DAILY FIX: OK Go, “Needing/Getting”

by | Feb 7, 2012 | MUSIC

Chicago alternative rock band OK Go have long been known for their videos, first attaining fame through the video for their 2005 single “A Million Ways,” a low-budget clip in which the band members did a synchronized dance in their backyard. They upped the ante and got more and more elaborate with followup videos, notably their elaborate treadmill dance for “Here It Goes Again” and the truly over-the-top ridiculous Rube Goldberg-style paint-throwing machine displayed in the video for “This Too Shall Pass.”


Chicago alternative rock band OK Go have long been known for their videos, first attaining fame through the video for their 2005 single “A Million Ways,” a low-budget clip in which the band members did a synchronized dance in their backyard. They upped the ante and got more and more elaborate with followup videos, notably their elaborate treadmill dance for “Here It Goes Again” and the truly over-the-top ridiculous Rube Goldberg-style paint-throwing machine displayed in the video for “This Too Shall Pass.”

Now OK Go are back, with a new video that makes all of their previous elaborate video efforts seem minor in comparison. The video is for a newly recorded version of “Needing/Getting,” from their latest album, Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky, and is based around a huge stunt-driving track assembled in the desert. From behind the wheel of a Chevy Sonic outfitted with all sorts of strategically hung appendages, singer Damian Kulash Jr drives the track in such a way that the car plays the song. He’s slightly aided by the rest of his band, who occasionally play small instruments, or thump the roof of the car in time, but for the most part the music is created when the car’s appendages smack against strategically placed objects along the track. The two mile course was outfitted with hundreds of strategically tuned pianos and guitars, as well as dangling metal objects, a firehose that the car’s tires forced air through in order to play tubas and trombones they were connected to, and a whole lot more. Kulash had to take stunt driving lessons in order to complete the track, which took four months to set up. Shooting the video itself took four days, which is understandable considering the precision paths and speeds the car would need to travel in order to keep the song from falling apart. But in the end, they pulled it off, and created a truly unforgettable rendition of their latest single–which you can watch them perform below. Enjoy!

Marilyn Drew Necci

Marilyn Drew Necci

Former GayRVA editor-in-chief, RVA Magazine editor for print and web. Anxiety expert, proud trans woman, happily married.




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