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February 15, 2007

New OK Go Video - "Do What You Want"

YouTube House Band OK Go follow the Grammy winning success of their run away hit vid for "Here It Goes Again" with another stab at artistic quirk. Only they took "artistic" and applied their trademark paisley to it, outfitting the walls, the instruments, and themselves in the pattern print. They turned up to the Grammys red carpet in those suits, guess it makes sense now. Probably not a viral sensation, unless "viral" means damaging to your optic rods and cones. Watch it at MTV Overdrive.

Posted at 10:15 AM in
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26 Comments

uh yeah....

Posted by: Sam at 02/15/07 10:41 AM  | Reply
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See: The Rumour, Purity of Essence.

Posted by: frankenslade at 02/15/07 10:51 AM  | Reply
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Ripping off Braff....

Posted by: the 9 at 02/15/07 10:53 AM  | Reply
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um, I think this is the 3rd OK Go video I've seen and I still have no clue what their music sounds like. Yet another band like the Flaming Lips that uses wacky visuals to make up for generic, forgettable music...

Posted by: ??? at 02/15/07 11:04 AM  | Reply
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??? you're a douchebag

Posted by: Porkins at 02/15/07 11:12 AM  | Reply
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hipsters who work at ad agencys love this band. it makes them edgy.

Posted by: chris at 02/15/07 11:13 AM  | Reply
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This band needs to go away. Their music is terrible, and now they are clinging to life by repeatedly making novelty videos. This is the opposite of what talented artists do.

Posted by: Alec at 02/15/07 11:13 AM  | Reply
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girl, you know it's poo.

Posted by: vreen at 02/15/07 11:16 AM  | Reply
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They've been making MOR indie-rock in the vain of Ben Folds Five for over a decade in Chicago. They were sort of a running joke of the Chicago music scene... Like the college band that never knew when to give it up and get real jobs.

I liked the video for "Here it Goes Again" but mostly because it was produced for nothing by a band on it's last legs: like the first time you saw an episode of The Osbournes. Now that they are semi-famous, the schtick is just embarrassing again.

Posted by: True at 02/15/07 11:20 AM  | Reply
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The Chicago Music Scene also hated The Smashing Pumpkins. I'm not equating one with the other, but The Chicago Music Scene isn't any good gauge of anything.

OKGo do good, fun power pop.

This video feels like Michel Gondry's worst day. "I don't know. Have someone hula hoop." It fails because it's NOT the same schtick. It doesn't have the backyard video appeal of the others. And it looks bad on the Internet. YouTube ain't about the visuals.

Probably time for them to stop worrying about videos and cough out that third album.

Posted by: J at 02/15/07 11:36 AM  | Reply
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I disagree and I would easily call this the new hotness.

The video was great, and the band is pretty fucking good too. They put on a stellar live show and are able to translate that rather well to disc.

Posted by: Harry Smith at 02/15/07 11:43 AM  | Reply
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Oh my word.

MTV.com now plays videos in a format compatible with Macs.

Praise be.

Posted by: Glass at 02/15/07 11:46 AM  | Reply
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Holy fuck, these guys are douchebags.
my band opened for them in Halifax,NS and they were nice enough to tell us what a step-down it was from playing London (no shit) - the singer spent most of the night showing off his collection of broaches to the adoring O.C. fangirls and their whole live show revolves around a collection of non-repeating wallpaper designs

who the fuck spends hours collecting shitty wallpaper designs? on a lighter note, their cover of ELO -'don't bring me down' was pretty great

Posted by: matt p at 02/15/07 12:14 PM  | Reply
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???, how dare you compare this forgettable pop-rock with the amazingness of the Flaming Lips. And OK Go needs to NOT do the same schtick everytime. If they do a funny dance or clever treadmill video everytime, then they'll just get bitched at for being a one-trick pony... maybe they are, I don't know.

Anyway, I hate how people always talk about Here It Goes Again. A Million Ways was much more entertaining, though slightly less complex, and no one so much as mentions it. Fuck, people, pay attention.

Posted by: Matthew at 02/15/07 12:41 PM  | Reply
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"Oh my word.

MTV.com now plays videos in a format compatible with Macs.

Praise be"

Really? Are you serious? I can't check right now, but if this is true, it's about damn time.

Posted by: seiche at 02/15/07 1:06 PM  | Reply
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.."my band opened for them in Halifax,NS and they were nice enough to tell us what a step-down it was from playing London (no shit)"

Sorry to burst your bubble, but it is a step down to play Halifax after playing London. they might have been douches about the way they said it - i'll give you that.

"the singer spent most of the night showing off his collection of broaches to the adoring O.C. fangirls"

Yeah man, it's called trying to get laid, whatever your schtick is - you should try it sometime.

Posted by: bob at 02/15/07 2:05 PM  | Reply
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I was nothing more than entertained for 2 and half minutes while I should have been working.

Posted by: john doe at 02/15/07 2:37 PM  | Reply
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Porkins: what, I'm a douchebag because I don't have the same taste in music as you do?

Matthew: I compare them because it's the exact same phenomenon. You hear people talk about FL and their dancing animal suits, the huge ball that Coyne comes out in, about handing out laser pointers, etc. But I never hear anyone talking about their MUSIC. Sorry guys, just because you act weird does mean it's art, or even good.

Just like OK Go- I never hear anyone talking about their music, just about their silly little videos. Make a good song, then you won't have to rely on gimmicky videos. Not like MTV plays videos anymore anyway.

Posted by: ??? at 02/15/07 3:00 PM  | Reply
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"Yeah man, it's called trying to get laid, whatever your schtick is - you should try it sometime."

by using brooches?

Posted by: matt p at 02/15/07 3:17 PM  | Reply
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I don't know where you've been hanging out for the past ten years, ???, but people have been talking about the Flaming Lips' music for quite some time.

Posted by: Aaron at 02/15/07 3:48 PM  | Reply
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"Yeah man, it's called trying to get laid, whatever your schtick is - you should try it sometime."

"by using brooches?"

I did say - whatever your schtick is. Not saying i agree with his approach, but the original poster sounded like it was a bad thing to talk to all his "OC fangirls". gee, dude in a band, headlining a show, talks to female fans. That's shocking?

Posted by: bob at 02/15/07 4:32 PM  | Reply
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don't confuse people talking about Wayne Coyne coming onto a concert stage covered in blood with them talking about his music.

In fact, I remember at least one article in Spin Magazine, of all places, where I challenged anyone I knew to point out where they mentioned what they SOUNDED like. I won every time.

There's nothing wrong with making quirky art, just don't pretend it's creative music.

Posted by: ??? at 02/15/07 4:55 PM  | Reply
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I'll give him that brooches are a somewhat unique and unexpected pathway to booty.

Also, yes they are known for doing novelty videos, but all they really have in common is being low-budget and dorky - both pluses in my book. Their music's nothing revolutionary, but it's fun.

Points for creativity on this one (I didn't know their real dream was to be a sofa...), but my eyes hurt now from so much brightness.

Posted by: g at 02/15/07 5:03 PM  | Reply
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This is getting old fast.

Posted by: scotta at 02/16/07 9:24 AM  | Reply
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???: "In fact, I remember at least one article in Spin Magazine, of all places, where I challenged anyone I knew to point out where they mentioned what they SOUNDED like. I won every time."

Is the complaint that the Lips have no depth to their music or that journalists focus on the visual element of thier live performances?

Need a source that describe their sound?

This from http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,,1742846,00.html:

"So At War With the Mystics, the trio's 11th album, is their first as a bona fide major rock band. To their credit, it doesn't really sound like it. On first exposure, it sounds knobbly, perplexing and wilfully wayward. The opening number, Yeah Yeah Yeah Song, is a stop-start singalong with a yayayayayaya vocal refrain that some listeners will doubtless find very annoying very quickly. Next up, Free Radicals is lurching, treacly funk on which Coyne sings falsetto about suicide bombers. It soon becomes apparent that this record may be easier on the ear than the jarring guitars and wobbly vocals of the band's pre-Soft Bulletin work but it shares that spirit of quixotic adventure. The Flaming Lips have just found more sophisticated ways of messing with listeners' heads.

The Flaming Lips have by now explored so many avenues that anything goes. At various points, you might be reminded of Black Sabbath, Bill Withers, Frank Zappa, Prince and Yes. While Mr Ambulance Driver is wistful, rippling soul, the colossal Pompeii Am Götterdämmerung could be a late addition to Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds. It's fitting that Coyne and musical linchpin Steven Drozd first bonded over a Todd Rundgren song; Rundgren's marriage of sweet pop-soul and lysergic freakery on his 1973 album, A Wizard, A True Star is the closest point of comparison."

Did I win?

Posted by: whistle at 02/16/07 10:16 AM  | Reply
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ummm, Banksy rip-off anyone? see http://www.banksy.co.uk/indoors/index.html

Posted by: blackie at 02/20/07 4:49 AM  | Reply
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