, who, from 1990 up until late 2006, were also members of Harry Connick Jr.'s big band...
, to raise money for musicians who were still displaced by the 2005 Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
. The EP, entitled You're Not Alone
You're Not Alone (EP)
You're Not Alone is an EP by rock band OK Go and brass funk rock band Bonerama, released on February 5, 2008. It was recorded to raise money for New Orleans musicians displaced in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina, with the proceeds being split between Sweet Home New Orleans and a fund for a new house for...
, was released on February 5, 2008.
Of the Blue Colour of the Sky and Paracadute Recordings (2010–present)
On October 12, 2008, OK Go announced that they had finished writing new songs for their third album and were in the studios in upstate New York with producer Dave FridmannDave Fridmann
Dave Fridmann is an American record producer and musician. From 1990 onwards he co-produced all releases by Mercury Rev and The Flaming Lips...
(The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips are an American alternative rock band, formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983.Melodically, their sound contains lush, multi-layered, psychedelic rock arrangements, but lyrically their compositions show elements of space rock, including unusual song and album titles—such as "What...
, MGMT
MGMT
MGMT is an American alternative rock band founded by Benjamin Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden. After the release of their first album, the members of their live band, Matthew Asti, James Richardson and Will Berman, joined the core band in the studio...
). The band previewed their third album, titled Of the Blue Colour of the Sky
Of the Blue Colour of the Sky
Of the Blue Colour of the Sky is the third studio album by American rock band OK Go. It was released on January 12, 2010 on Capitol Records in the USA and EMI in the UK, and re-released on the band's independent label Paracadute Records on April 1. After the band's split with EMI and Capitol,...
, on a short sling of dates on the East Coast of the United States that March, starting in Philadelphia on March 6, 2009 at the TLA Theatre. The name of the album, Of the Blue Colour of the Sky
Of the Blue Colour of the Sky
Of the Blue Colour of the Sky is the third studio album by American rock band OK Go. It was released on January 12, 2010 on Capitol Records in the USA and EMI in the UK, and re-released on the band's independent label Paracadute Records on April 1. After the band's split with EMI and Capitol,...
comes from a faux-medical book written by General A. J. Pleasonton in 1876 entitled "The Influence of the Blue Ray of the Sunlight and Of the Blue Colour of the Sky." They have stated that these songs are the "danciest, most anthemic, most heartbroken, and honest songs" of their career, and the album itself takes a much more funky, dance-prone, yet melancholy sound to it, drawing influence from Prince
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
. On May 7, 2009, a song from the album, titled "Skyscrapers", was released for streaming online. The first single, "WTF?
WTF? (song)
"WTF?" is an alternative rock song by OK Go, and was released as the first single taken from their 2010 album Of the Blue Colour of the Sky. The song is in 5/4 time, and the band has revealed that the song is inspired by Prince.-Music video:...
", was released on November 10. On January 8, 2010, OK Go appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show that featured Conan O'Brien as host from June 1, 2009 to January 22, 2010 as part of NBC's long-running Tonight Show franchise...
and performed a song from the album, "This Too Shall Pass
This Too Shall Pass (song)
"This Too Shall Pass" is an alternative rock song by OK Go from the album Of the Blue Colour of the Sky. The single was released in January 2010. The band took the unorthodox route of creating two official music videos for the song, both of which premiered on YouTube. The first features a live...
". Of the Blue Colour of the Sky was released on January 12, 2010.
On March 10 it was announced that OK Go had cut ties with EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
and Capitol
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
and formed the independent label
Independent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
Paracadute Recordings. Of the Blue Colour of the Sky was re-released on April 1, when the new label took over the promotional campaign and all distribution responsibilities for the album. While the official statement was that the two parties were departing on good terms, it was speculated that the split was caused by the band's discontentment with the major label over efforts to block viral distribution
Viral video
A viral video is one that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email...
of the music videos from Oh No and Of the Blue Colour of the Sky.
On January 12, 2010, the first video for the song "This Too Shall Pass" (University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
Marching Band Version) was released. On March 1, 2010, OK Go released their second video for "This Too Shall Pass"(Rube Goldberg Machine
Rube Goldberg machine
A Rube Goldberg machine, contraption, device, or apparatus is a deliberately over-engineered or overdone machine that performs a very simple task in a very complex fashion, usually including a chain reaction...
version), directed by James Frost. On June 15, 2010, the band released a music video for their single "End Love
End Love
"End Love" is an alternative rock song by OK Go from the album Of the Blue Colour of the Sky. The song's lyrics deal with the sorrow period of time after the end of a relationship...
". On April 29, 2010, the group appeared on The Colbert Report where they performed "This Too Shall Pass". On May 6, 2010 The Baltimore Sun reported that OK Go is selling USB Flash drives with recordings of each show on the Spring 2010 U.S. Tour
Music videos
OK Go has earned considerable fame for their creative but often low-budget music videoMusic video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
s, most of which have been promoted through Internet video sharing sites like YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. Many of these have become viral video
Viral video
A viral video is one that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email...
s; the 2006 video for "Here It Goes Again", where the band performed a complex routine with the aid of motorized treadmills, has received over 50 million views four years later. Samuel Bayer
Samuel Bayer
Samuel David Bayer is an American commercial, music video and film director, and cinematographer.-Early life:Bayer was born in Syracuse, New York...
, who produced many music videos in the 1990s, asserted that OK Go's promotion of music videos on the Internet was akin to Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
's ushering in the grunge
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
movement. Many of the videos also use long or single-shot takes, which Salon
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
s Matt Zoller Seitz claims "restore[s] a sense of wonder to the musical number by letting the performers' humanity shine through and allowing them to do their thing with a minimum of filmmaking interference". The success of OK Go's music first won the band the 14th Annual Webby
Webby Awards
A Webby Award is an international award presented annually by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for excellence on the Internet with categories in websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile....
Special Achievement Award for Film and Video Artist of the Year. The video was named both "Video of the Year" and "Best Rock Video" at the 3rd annual UK Music Video Awards
UK Music Video Awards
The UK Music Video Awards is an annual celebration of creativity, technical excellence and innovation in music video and moving image for music....
. "This Too Shall Pass" won the LA Film Fest's Audience Award for Best Music Video, UK MVA Awards - Music Video Of The Year Winner 2010, among others.
Other live members
- Burleigh Seaver – keyboard, percussion (2002)
- Ara Anderson – keyboard, percussion, trumpet (2002, 2004)
- Tom BrislinTom BrislinTom Brislin is an American keyboardist, vocalist, songwriter, and producer from New Jersey. He is the founding member of the rock band Spiraling, and plays or has played keyboards with several well-known acts...
– keyboard, percussion (2004) - Jerry Welborn - guitar, drums [only during the band's break]
Studio albums
- OK GoOK Go (album)OK Go is the debut album by the Chicago rock band OK Go. It was released in September 2002. The cover was created by the well known designer Stefan Sagmeister.-Track listing:-Appearances in other media:...
(2002) - Oh No (2005)
- Of the Blue Colour of the SkyOf the Blue Colour of the SkyOf the Blue Colour of the Sky is the third studio album by American rock band OK Go. It was released on January 12, 2010 on Capitol Records in the USA and EMI in the UK, and re-released on the band's independent label Paracadute Records on April 1. After the band's split with EMI and Capitol,...
(2010)
Awards
- GrammysGrammy AwardA Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
:- Best Short Form Music Video (2007) for "Here It Goes AgainHere It Goes Again"Here It Goes Again" is an alternative rock/power pop song by OK Go, and is the third released single from the album Oh No. It also appears on the compilation album Now 23. It remains the band's only single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, where it entered the Top 40 at #38, mostly due to the...
"
- Best Short Form Music Video (2007) for "Here It Goes Again
- YouTube Video Awards:
- Most Creative Video (2006) for "Here It Goes Again"
Nominations
- MTV Europe Music Awards:
- Nominated: Best Video (2006) for "A Million Ways"
OK Go has also been recently nominated "Best Music Video That Should Have Won A Moon Man" for their hit video, "Here It Goes Again" in the 2009 MTV Music Video Awards.