Tonight's Gonna Be A Good Night

September 11, 2009 6:10 PM

The Black Eyed Peas perform at Oprah's Season Premiere -- 21,000 dancers join in.

I don't know if you want to call this a flashmob or a viral or corporate BS, or whatever, but watching it made me feel happy, so I thought I'd share.

posted by empath (80 comments total)

And?
posted by chillmost at 6:18 PM on September 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

Lady lumps.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 6:19 PM on September 11, 2009

Makes me think of this spontaneous (non-corporate BS) dance party at Sasquatch. I don't know--I really loathe the Black Eyed Peas, but seeing all the dancing was, in fact, pretty cool.

Aside: was that a giant teleprompter for their own lyrics at around 1:48?
posted by Admiral Haddock at 6:20 PM on September 11, 2009

From the YT comments:

"yeah, they showed it on Oprah afterwards how they did it. A choreographer and about 20 dancers made the dance. Then they spread the word on facebook and twitter for people to sign up. about 800 signed up...and they got trained in intervals in auditoriums . those 800 then went out and taught their family and friends. the rest is what you see! isn't it amazing?!"
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 6:21 PM on September 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

SLYT? And not even a good one?

Really?
posted by theichibun at 6:22 PM on September 11, 2009 [2 favorites]

Aside: was that a giant teleprompter for their own lyrics at around 1:48?

Looked that way to me! But apparently tonight's gonna be a good day.
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 6:23 PM on September 11, 2009

La' Chaim!

Oprah and the Black Eyed Peas. Talk about an axis of evil.
posted by fire&wings at 6:28 PM on September 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

My favourite part is where Oprah was taking video of the show with her cellphone. Because, y'know, there were no professional cameramen in her employ there to take much better footage, obviously.
posted by threetoed at 6:28 PM on September 11, 2009 [7 favorites]

nice phone that Oprah's holding the whole time.

[NOT PRODUCTPLACEMENTIST]
posted by tylermoody at 6:29 PM on September 11, 2009

Mazel Tov!
posted by frankbooth at 6:30 PM on September 11, 2009

I always thought Black Eyed Peas was like the Best Buy corporate band. Were they not created for those commercials?
posted by xmutex at 6:30 PM on September 11, 2009

I refuse to call that a flash mob because:

1) They didn't show up specifically to dance. They showed up to be the in the audience of Oprah's show.
2) The event was publicized weeks in advance. If get your audience by running ads for it on tv and everybody in the whole damn city knows about the event, it is not a flash mob.


It was a cool dance though.
posted by nooneyouknow at 6:31 PM on September 11, 2009

To be honest, it doesn't look like all 21,000 people were dancing, as Oprah herself was merely wiggling a bit and pointing her phone around.
posted by tapeguy at 6:31 PM on September 11, 2009

The Black Eye Peas were so much better pre-Fergie.
posted by dirigibleman at 6:34 PM on September 11, 2009 [8 favorites]

yeah, oprah holding up the camera cracked me up, too.
posted by empath at 6:34 PM on September 11, 2009

That was a lot of fun. That it was so well created to work with a mass of people like that was pretty excellent. Dancing with a mass of people is wonderful for the soul, even if it isn't a "flashmob" per se. Thanks for posting!

I get to see BEP open for U2 in about a month, so I'm sort of stoked to see this. I don't know BEP that well at all.
posted by hippybear at 6:35 PM on September 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

Needs more CGI fireworks and a cute lipsynching girl.
posted by dr. boludo at 6:36 PM on September 11, 2009

and she gave a free car to every one of them afterwards
posted by wheelieman at 6:36 PM on September 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

Dudes! I just got home from Kroger, and seriously, you will never guess who is on the cover of O Magazine this month!

...

It's Oprah! She's on the cover!
posted by jbickers at 6:39 PM on September 11, 2009 [18 favorites]

An army was the final thing she needed to assume control of the country.

Now she has one.
posted by Joe Beese at 6:40 PM on September 11, 2009 [14 favorites]

And those two giant robots. They're going to be trouble.

She had a blimp too. A Blimp.

I want a blimp
posted by eriko at 6:46 PM on September 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

I like to think this is a lavish acknowledgment that this song sounds exactly like that equally awful Chris Brown song, the one from the video with the dancing wedding party.
posted by peachfuzz at 6:46 PM on September 11, 2009

Now she has one.

And it's a good fucking thing she does. Don't you get it? Oprah is Aslan. Sarah Palin is the White Witch. And the end of the Mayan calendar is right around the corner...
posted by hermitosis at 6:48 PM on September 11, 2009 [8 favorites]

I'm trying and failing to describe how badly that spectacle demoralized me.
posted by fleetmouse at 6:51 PM on September 11, 2009 [3 favorites]

A choreographer and about 20 dancers made the dance. Then they spread the word on facebook and twitter for people to sign up. about 800 signed up...and they got trained in intervals in auditoriums . those 800 then went out and taught their family and friends. the rest is what you see! isn't it amazing?!"


SPONTANACIOUS!!!
posted by mannequito at 6:52 PM on September 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

I actually expected to like this. Black Eye Peas are fun, sometimes, and big groups of people dancing are fun, usually, and Oprah is ... well, Oprah just is.

But this just felt bland and soft to me. Like fleetmouse, I can't quite put the emptiness into words.
posted by kanewai at 7:00 PM on September 11, 2009

My favourite part is where Oprah was taking video of the show with her cellphone.

C'mon, she's just trying to be like the kids. It would probably take her 10 minutes just to figure out how to play it back. And like she's got time for that!
posted by Camofrog at 7:02 PM on September 11, 2009

I like to think this is a lavish acknowledgment that this song sounds exactly like that equally awful Chris Brown song, the one from the video with the dancing wedding party.

That was back in the innocent days before the Slap Heard Round The World. Referring to, of course, Oprah dedicating her domestic abuse episode to Rihanna, a decision that Breezy inartfully referred to as "a slap in my face."
posted by hermitosis at 7:02 PM on September 11, 2009

Mass dancing: gateway to fascism?

Discuss.
posted by wemayfreeze at 7:27 PM on September 11, 2009

Ya'know, I don't want to get my mefi card revoked here, but I kinda liked it.

Also:

Metafilter: gateway to fascism?
posted by poe at 7:36 PM on September 11, 2009

I'm unimpressed by the notion, but I'm also shocked that this was so poorly directed and shot -- maybe it'll look better on TV, but here it's near-impossible to see the dancing other than just a general sense that they're all sorta moving in sync.
posted by incessant at 7:37 PM on September 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

I was going to make a "Oprah uses her mind control to make her minions dance" but at this point in the thread it would be kind of derivative.
posted by delmoi at 7:39 PM on September 11, 2009

Oprah? Black Eyed Peas? Faux flash mobs?
Is this what we have descended to?
posted by signal at 7:47 PM on September 11, 2009 [3 favorites]

A choreographer and about 20 dancers made the dance...

How They Did It (starts at 04:14).
posted by ericb at 7:51 PM on September 11, 2009

I feel like the Black Eyed Peas are like the U2 of pop/hip-hop. Like they used to be totally awesome, and now, not so much.
posted by Big_B at 7:54 PM on September 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

My favourite part is where Oprah was taking video of the show with her cellphone. Because, y'know, there were no professional cameramen in her employ there to take much better footage, obviously.

When watching the full broadcast that was broadcast on Oprah (on Thursday) you can see the Black Eyed Peas walk by the crowd to the stage. Taboo is last and filming his own entrance with a T-mobile camera/phone. When onstage he hands the phone to Oprah. I suspect he asked her if she would kindly film the audience from the stage. A great ploy to keep her onstage and looking at the crowd. Clever! She really was not aware of the stunt. It was coordinated by the BEP, her staff and Australian producer, Michael Gracey -- who was also responsible for the Liverpool train station mob dance T-Mobile commercial. (January 2009). T-Mobile was also behind the "Hey Jude" group sing-along in Trafalgar Square (May 2009).
posted by ericb at 7:59 PM on September 11, 2009 [5 favorites]

Ya'know, I don't want to get my mefi card revoked here, but I kinda liked it.

No shame. I thought it was brilliant!
posted by ericb at 8:03 PM on September 11, 2009

Large group of Chicagoans inspired to spontaneously dance in streets.
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 8:05 PM on September 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

Other videos of the event.
posted by ericb at 8:06 PM on September 11, 2009

*When watching the full program that was broadcast on Oprah...*
posted by ericb at 8:09 PM on September 11, 2009

How They Did It (starts at 04:14).

Stopped watching when she said "You've probably seen them [flashmobs] on youtube or those awesome T-mobile commercials."
posted by incessant at 8:14 PM on September 11, 2009

That looked fun.

I don't think it's a flash mob though. Just a really big choreographed dance routine. They're focusing on the social networking aspect as organizational tool, but forgetting that the "flash" part implies spontaneity.

As for Oprah's phone... WTF?!

I mean really... Oprah Winfrey needs to take crappy video using her gold plated Blackberry? Word to the Hive Mother, putting sapphires on your crappy phone in no way enhances video quality. And there must be roughly 1,400 actual professional cameras filming that event (all being paid for by Oprah, BTW), in addition to the 20,000 cellphones and such. Oprah couldn't pay... let's say... the entire city of Detroit to take footage for her? To draw and paint the event? To sculpt a life sized recreation entirely out of moon rocks and human kidneys? I mean Oprah could buy the recently refurbished Hubble with the garnets and amethysts that are lodged in the seat cushions of her land-based, solar-powered QE III.

Oprah: "Hey, NASA. That expanding black hole you're picturing over in sector 12? Asteroid 142M that has an 87% chance of ending all life on earth in 2013? All that SPACE stuff? Change of plans... BEP up in this muh. Am uploading retracking coordinates now. Also, send the space shuttle down to New Orleans. Got a craving for popcorn shrimp."
posted by Brosef K at 8:23 PM on September 11, 2009

Did they all do synchronized pants-pissing as well?
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 8:30 PM on September 11, 2009

As for Oprah's phone... WTF?!

See above.
posted by ericb at 8:34 PM on September 11, 2009

Did they all do synchronized pants-pissing as well?

Not likely. But, it was expected that the "too cool for school" crowd would likely 'pooh-pooh' the event, particularly as it was sponsored by a commercial entity. Not that product placement is integral to videogames, television shows and major motion pictures.
posted by ericb at 8:36 PM on September 11, 2009 [3 favorites]

Oprah couldn't pay... let's say... the entire city of Detroit to take footage for her?

Well, since she's in Chicago, it'd be easier to hire folks from her own city to do so. Sure she could flip the bill for hotel rooms and expenses for folks visiting from Detroit, but, heck, many, if not most of the hotel rooms in Chi-town were likely already booked.
posted by ericb at 8:44 PM on September 11, 2009

I can't get "Sarah Palin is the White Witch" out of my head. I think I need to lie down.
posted by The Whelk at 8:45 PM on September 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

Looks like the Real Hot Bitches got pwned.

Also, didn't the Black Eyed Peas used to be some sort of backpacker hip-hop group?
posted by unmake at 8:53 PM on September 11, 2009

Mass dancing: gateway to fascism?

I have been saying this about line dancing for years!
posted by Widepath at 9:01 PM on September 11, 2009

I think The Whelk might want NOT to learn about Barack the Barbarian, then.
posted by Iosephus at 9:07 PM on September 11, 2009

I like to think this is a lavish acknowledgment that this song sounds exactly like that equally awful Chris Brown song, the one from the video with the dancing wedding party.

Christ on a fucking biscuit, what a bunch of grumps.
posted by xorry at 9:12 PM on September 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

Mass dancing: gateway to fascism?

Discuss.

I especially like the part in Triumph of the Will where the funny little guy with the moustache says "Das ist so cool. Das ist so cool. Das ist die coolste Sache überhaupt."
posted by TimTypeZed at 9:13 PM on September 11, 2009 [2 favorites]

"Das ist so cool. Das ist so cool. Das ist die coolste Sache überhaupt."

Peas in our time?

I'm so sorry, please don't hit me.
posted by Iosephus at 9:19 PM on September 11, 2009 [3 favorites]

Nice try "empath" but I recognize a self-link when I see one.

Mods please ban Oprah.
posted by Bonzai at 9:50 PM on September 11, 2009 [5 favorites]

So, the phone was from T-Mobile? Okay. Fine. Who knew that? I watched the part where she mentioned T-Mobile's "cool" commercials and I didn't even make the connection that it was supposed to be a pitchback to her standing on-stage with the gold thingy. I just assumed her phone was some off-the-shelf thing with diamonds glued to it and I sure as hell don't live in that world.

Finding out it's a T-Mobile phone with diamonds glued to it doesn't change that equation.

Are there really people on this planet (over the age of 11) who select their phones because Batman, James Bond, or Oprah (all fictional characters, BTW) "use" or "recommend" it? I'd like to meet one of those people.
posted by Brosef K at 10:08 PM on September 11, 2009

Some people might say that Oprah built an empire off of "those" people, but even that I regard with skepticism. I even doubt some or any of Oprah's followers really make a decision about a phone based on Oprah's preference. People choose phones for price and value. Sure, hip cachet enters into it somewhere down the list. Somewhere FAR down the list.
posted by Brosef K at 10:11 PM on September 11, 2009

When ericb said 'see above' he meant this part:

When onstage he hands the phone to Oprah. I suspect he asked her if she would kindly film the audience from the stage. A great ploy to keep her onstage and looking at the crowd. Clever!

That's why she had the phone. To trick her to stay on stage so she would be in front and surprised by the synchronized dance thing.
posted by graventy at 10:27 PM on September 11, 2009

It's a Google Android phone she's holding, if you needed the full breakdown of corporate tie-ins. Hence she mentioned Youtube along with T-mobile in the same sentence.

The Black Eyed Peas were a decent hip-hop group (ala Tribe Called Quest) when they started out. Then they brought in Fergie and completely sold their souls. I'm sure it pays the bills though.
posted by o0o0o at 10:29 PM on September 11, 2009

I just want to know if anyone else heard Oprah drop the F bomb during the performance? If so, it makes this all the more awesome. :)
posted by figment of my conation at 12:22 AM on September 12, 2009

So did anyone stay tuned til 5 to check out the new hair loss test?
posted by holdkris99 at 12:23 AM on September 12, 2009

And hey uh, not that Fergie ain't Fergalicious or anything, but don't you really think it was the group looking to become more poptacular that led to hiring Fergie, and not the other way around?

Joints & Jams

Christ that was more than ten years ago, I'm gonna go lie down.
posted by cavalier at 3:31 AM on September 12, 2009

Great. Now we're North Korea with beats.
posted by felix betachat at 5:39 AM on September 12, 2009 [2 favorites]

I work in an office building overlooking the street where this was held. And I can tell you how they did this. They played that song, loudly, about 87 times during the day while they taught all the audience members the routine in groups. They had lots of enthusiastic Oprah employees teaching everyone the routine.

As annoying as it was to hear that song repeated a million times throughout the day, it was pretty cool to see the final result. I didn't realize it would be that seed-spreading type thing when it all came together, because they had just been teaching the crowd in these sectioned off groups. And it was a very very happy crowd. I think a lot of us that work in offices on Michigan Ave were concerned the block party would just be a big pain in the ass, and maybe it was a little annoying, but everyone just seemed so happy that I couldn't be grumpy about it.
posted by misskaz at 6:19 AM on September 12, 2009 [3 favorites]

All I see are 70s soft-drink commercials. I guess I'm too crusty to believe this was truly spontaneous. They look like they are having fun, I suppose.

Then again, if I was Oprah, I'd probably arrange street parties like this for myself all the time.

The song seemed a bit flat, too, compared to their usual jeep anthems. But I admit I don't really follow the BEPs particularly closely.
posted by clvrmnky at 6:27 AM on September 12, 2009

Not to be all zero-sum-game and shit, but ... if only people were this interested in doing something even remotely useful.

You can literally say that about anything, including Metafilter, YouTube, TV in general, and the entire entertainment business.
posted by smackfu at 9:23 AM on September 12, 2009

I don't care how Pepsi Blue the Black Eyed Peas have become -not really a fan. However, that was impressive.
posted by HyperBlue at 9:27 AM on September 12, 2009

I'm sure some of the negative posters here would have enjoyed the video more if people had danced to Radiohead instead of The Black Eyed Peas. That is, if it is possible to dance to Radiohead's music.
posted by iviken at 9:38 AM on September 12, 2009

Now, if only Apple iPhone had been the sponsor of the event...
posted by ericb at 9:43 AM on September 12, 2009

Now, if only Apple iPhone had been the sponsor of the event...

The No. 1 song on iTunes right now? Hey, it's "I Gotta Feeling" but the Black-Eyed Peas. NO WAY!

I watched 2-3 minutes, but I couldn't make it through the whole dance. Kinda slow and boring. I had the volume muted, but I'm pretty sure it's worse with sound.

So did anyone stay tuned til 5 to check out the new hair loss test?

Seriously. They hooked me with the teaser.
posted by mrgrimm at 10:27 AM on September 12, 2009

I watched 2-3 minutes, but I couldn't make it through the whole dance. Kinda slow and boring. I had the volume muted, but I'm pretty sure it's worse with sound.

Metafilter: I couldn't make it through the whole dance; I had the volume muted.
posted by hippybear at 10:45 AM on September 12, 2009

That...is the number 2 song of the summer? I feel out of touch.
posted by m0nm0n at 11:26 AM on September 12, 2009

Two things I hate about the Black Eyed Peas.

1) Remember when it was "Let's get retarded in here", but then Best Buy or the NFL or fucking Chips Ahoy cookies or whoever said, "Well, gorsh, we love your jams, but could you change 'retarded' to 'it started', and we'll give you a truckload of money and play the song again and again and again and the old one will be like it never existed". Not that I like the use of retarded in that context, at all, but there is something loathsome about that whole thing.

2) I Gotta Feeling? Really? Got a? "Gotta" is "got to", not "got a". Dipshits.
posted by dirtdirt at 12:33 PM on September 12, 2009 [2 favorites]

I Gotta Feeling? Really? Got a? "Gotta" is "got to", not "got a". Dipshits.

For a long time I figured this band was not made up of native English speakers. I mean, that didn't make "My Humps" any more tolerable, but at least excused rapes of the tongue like "all that breast up in that shirt" or whatever the hell that was. When I learned otherwise -- when I discovered that there was no reason not to take them 100% at face value -- I was forced to conclude that this band is the worst thing to happen to popular music in all of history.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 1:52 PM on September 12, 2009

I tink David Guetta is the guy that produced the song, anyway.

This is him playing his remix at Electric Daisyland Carnival
posted by empath at 1:58 PM on September 12, 2009

I Gotta Feeling? Really? Got a? "Gotta" is "got to", not "got a". Dipshits.

To be fair in some places "I gotta..." is considered slang for "I have a..." -- thus "I Gotta Feeling" = "I Have a Feeling."
posted by ericb at 2:13 PM on September 12, 2009

thus "I Gotta Feeling" = "I Have a Feeling."

Yeah, I know. And I guess it's as valid as anything, but it bugs the hell out of me and I am pretty sure it means they are horrible people because of it.
posted by dirtdirt at 2:46 PM on September 12, 2009

current top YT comment: I am italian and never been in USA and looking at this and thinking how amazing that people... so different each other for origins but able to dance all together like that... my God you american can still teach something us and to our old and still divided Europe....

Aww, schmoopy american pie.
posted by NikitaNikita at 5:52 PM on September 12, 2009

Aww, schmoopy american pie.

I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing.
posted by ericb at 5:58 PM on September 12, 2009 [1 favorite]

NikitaNikita: current top YT comment

It's almost as if any corporate executive can get on YouTube and pass themselves off as an ordinary guy.
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 7:13 PM on September 12, 2009

Meh. Such pessimists, the lot of you. So little to make us smile in this putrid world, and here comes a lovely, optimistic tune with great beat, a ab-fab choreographed group and you positively diss them to a metafiable death. Let us poopie-head pedestrian common folk love this song, the BEP and yes, even Oprah, the goddess of goodness! Lest you be even more critical of my opining, I purchased the song on Itunes. Yes, I am aware of death threats for liking this cheesy spectacle, but I don't care! I smiled!
posted by ~Sushma~ at 7:09 PM on September 13, 2009 [1 favorite]