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OK Go

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OK Go is an American rock band from Chicago, best known for their singles "Get Over It" and "A Million Ways." Influenced by artists like Cheap Trick, T. Rex and Queen, OK Go shares management with They Might Be Giants, another band with whom they toured before signing to Capitol Records. The band also served as the house band for public radio program This American Life on the show's fifth anniversary tour. Ira Glass, the show's host, wrote their first official bio, calling them "living catnip" and describing their songs as "part indie rock, part stadium rock, part straight up pop with the occasional whiff of Weezer or The Cars or Elliott Smith."

Contents

Beginning success

After OK Go's exposure on This American Life and their relationship with They Might Be Giants, the band released its self-titled debut album in 2002. In the United Kingdom, "Get Over It" debuted at No. 21 in the 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 also featured in the EA Sports video games Triple Play Baseball 2002 and Madden NFL 2003.

The band contributed a cover of "This Will Be Our Year," the Zombies classic, 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 also became somewhat politically active during that election cycle, writing a heavily downloaded how-to-guide entitled "How Your Band Can Fire Bush" for bands hoping to help unseat President George W. Bush, which garnered him an avalanche of hate mail.

Music video notoriety

The band's second record, Oh No, was recorded in Malmö, Sweden and produced by Tore Johansson (The Cardigans, Franz Ferdinand) in the fall of 2004. Released in August 2005, it gained notoriety for its first single, "A Million Ways." Its popularity was due in large part to its [video], which proved to be a viral internet sensation in the fall of 2005. The ultra-low budget, one-take video featured the band in their back yard performing a dance choreographed by lead singer Kulash's sister, Trish Sie. Using a camera borrowed from a friend, the video was produced for under ten dollars and released without the knowledge or consent of their label, Capitol Records. This low cost video follows similar fashion as in Fatboy Slim's Praise You video, directed by Spike Jonze. By November 2005, the video had become the most downloaded music video ever with over 3 million downloads.

The nontraditional video for "A Million Ways" is not without precedent for the band. Previous oddball video efforts featuring OK Go include their [Ping Pong Instructional Video] and the [Federal Truth In Music Project]. The band has worked with both world-renowned and fairly unknown directors including: Francis Lawrence, Olivier Gondry (brother of Michel Gondry), [Brian L. Perkins], Scott Keiner, and Todd Sullivan.

Members

Damian Kulash, standing, with Tim Nordwind, Dan Knopka, and Andrew Duncan
Damian Kulash, standing, with Tim Nordwind, Dan Knopka, and Andrew Duncan

Founding guitar/keyboard player Andy Duncan left the band in February 2005. Also Burleigh Seaver and [Ara Anderson] played with the band on tour.

They are due to tour the U.K this September supporting Motion City Soundtrack after some dates in the US with Panic! At The Disco.

Discography

Albums / EPs

Year Album/EP Title US Chart # US Heatseekers Chart #
2000 EP Pink EP
EP Brown EP
2002 Album OK Go #134 #1
2005 EP Do What You Want EP
Album Oh No #107 #1

Singles

External links

 

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