Sunday 3.14 Music Vid PIcks- A Tribute to OK Go

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I dedicate today to the music videos of OK Go. The band has consistently put out truly awesome videos with original concepts and themes. However you may feel about their music, I think we can all appreciate their videos.

Last month lead singer Damian Kulash wrote a very interesting op-ed piece for The New York Times on the current state of record labels and the difficulties they face in the age of the Internet (read it!). He writes that his band sees their videos as self-made creative works rather than marketing tools for their record label, and argues for the free sharing of videos across the Internet. In response to EMI's decision to disable the embedding feature for its artists' music videos on YouTube, Kulash states: "Web sites and video aggregators serve as cultural curators daily collecting the items that will interest their audiences the most. By ignoring the power of these tastemakers, our record company is cutting off its nose to spite its face." Amen brother!

Dear OK Go,

Please keep doing what you're doing because it's rad and your videos put smiles on millions of faces. You have a unique position in the music video world and I salute you.

PS- Rube Goldberg was a sick, sick individual.

Xox,

Emily

-Here It Goes Again-

So simple, yet so complex. It's literally just four dudes, eight treadmills, and an amateur recording. Actually, the making of the video was a covert operation, created and distributed via YouTube behind the back of EMI""a high-risk, ballsy maneuver. Props to them for getting away with it! The video has become one of the most renown and viewed in history and it's clear why. How do you not love it? I'm impressed by their skills every time I watch. Keep in mind that since the entire thing from start to finish was captured in a single take, there was no room for error. One misstep, and they had to start all over again to try to give a perfect performance. It took a total of 17 takes. Do you think they first learned the moves with the treadmills off until they felt comfortable enough to practice with them on, or started with them on from the get-go?

-A Million Ways-

Even though it's a low budget ($5 to be exact) recording of the band performing a dance routine in Kulash's backyard, it's inexplicably captivating. Another single-take gem that's become a classic of viral fodder. Two versions (no apparent difference between them) on YouTube have a combined view total of almost 7 million. How many people do you think have attempted to emulate this? I prefer not to investigate that one on YouTube and am just going to enjoy OK Go's.

-This Too Shall Pass-

Raise your hand if you had to illustrate or create your own Rube Goldberg design in fourth grade.

This is so unbelievable and is the latest single-take masterpiece from the band. It took approximately 60 takes to get a perfect run of the contraption (check out the collection of smashed TV's from previous takes in the background) and a small army of engineers to build. I can't even imagine what that process must have been like for them. No doubt utterly maddening but so worth it when they finally got it to work all the way through""like giving birth. I've seen it probably 10 times and discover another cool mechanism I never noticed with each viewing. I love how the machine's actions correspond with the song's beat. "Its only purpose is to be awesome," says Kulash of their grand invention. Mission accomplished. Riveting.

UPDATE: YH was on the set while this was being filmed and got exclusive footage and face time with the band to chat about their inspiration for the concept of the video. Click HERE to check it out.

-Emily Green, YH Staff Editor

@green_emily