OK Go

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Formed:
1998, over 14 years ago.
Snapshot:
A Group with 17 releases, and credited once on others' music. 5 members.

Biography

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Alt rock/power pop band Ok Go's founding members Damian Kulash (lead vocals, guitar) and Tim Nordwind (bass) met at the tender age of 11 when they both attended the same art camp in Michigan. They formed Ok Go in 1998 while living in Chicago with other founding members, Andy Duncan (guitar, keyboards) and Dan Konopka (drums). Ok Go's first big exposure came when they served as the house band for popular public radio programme This American Life's fifth anniversary live tour, hosted by Ira Glass. After this exposure they released their debut album Ok Go in 2002 and charted on the US Billboard Heatseekers Chart. The first single "Get Over It" debuted at No.21 in the UK giving the band the chance to perform on the long running British music show Top of the Pops.

But it was their second album Oh No (2005) that would prove the breakthrough, due in small part, to Ok Go's famous self-produced videos, released on YouTube. The first video "A Million Ways" shows the band, dressed in their trademark accountant-at-the-pub style clothes doing a synchronised dance routine on a brick patio with Nordwind lip syncing to Kulashes vocals. The video proved not only a hugely popular success with YouTube viewers but was linked to and sent via email to people around the world making it the perfect viral marketing tool. The success was so impressive that the band followed it up with a video for their third single "Here It Goes Again". This time it showed the intrepid and physically adept band doing another synchronised dance routine on eight treadmills, again with Nordwind lip-syncing. The video debuted on YouTube in July 2006 and to date as been viewed more than 21 million times. Ok Go performed "Here It Goes Again" complete with dance for the MTV Music Awards in 2006, and in 2007 the video won the Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video.

Music

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Genres

Alternative Rock, Indie, Power Pop, Rock, Alternative, Pop. Vote on Genres

Discography

18 releases – 17 under their own name and 1 credit on others' music Edit

Members

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Damian Kulash

current & founder member

Dan Konopka

current & founder member

Tim Nordwind

current & founder member

Andy Ross

current member
    • 2005-

Andy Duncan

founder member
    • unknown-2005

In the News

OK Go Spread The Word

Feb, 6 2010

Even if you know nothing else about OK Go, you’ve probably seen that video. The viral power of the simple but brilliant treadmill dance video which accompanied the song “Here It Goes Again” ensured that the band’s musical efforts finally received some notice almost ten years after it formed. However, any plans the band members may have been harboring to repeat the ploy for the January 12 release Of the Blue Colour of the Sky have been foiled by their record label. EMI have decreed that the two videos created thus far in support of the new album will be impossible to embed, which effectively strips the videos of viral potential but ensures that EMI pockets 50% of the ad-generated revenue from views on YouTube – one of only two sites where the videos are hosted. The band is not pleased and has taken matters into its own hands. In an open letter to fans on their website, OK Go provided code so that fans can embed the video wherever they choose. Though singer/guitarist Damian Kulash said he had sympathy with the position of the label struggling in the emerging digital music age, he also said that “our duty is to our music and our fans, theirs is to their shareholders.” Furthermore, he reasoned that “Our label is unlikely to start suing us for putting our videos up.” Though court action would be extreme, he can be guaranteed to face a few very awkward phone calls.

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