Yeah, the treadmill guys. Cute videos, but the music really never worked for me.
I’m giving ‘em a second look after hearing and seeing two new videos.
WTF:
OK Go - WTF? from OK Go on Vimeo.
This Too Shall Pass:
OK Go - This Too Shall Pass from OK Go on Vimeo.
Something about the second song really works for me — I think it’s the marching band. Old Tom’s influence? You can download that version of the song free o’ charge at the Ok Go website.
Comments
finally mr. guapo is coming around to OK Go. he may have known the video, but beacuse he wore an iPod at the gym, he never got to experience watching a gymfull of people running on treadmills to "here it goes again."
i still miss the fact that the pop satelite station at the gym doesn't play that song. the consolation prize is that now i get to hear ke$ha regularly.
ta-neshi coates thereon...
Posted by: hellx | January 17, 2010 11:41 PM
I'd seen This Too Shall Pass just recently and enjoyed it as much as the treadmill video. I hadn't realized they were making clever videography their Thing, but they're damn good at it. After checking out some of the other tunes on Vimeo, I have to confess I liked Get Over It (http://vimeo.com/8264348) which wasn't visually clever, but was just damn catchy in a HairMetalGrungePop kind of way. Something about the kick drum backbeat made me think of bad 80's hair rock like You Give Love A Bad Name.
Posted by: Thinman | January 19, 2010 12:02 PM
more on the video...
Posted by: hellx | January 19, 2010 12:49 PM
There are countless essays on the demise (or not, depending on the essay) of the music industry. Here's one that I found really interesting: On My Mind: The State of the Music Business by John Mellencamp (Huffington Post, March 2009).
Posted by: Thinman | January 19, 2010 1:53 PM
i read that essay and thought, "ford, GM, and chrysler made the same hubristic mistakes as the record industry, but people still buy cars."
the music industry has always been about selling albums and making money...or filling opera houses and making money. anybody who's arguing that things were better under people like "colonel" tom parker (who took up to 50% of elvis's royalties and was engaged in a lengthy lawsuit that his haranguing was a contributing factor in presley's death), isn't going to convince me.
basically, the record labels may be living on borrowed time, but somebody is going to come along and work with artists to get music out there that people want to hear and make money at it. it may not be via radio play or cd sales, but people want to listen to music and will pay money to do so.
EMI, RCA, and Sony weren't producing Mozart...it's not like they're something that's integral to music.
i like JCM, but i think that that essay was based on a lot of bitterness that his label essentially dropped him and he had to find a different way to market his album.
Posted by: hellx | January 19, 2010 9:49 PM