great, simple music video

August 12, 2005 1:03 PM

OK go's video for their song "A Million Ways" looks as low budget and as simple as it could be. Four members in a backyard, one camera on a tripod, and they simply dance. But I have to say it's one of my favorite music videos of the last few years. Direct link to high quality 16Mb quicktime, lower quality versions on their site [via 37s]
posted by mathowie (46 comments total)

I love, love, love this group. I went to a small concert over at Vintage Vinyl in NJ a couple years ago, and not only where they a great listen, but the band was super personable.

The only thing better than the concert, was the stoned out VJ who compared Fords, NJ to cattle country and hit on a couple of thirteen year olds.
posted by FunkyHelix at 1:10 PM on August 12, 2005

Maybe it's a fake amateur outing that involved tons of professional coreographers and the whole "single camera in a backyard" is one big act, but I have to say the dance routine won me over, no matter what. I loved the mix of dance styles; disco, russian dancing, 40s style stuff, a little West Side Story, the Matrix slow-mo fight, bits of MJ's Beat It fight, and a dash of cheer squad antics at the end.
posted by mathowie at 1:12 PM on August 12, 2005

fantastic.

and while we're on the topic of music videos, i feel compelled to share this hysterical Kennedy: Your Mama video. links to .mov, slightly NSFW.
posted by gnutron at 1:14 PM on August 12, 2005

A friend of mine saw them recently and said they did some synchronized dancing on stage as well. Apparently one of the members is new and didn't know the song, so they just popped in a CD and got down to it.

I've been dying for this new album to come out.
posted by schoolgirl report at 1:19 PM on August 12, 2005

Very cool.
I also made an amature music video, it is called 'Coffee'.
posted by PHINC at 1:20 PM on August 12, 2005

Maybe it's a fake amateur outing that involved tons of professional coreographers and the whole "single camera in a backyard" is one big act

It only involved one choreographer, the lead singer's sister. I'm pretty sure it's only one camera, and trust me, they are amateurs at this.

I saw them not too long ago (one of the few bands I'll drive nine hours to see) and instead of doing an encore, they performed this dance routine to one of their earlier songs.

Trust me, the new album is great, the dancing is even more hilarious live, and you're almost guaranteed to see it and me on the tour.
posted by Homeskillet Freshy Fresh at 1:21 PM on August 12, 2005

That was great. As was the song. I wonder how many takes it took to get all the way through? I especially loved the big finish out-of-frame lift at the end and the "slow motion" moves.
posted by LeeJay at 1:24 PM on August 12, 2005

Wow. This is the first time in years that a video has made me excited about a group. Thanks for the link!
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:25 PM on August 12, 2005

awesome.
posted by Divine_Wino at 1:26 PM on August 12, 2005

This is good and I was only able to watch the first 30 seconds before I got busted. Good stuff!
posted by fenriq at 1:26 PM on August 12, 2005

Awesome.
posted by odinsdream at 1:40 PM on August 12, 2005

I mostly dismissed OK GO a few years back as another Gang of Four rip off band, but at least this song shows that they may have moved into a Jam/Paul Weller phase. Maybe I should give them another listen.
posted by psmealey at 1:41 PM on August 12, 2005

These guys are great. They've also been known to act out a scene from Les Miserables during their live set (which is energetic and great fun). Agreed on the personable part - hung out with them when they were last in Austin. Ivy league cats, but totally unpretentious.
posted by blendor at 1:54 PM on August 12, 2005

I saw this a few weeks ago, and it is insane how awesome it is. The bass player (the bald one) dances like an angel.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 1:55 PM on August 12, 2005

Does it look to anyone else that they're having, y'know, fun making this video?
posted by Eideteker at 1:57 PM on August 12, 2005

Cute!
posted by WolfDaddy at 1:57 PM on August 12, 2005

I saw this on The Wedge on Muchmusic last week and thought it was great, very clever. I also wondered how many million times they must have had to go throught the whole routine until nobody fucked up.
By checking out some pix on their webpage and from a comment above it seems that they do the dancing at every show, so, unfortunately, it's going to become a gimmicky schtick pretty fast, I think.

Great idea, though.
posted by chococat at 2:00 PM on August 12, 2005

Made me think of Van Halen's Hot for Teacher dance...
posted by klangklangston at 2:08 PM on August 12, 2005

Thanks for the background info Homeskillet Freshy Fresh. My only worries when I saw it was that they were some big label band and maybe it was a huge put-on, like a spike jones thing.

Great to hear it's legit and they're still somewhat smallish. I just might catch their Portland date on tour next month.
posted by mathowie at 2:08 PM on August 12, 2005

Terrific! Thanks so much for posting. Definitely one of the best vids I've seen in years and years. Never heard of the band before but I'll definitely pick up some now.
posted by dobbs at 2:11 PM on August 12, 2005

I saw the band when they were in Toronto playing alongside the Kaiser Chiefs. They ended their set with the linked to choreographed dance number, which was wicked good. They hung around outside the venue they were playing chatting with the people who went to the show and trying to get people to sign up for their mailing list. They're really nice guys.
posted by chunking express at 2:22 PM on August 12, 2005

I've seen them three times, and they did the big dance finale (to "C-c-c-cinnamon Lips") at the last two of those, with and without the new guy. They also did a seemingly impromptu (while a broken string was being dealt with) scene from Les Miz. Terrific live act, especially in a smaller club, though I do think their new album is a bit less good than their debut.
posted by aaronetc at 2:26 PM on August 12, 2005

I saw them at the dive bar a block from my house (The Outland in Springfield, MO--home base to legend producer Lou Whitney and home away from home for Jonathon Richman).
posted by sourwookie at 2:38 PM on August 12, 2005

Oh, this makes me happy.
posted by amarynth at 2:51 PM on August 12, 2005

awesome. this reminds me of how my friends and i used to make up dances to ace of base songs and the like back in middle school. good times.
posted by mayfly wake at 2:52 PM on August 12, 2005

As long as we're posting fun low budget music videos, this video from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is pretty fun.
posted by bobo123 at 3:09 PM on August 12, 2005

this reminds me of how my friends and i used to make up dances to ace of base songs and the like back in middle school.

Damn, does that ever make me feel old.
posted by loquacious at 3:14 PM on August 12, 2005

OK, nobody deserves that much of a free ride. It was OK, but if I'm fast-forwarding through the video, it can't be that good. I do like the music, though.

this reminds me of how my friends and i used to make up dances to ace of base abba songs and the like back in middle school college. good times (but I wouldn't want to watch them on video).
posted by mrgrimm at 3:31 PM on August 12, 2005

this video from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is pretty fun.

Hahah, excellent.
posted by ludwig_van at 3:33 PM on August 12, 2005

Oh God, they're still around? I saw them open up for someone (Thursday, maybe) two or three years ago when their first EP had just come out, and they were awful live. The keyboard player especially.

But I'm also a tremendous music snob, so eh.
posted by SweetJesus at 3:50 PM on August 12, 2005

I caught OKGO in concert opening for TMBG in Columbus Ohio. I've been follwing them every since. These guys are so much fun. I really enjoyed them.

That video rocks. It looks all one shot to me and that's impressive as hell since the guys are musicains not dancers and obvisouly practiced it to memory. I bet they remember it until they die, lol.
posted by Dome-O-Rama at 3:51 PM on August 12, 2005

OK, nobody deserves that much of a free ride.

Phew! I was worried I was in some sort of alternate universe for a moment there when I was almost at the end of the comments and no one had disagreed.

Fun video.
posted by scottreynen at 4:24 PM on August 12, 2005

this reminds me of how my friends and i used to make up dances to ace of base abba songs and the like back in middle school college.

Damn, does that ever make me feel old young.

Fun video. Nice dancin' for nerdboys.
posted by loquacious at 4:50 PM on August 12, 2005

For those of us old enough to remember music videos before MTV (and yes, they did show videos at one time), this is a great throwback to what I liked about music videos then. Thanks Matt.
posted by Eekacat at 4:59 PM on August 12, 2005

Ciderwoman and I DJed after one of their UK gigs about 3 or 4 years ago. They left a few customised picks lying around on stage - pink, with the band logo on one side, and the bald guy's face on the other. I still use one of them now, as it's a nice weight.

The music? Pretty boring. But at least they look as though they're having fun.
posted by nylon at 5:20 PM on August 12, 2005

That rocked. And I second Eekacat.
posted by Toecutter at 6:30 PM on August 12, 2005

i didnt like it. too self-consciously "look how diy we are." but it was cool that it was one take, or at least appeared to be one take.
posted by jeremy b at 6:38 PM on August 12, 2005

unfortunately, it's going to become a gimmicky schtick pretty fast, I think.

I don't know where this band is from, but what you mention seems to be a trend, at least out here in LA. Used to be (in Chicago) when I saw something that appeared spontaneous and off-the-cuff in live performance, I could go back the next week and see something totally different; now that I'm out here, things that appear spontaneous and off-the-cuff end up being choreographed and rehearsed (The Dan Band and The Troubadors being recent examples) in that I go to see the show (or a different show, in the case of the Troubadors) again, and it's the same old thing.
posted by davejay at 7:00 PM on August 12, 2005

That was excellent thanks mathowie. But...how many damn takes did they need I wonder?
posted by peacay at 8:51 PM on August 12, 2005

39 comments and nobody mentioned Napoleon Dynamite?
posted by VulcanMike at 12:43 AM on August 13, 2005

I just saw OK GO last night in Cambridge (MA). Instead of doing the usual encore they performed this routine to a CD playing the song. It's obviously a standard part of their act for this tour, and they have the choreography down cold-- it was as well executed as in the video. The audience loved it.
posted by justkevin at 6:38 AM on August 13, 2005

Hee. It's like hipster drill team.

Cute.
posted by MsMolly at 6:38 AM on August 13, 2005

Just want to add my own "favorite": DJ Format - We Know Something
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 8:47 AM on August 13, 2005

does anybody know if John Flansburgh produced the new album too?
posted by kevspace at 11:35 AM on August 13, 2005

Fun! I never would have known about them, but now I'm going to the show in September.

Oh, and great name, Homeskillet Freshy Fresh!
posted by Space Kitty at 1:49 PM on August 13, 2005

All Things Considered ran a story, "Of 'A Million Ways' to Be Popular, OK Go Finds One" yesterday, with another link to the video. "Robert Siegel talks with Damian Kulash, the band's singer/guitarist, and his sister Trish Sie, a former professional ballroom dancer and choreographed the dance." The interview is great.
posted by clgregor at 5:07 AM on August 31, 2005