petie p, 2. August 2006, 18:34
OK Go - "Here It Goes Again"

"That dancing band" is up to it again, but this time on treadmills. These kinds of videos seem built to blow-up on YouTube.

MP4     MOV     WMP

         
Better than every single video nominated for a moon man this year. Seriously.
         
Absolute class! Obviously a kind of sequel to their Million Ways vid, and a worthy sequel.

Love the overexposed left hand side and the crappy caption at the start.

Who directed? And who choreographed?
         
Its like someone had this great idea for a highly produced choreographed video that had conveyor belts doing all the work and then someone else came up, looked at the treatment and said "nah, lets do this shit in my cousin's gym on the treadmills with tin foil in the background."

Great choice.
         
This is a masterpiece.
         
im happy and i wanna jog for some reason...
         
blah... they already did this shit. Spike Jonze doesn't follow up "Praise You" with more of the same, he tops it with "Weapon of Choice"... I know we're not talking about Jonze here but c'mon it's the exact same video. Think outside the box. Take that personality and dancing if you have to and do something interesting. Laaaaame.
         
probly same choreographer as million ways - good again, tho inevitably with less scope. tod's right about the style choice - but overall... i'm with the cap'n on this. had me bored after a minute.
         
Whatever. As long as its fun to watch, who cares if it follows up a similarly themed video? It seems a little petty to slam something so good for a reason that only jaded record store clerks and dopey industry types will care about.
         
the first one was cool because nobody expected a bunch of hipsters to dance so well; and the shot-on-video, locked-off camera added a lo-fi charm.

"It seems a little petty to slam something so good for a reason that only jaded record store clerks and dopey industry types will care about."

You're assuming I loved it but I'm concealing my true feelings for indie cred or something. I didn't like it because it felt stale, it had none of the surprises that made the first one fun and felt kind of sad; a band who's desperate to cling onto their 'one-hit-wonder' video.

If any other band did this, we'd all say it was a ripoff of OK GO. So how is it okay for OK GO to ripoff their previous work? Laaaaaaaame.
         
Totally great. Lots of inventive moves. I saw this one first, so I liked it. Frankly, when I went back, the first one bored me. They were just testing something out. This one has way more energy. You're all entitled to an opinion, but the choreographer on this totally rocks. And if it was them, then great.

Too bad all their music blows.
         
Captain,
The first video wasn't meant to be taken very seriously, and this one (i assume) is in the same vein. It's not like they found a really easy artistic idea to mass-produce either. It'd be one thing if took a day or two to put these spots together, but it looks like a lot of work went in to it- probably just as much work as most videos with 10 times the budget.

On an even more important level, these videos accomplish several things that most large-budget videos forget about; they're memorable, full of personality, and incredibly watchable.
It's giving kids what they want-- unabashed fun, which seems to be an element that most video directors put on the backburner while they're constructing they're latest 'never been done before' tech fest that most kids won't even care about.

I'm willing to bet that the band was aware that some people would call them out on putting together a similar video, but I'm glad that they went with their instincts and released it anyway. Better to entertain people who actually enjoy pop music videos and a little bit of cheeky humor than to keep your credibility with a smaller, hipper audience that probably doesn't like OKGO anyway.
         
Sure it's more contrived, but it does up the ante. As a standalone piece it's very good. If you watch it and sense the insidious hand of marketing at work, you'll enjoy it less.

But you're quite right Cap'n M: It would have been better to see something every bit the equal of the first in a different vein. Perhaps what we're watching here is the trouble with repeating an unexpected runaway success.
         
As a stand-alone video, it is great, but this reaction here stands as a warning to them. If they want to do this again, and I hope they do, they're going to have to severely up the ante. If they hold true, they have a chance to really shine here with this concept. Video sequels are a tricky lot. (er, Sorry, Madonna)
         
Yes OKGO, Heed this serious warning; Releasing clever music videos may get you more online viewership than an entire day of Fuse, but it can also cost you the artistic credibilty that you so desperately seek from the world of uber-specific music video forums. Please ignore the thousands of normal people who will enjoy your video at face value and set unnecessary limitations on yourselves in the name of unwritten artistic guidelines!
         
"blah... they already did this shit. Spike Jonze doesn't follow up "Praise You" with more of the same, he tops it with "Weapon of Choice"... I know we're not talking about Jonze here but c'mon it's the exact same video. Think outside the box. Take that personality and dancing if you have to and do something interesting. Laaaaame."

agreed
         
loved it!

didn't spike jonze follow "rokkafella skank" with "praise you"?
         
jeeez. how hard they must've studied. they are tighter in movement then a varsity pom squad.
         
You guys are whiny bitches. This is more of a great thing.
         
agreed, winchandpulley -- it's one thing to be a gourmet and keep tabs on mv history and share your expert critique, but when you see something as fun as this, it's a real shame to drown in your own sea of knowledge...
         
ok. IT'S ONLY A MUSIC VIDEO. It's a funny nice MUSIC VIDEO. It's not the cure for cancer. You guys take this stuff so seriously. This is not Michelangelo or the cure for cancer. Have a nice day and lighten up because it's only MUSIC VIDEOS.
         
What music video?
         
The proof is in the pudding: OK Go have 1,943,770 hits, and were featured on Good Morning America (with the YouTube guys) this morning. ("Touch the Sky" by Kanye West got about 4 million on Tube, if you recall)
         
no,I don't listen to that kind of music I listen to Metal,Screamo,Emo,and things like that.sorry-_-if I wasted your time.
         
OKGo-meter: 2,428,666 hits at YouTube - mov
         
Karen O, eat your heart out
         
6 non-industry people asked me this week if I had seen this video. No one asked if I'd seen the new the new Horrors video. Welcome to music videos in 2006.
         
2.3 million hits on youtube in a week. TRL gets less than 750,000 viewers a day.

even though i bitched it was unoriginal, you gotta give them credit for being so successful. And apparently a lot of people hadn't even seen the original "A Million Ways."

yeah, welcome to 2006 indeed!
         
OKGO-meter: 3,315,157 hits - plus about 250,000 at other copies
         
OKGO-meter: 5.1m hits +
         
This guy's going to have to tack an OK Go segment onto the end of his clip. (32m hits)
         
i hate that guy
         
OKGO-meter: 6.6m hits - less than 2 months
         
The preview I've seen on iTunes seems like much better quality than the ones linked to here although it is still a great video even with the lower quality.

Here's a 30 second iTunes preview:
a1403.phobos.apple.com

Does anyone know where I can get a high quality vid like that without signing up for iTunes and purchasing it?
         
OKGO-meter: 8.9m hits - Might as well include the official YouTube link
         
winner
         
OKGO-meter: 11.1m hits. Just won the Grammy for best mv, which makes sense.
         
I think we need to stop making 'viral' sound like a consolation prize in the world of music videos. In the age of youtube, shouldn't EVERY video be aiming for viral status? I honestly don't know why any label would want any rock artist to do standard cosmetic videos anymore.
         
spit - the reason labels like traditional videos is that they have a history of selling records (less so lately, of course). Labels want to sell records, not get the most hits on YouTube.

Is there a smarter way for labels to turn the interest demonstrated by viral videos INTO money? - of course there is. Viral attention is like "word of mouth" or "critical acclaim" - they only matter to the bottom line IF those things turn into cash money. And labels only care about the straight cash.
         
30f, it's not surprising that the music industry hasn't found a way to capitalize on the full potential of viral videos. They're still trying to operate via the pre-internet model, which is why sales are down across the board. Traditional videos might sell more records if you're an R&B star with a giant marketing campaign and guaranteed MTV exposure, but the other 95 percent of bands and acts that are going to field treatments for their single are selling themselves short with the standard band footage/b roll concept. OKGO might not be able to translate every youtube viewing into a sale, but they went from a band that was lost in the shuffle to having a hit single and selling a couple hundred thousand records. Not every band might have the smarts (and coordination) to pull of a treadmill video, but you'd think that with the internet, youtube, and the ascendancy of 'viral' as the buzzword of choice in most marketing meetings we would see a shift in the types of videos being made that mirrored the actual changes in the industry.
         
"selling a couple hundred thousand records"

Really? I had no idea. That kind of success for a band like OK Go is almost unheard of.
         
Here is a longer version of my thoughts.
         
OKGO-meter: 13.3 million hits, plus a YouTube Award
         
OKGO-meter: ~15 million hits
         
OKGO-meter: 3 months and it's jumped to ~26 million hits

mov
         
OKGO-meter: ~30.7m hits (a few million more since some videos got deleted) in 13 months

Girlfriend-meter: ~55.4 million hits in 7 months

MCR "Famous Last Words": ~37m
         
OKGO-meter: 34m hits
Girlfriend: 82m
MCR: 52m