OK Go
Origin- Chicago, Illinois
Genre- Alternative Rock
Active Since- 1998
Labels- Capitol, Paracadute
OK Go is a rising band that knows how to write music. Their imagination is also manifested in their Grammy Award-winning music videos, such as “Here it Goes Again” (2007).
The band’s history is an interesting one, and is unique in comparison to most group formations; lead singer Damian Kulash, met bassist Tim Nordwind at Interlochen Arts Camp when they were 11. Kulash was in for graphic design, and Nordwind was there for music. The band name comes from their art teacher, saying “OK…Go!” while they were drawing. Needless to say, they kept in touch, and met the band’s former guitarist and keyboardist Andy Duncan in high school, and drummer Dan Konopka in college. They all went on to form OK Go in 1998.
After serving as the house band for a public radio program’s Fifth Anniversary Tour, the group released OK Go in 2002, the band’s first album. The track Get Over It peaked at #21 on UK music charts, and other now-famous tracks began to be featured on guitar hero and multiple EA Sports video games.
In the Fall of 2004, OK Go produced and released Oh No, which was recorded in Malmö, Sweden. The album’s first single, “A Million Ways”, became a global sensation when Damian Kulash’s sister choreographed a music video depicting the band dancing in their backyard. It quickly became the most downloaded music video of all time.
On July 31, 2006, OK Go released an extremely elaborate music video for “Here it Goes Again”, choreographed on six treadmills, also by Kulash’s sister, Trish Sie. 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.
In the two videos, Tim Nordwind lip syncs the lyrics instead of Damian Kulash. 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 February 11, 2006, OK Go and Trish Sie took a Grammy award for “Best Short-Form Music Video” for their music video “Here It Goes Again”.
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 Fridmann. Of the Blue Colour of the Sky was released on January 12, 2010. On March 10, the band announced its new alliance with the independent Paracadute Records, and had cut ties with EMI and Capitol Records. 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.
OK Go released two videos for the single “This too Shall Pass”, a marching band version and one featuring an intricate machine going on in a domino fashion. It’s pretty awesome.
The band has contributed to the tracks of several movies, including I Love You, Beth Cooper, I Love You, Man, and New Moon.
Well, I have to say that OK Go is one of the most creative bands that history has yet witnessed. All of their music videos are truly some of the best I’ve ever seen. Their music is generally good and has a loose similarity to its parts, but doesn’t completely sound the same. It’s all very good that such a band should arise in these years, to influence our youth and rising musicians to be truly creative for themselves to better contribute to the musical world, and not become the slaves of humanity and media that many stars of today have become.
Damian Kulash’s vocals are some of the best I’ve heard from today’s bands, and they always work well with the instrumentals. The lyrics work, even if they don’t make much immediate sense.
I own about fourteen of their songs (my favorites) and am not sick of them although I’ve been listening to them for months. I would recommend any musical enthusiast to preview as much of OK Go’s music as possible, and to check out their award-winning music videos.
Lead singer and guitarist Damian Kulash is blue, bassist Tim Nordwind is red, Dan Konopka (Percussion) is green, and Andy Ross (guitar and keyboard) is yellow.
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