Needing/Getting

Last updated
"Needing/Getting"
Needing-getting.jpg
Single by OK Go
from the album Of the Blue Colour of the Sky
B-side
  • Needing/Getting (More Than You Could Know) [Demo]
  • Needing/Getting [Live At Club Nokia: Los Angeles, CA, 11/27/10]
ReleasedFebruary 5, 2012
Recorded2009
Genre
Length5:14
Label Paracadute
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s) Dave Fridmann
OK Go singles chronology
"All Is Not Lost"
(2011)		"Needing/Getting"
(2012)		"The Writing's on the Wall"
(2014)

"Needing/Getting" is a song by American rock band OK Go, from their 2010 album Of the Blue Colour of the Sky . A music video, released in February 2012 as an advertisement for Super Bowl XLVI, features the band performing the song by driving a Chevy Sonic through a rally car course, striking musical instruments on the sides of the course with extensions from the car to create the music.

Contents

Song

"Needing/Getting" was written by band members Damian Kulash and Tim Nordwind, and was originally released as the fourth track of their 2010 album Of the Blue Colour of the Sky . The lyrics reflect a person who wishes to be in a relationship with someone who is not interested and expresses the foolishness of waiting around for that person to like you back. The song is in 6
8 except for the solo and closing sections, which are in 7
8.

Paste described the song musically as "dirt-smudged" with "its odd street-noise sound effects", and states that the song "unexpectedly works" with these elements. [1] NME described the song as the "splicing of pervy pop with punch-drunk sea-shanties", and considered it "pleasing enough" and a highlight of a relatively mediocre album. [2] The Boston Globe believed the band was "trying too hard to distance itself from its pop roots and be taken seriously" with the "artsy guitar fuzz" of the song. [3]

Music video

The music video for "Needing/Getting" was released in February 2012 and was directed by Brian L. Perkins, who had previously directed the band's Marching Band version of the "This Too Shall Pass" music video. The video is sponsored by Chevrolet, and features their Sonic. Within the video, the car, having been outfitted with numerous pneumatic arms and devices, is driven through a specially-designed rally car course by the band's lead singer Damian Kulash, with the other band members as passengers. During the course, the arms strike at various musical instruments aligned on the sides of the course, including pianos, guitars, glass jars, and plastic drums; the arrangement and tuning of these instruments create the melody of the song as the car drives by them. The video premiered on MTV on February 5, with an edited version shown during Super Bowl XLVI the same day. [4] [5]

The idea for the video was inspired by the Rube Goldberg video version of "This Too Shall Pass"; in that video, some of the props of the Rube Goldberg machine had played a melody in time with the music. Kulash wanted to extend this idea, making the props in the video be the source of the music during the recording; he explained "I like the idea of doing videos that are live recordings. It helps break down the idea that these are all distinct forms of art." [5] Using a car to make the music had also been an idea toyed by the band, but recognized that such would require monetary investment for the car and other factors. [6] Initially, Kulash had the idea of driving a car on an oval racetrack with banked turns, with the action of running the car over the instruments making the music, but in the light of the aspiration to have a one-take run, this was deemed too difficult. [5] The concept of a rally car course bore out from this idea, using the various stages of the course to map to certain stanzas of the song. [5]

During the chorus sections of the song, Kulash drove the Sonic through a tunnel outfitted with several homemade instruments, including pipes, drums, hubcaps, and glass jars, with pneumatic arms and extensions from the car used to strike these to generate the video's music. OK-Go Needing-Getting.png
During the chorus sections of the song, Kulash drove the Sonic through a tunnel outfitted with several homemade instruments, including pipes, drums, hubcaps, and glass jars, with pneumatic arms and extensions from the car used to strike these to generate the video's music.

Kulash then approached various automobile manufacturers; in the case of Chevrolet, Perkins, a close friend of Kulash and the band, was working at one of the auto manufacturer's press agencies, and was able to let the band know that the company was looking for new advertisement ideas, ultimately leading to securing the video concept with Chevrolet. [6] Kevin Mayer, Chevrolet's director of advertising, felt OK Go's influence with young adults through their past music videos was a close fit with the Sonic. [5] Though the company provided between $500,000 and $1 million for the production of the video, they did not make any production demands on the band outside of limiting what modifications could be performed on the cars themselves; any further involvement or demands, according to Mayer, would have likely altered the impact of the video. [5] [6] Kulash noted that while such coordination with a commercial interest in the music industry was once seen in the past as "absolutely toxic", the industry has shifted to create new avenues that may be vital to remain significant. [6] However, remaining in creative control of the product was considered key to the sponsorship; as Kulash stated "Being able to chase our ideas in any direction has been incredibly, incredibly freeing." [6] He further praised Chevrolet for allowing the work to be produced without excessive marketing, noting that the band was surprised that "Chevy had the balls to go for it". [6] Forbes magazine noted that this was not the first corporate sponsorship by OK Go, having had the creation of the videos for "This Too Shall Pass" (Rube Goldberg version) and "Last Leaf" sponsored by State Farm Insurance and Samsung, respectively. [6]

Chevy's contributions included providing 2 Sonics, including the modifications to add extender bars and pneumatics, warehouse space for the band and an acoustic engineer to work out what would make suitable instruments and how they could be played by the car over the course of two months, and sending Kulash to a three-day stunt driving school to avoid having to use stunt doubles during filming. [5] [6] The video was filmed in a 2-mile long course on a private ranch property between Los Angeles and the Mojave Desert over a four-day period. The course as constructed included more than 1,100 homemade instruments and real instruments including 55 upright pianos and 288 electric guitars connected to 66 amps. [4] [7] The band developed a computer program that would dictate the speed that Kulash had to drive the car through the course to match the rhythm of the song; the speeds varied between 17 and 35 miles per hour on various sections of the course. This was aided with the use of a metronome within the car, and a series of marked beanbags that dropped as he drove through the course. [5] Multiple takes were required to perfect the run; they would often have to replace the extender arms as they broke off from overuse. They also suffered from high Santa Ana winds that would tip over the instruments such as the pianos; though they completed several takes, the band recognized they would likely need to post-edit the various shots to make the complete final video. [5]

The video, uploaded to YouTube after airing during the Super Bowl, received 5 million views within the day, [8] and surpassed 13 million views in under two weeks. [9] Wired magazine's Curtis Silver felt the video took the "mediocre" track from the album into "an experience that enhances the song and provides more than just a listening experience". [8] Kulash as well as some journalists had speculated that OK Go would have suffered backlash from fans for "selling out" to commercial interests with the videos, but found that this did not occur, and the video generally praised for keeping the product as a "co-star" alongside the band instead of overemphasizing the brand. [9] [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OK Go</span> American rock band

OK Go is an American rock band originally from Chicago, Illinois, now based in Los Angeles, California. The band is composed of Damian Kulash, Tim Nordwind, Dan Konopka, and Andy Ross, who joined them in 2005, replacing original guitarist Andy Duncan. The band is known for its quirky and complex music videos which are often elaborately choreographed to be filmed in a single long take.

<i>Oh No</i> (OK Go album) 2005 studio album by OK Go

Oh No is the second studio album by American rock band OK Go. It was released on 30 August 2005. The album was recorded in late 2004 with producer Tore Johansson in Malmö, Sweden, and mixed by Dave Sardy in Los Angeles. It is the final album to feature guitarist Andy Duncan, who left shortly after recording finished.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Damian Kulash</span> Musical artist

Damian Joseph Kulash Jr. is an American musician. He is the lead singer and guitarist of the American rock band OK Go.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Collins (American writer)</span> American writer

Paul Collins is an American writer, editor, and professor of English and Creative Writing at Portland State University, in Portland, Oregon. He is best known for his work with McSweeney's and The Believer, as editor of the Collins Library imprint for McSweeney's Books, and for his appearances on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition Saturday with Scott Simon. His own books deal primarily with quirky forgotten figures from history, sometimes interwoven with memoir. Damian Kulash of the band OK Go has stated that the chapter in Collins' book "Banvard's Folly" about Augustus Pleasonton's patent on blue light led to them naming their third album Of the Blue Colour of the Sky.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Here It Goes Again</span> 2006 single by OK Go

"Here It Goes Again" is a song by American rock band OK Go, the fifth single released from their second studio album, Oh No (2005). It was the band's only single to chart on the US Billboard Hot 100 until "I Won't Let You Down" in November 2014 and peaked at number 36 on the UK Singles Chart, giving the band their second UK top-40 hit. The music video, featuring the band dancing on treadmills, became a staple on YouTube, at one time being one of their most-watched videos, with over 65 million views.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A Million Ways</span> 2005 single by OK Go

"A Million Ways" is a song by American rock band OK Go from their album Oh No. It was the first song from the album to be released as a single and became the band's breakthrough song from the album because the accompanying music video went viral on the Internet.

Patricia Mary Sie is an American film and music video director, best known for directing the films Step Up: All In (2014) and Pitch Perfect 3 (2017), as well as music videos, particularly for the alternative rock band OK Go. She has worked in film, television, commercials, music videos, stage, children's entertainment and ballroom DanceSport.

<i>Of the Blue Colour of the Sky</i> Album by OK Go

Of the Blue Colour of the Sky is the third studio album by American rock band OK Go. It was released on January 12, 2010, on Capitol Records in the US and EMI in the UK, and re-released on the band's independent label Paracadute Records on April 1. The album was produced by Dave Fridmann and was recorded in a span of seven months at Fridmann's Tarbox Road Studios in Cassadaga, New York. The compilation's name, lyrics, and concept are based on The Influence of the Blue Ray of the Sunlight and of the Blue Colour of the Sky, a pseudoscientific book published in 1876. Its style was noted as a significant departure from the power pop of their earlier albums. After the band's split with EMI and Capitol, Paracadute took over the promotional campaign and all distribution responsibilities. The compilation received generally positive reviews from music critics upon release and debuted at number 40 on Billboard 200 chart, making it their highest-charting album in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WTF? (song)</span> 2009 single by OK Go

"WTF?" is an alternative rock song by OK Go from their third studio album Of the Blue Colour of the Sky (2010). It was written by Damian Kulash, produced by Dave Fridmann and released as the album's first single. The song is in 5
4 time, and the band has revealed that the song was inspired by Prince.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">This Too Shall Pass (OK Go song)</span> 2010 single by OK Go

"This Too Shall Pass" is a song by American rock band OK Go. It was released as the second single from their third studio album, Of the Blue Colour of the Sky, in January 2010. The band took the unorthodox route of creating two official music videos for the song, both of which premiered on YouTube. The first features a live performance of the song in collaboration with the University of Notre Dame Marching Band. The second features a giant Rube Goldberg machine, constructed to operate in time with the song. The popularity of the second music video of the song has been compared to that of the band's video for "Here It Goes Again", helping to boost live performances and single song sales for the group but not significantly improving sales of the Colour album. Difficulties with EMI, their corporate label, in marketing and distribution of the videos led the band to form their own independent label shortly after the videos' releases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">End Love</span> 2010 single by OK Go

"End Love" is a song by alternative rock band OK Go from the album Of the Blue Colour of the Sky. The song's lyrics deal with the sorrowful period of time after the end of a relationship. The video for the song features the band performing over a continuous 18-hour shot along with nearly 200 hours of additional footage, with both time-lapse compression and expansion used to condense the footage to a four-minute video.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Knuckles</span> 2010 single by OK Go

"White Knuckles" is a song by alternative rock band OK Go from the album Of the Blue Colour of the Sky. The song traces its roots to Prince's style of funk and R&B that brought him to fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chevrolet Aveo</span> Subcompact car

The Chevrolet Aveo is a five-passenger, front-drive subcompact car (B-segment) marketed by General Motors (GM) since 2002 over two generations. Originally developed by South Korean manufacturer Daewoo Motors and marketed as the Daewoo Kalos, the takeover of Daewoo by GM to form GM Daewoo Auto & Technology (GMDAT) resulted in the car's marketing in 120 countries under seven brands — prominently as the Chevrolet Aveo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paracadute</span> American record label

Paracadute is an independent record company owned by rock band OK Go. OK Go left their previous record company, EMI, because of a disagreement between the band and the label. OK Go reissued their album, Of the Blue Colour of the Sky, with Paracadute taking care of the promotion and distribution of the album reissues. OK Go's lead singer, Damian Kulash, announced the new label in a video posted to the band's YouTube channel.

The rock band OK Go has earned considerable fame for their creative but often low-budget music videos, most of which have been promoted through Internet video sharing sites like YouTube. Many of these have become viral videos; the 2006 video for "Here It Goes Again", in which the band performed a complex routine with the aid of motorized treadmills, has received over 50 million views four years later. Their video for Needing/Getting, released February 5, 2012 in partnership with Chevrolet, debuted during Super Bowl XLVI and has over 32 million views on YouTube. Samuel Bayer, who produced many music videos in the 1990s, asserted that OK Go's promotion of music videos on the Internet was akin to Nirvana's ushering in the grunge movement. Many of the videos also use long or single-shot takes, which Salon's Matt Zoller Seitz says "restore[s] a sense of wonder to the musical number by letting the performers' humanity shine through and allowing them to do their thing with a minimum of filmmaking interference". The success of OK Go's music first won the band the 14th Annual Webby Special Achievement Award for Film and Video Artist of the Year. The video for "This Too Shall Pass" was named both "Video of the Year" and "Best Rock Video" at the 3rd annual UK Music Video Awards."This Too Shall Pass" won the LA Film Fest's Audience Award for Best Music Video, UK MVA Awards – Music Video of the Year Winner 2010, among others.

<i>Hungry Ghosts</i> (album) 2014 studio album by OK Go

Hungry Ghosts is the fourth studio album by American rock band OK Go. It was released on October 14, 2014, under the band's own Paracadute record label and was produced by Dave Fridmann and Tony Hoffer. The band's first studio album since 2010's Of the Blue Colour of the Sky, it is a concept album whose lyrics are mostly about the pros and cons of a relationship. The album has a more electronic and modern approach than their previous studio albums. The album was recorded over three years at Dave Fridmann's Tarbox Road Studios in Cassadaga, New York. The album received generally favorable reviews from music critics and charted at number 74 in the Billboard 200.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Writing's on the Wall (OK Go song)</span> 2014 single by OK Go

"The Writing's on the Wall" is a song by American rock band OK Go. It was released on June 17, 2014, as part of the band's EP Upside Out, and is also the first single from the band's fourth studio album Hungry Ghosts. On the same day, the band released a music video in which the members use props to create optical illusions, reflecting the song's description of a relationship that fails because the couple has different points of view. Like previous OK Go videos, it is structured as a one-shot music video. The many YouTube views of the video caused the song to debut in the top ten of the US Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart, as well as number one on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I Won't Let You Down (OK Go song)</span> 2014 single by OK Go

"I Won't Let You Down" is a song by American rock band OK Go that was released as a single in December 8, 2014, and is part of their album Hungry Ghosts. The accompanying video, released on October 27, 2014, is a one-shot take recorded in double time showing the band members and several hundred dancers on personal transportation devices performing intricate choreographed routines while filmed by a camera on a multirotor aerial drone.

"Upside Down & Inside Out" is a song by American rock band OK Go. It was released as a single from their fourth studio album, Hungry Ghosts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The One Moment</span> 2016 single by OK Go

"The One Moment" is a song by American rock band OK Go. It was released as the fourth single from their fourth studio album, Hungry Ghosts (2014). The band released a video associated with the song, its production sponsored by Morton Salt to highlight their "Walk Her Walk" campaign. The one-shot video primarily consists of 4.2 seconds of real-time footage recording over 300 distinct events set in motion by the band members and timed devices, slowed down to be played over the length of the song.

References

  1. ↑ "OK Go: Of the Blue Colour of the Sky". Paste . 2010-01-14. Retrieved 2012-02-09.
  2. ↑ McFee, Edwin (2010-01-15). "Album review: OK Go - Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky (Parlophone)". NME . Retrieved 2012-02-09.
  3. ↑ Conners-Simons, Adam (2010-01-11). "OK Go, 'Of the Blue Color of the Sky'". Boston Globe . Archived from the original on July 26, 2012. Retrieved 2012-02-09.
  4. 1 2 Montgomery, James (2012-02-05). "OK Go's Super Bowl Commercial Hits Overdrive". MTV. Archived from the original on February 7, 2012. Retrieved 2012-02-05.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Robinson, Aaron (2012-02-05). "Car Commercialism: The Making of OK Go's "Needing/Getting" Music Video". Car & Driver . Retrieved 2012-02-05.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Galil, Leor (2012-02-10). "OK Go's Damian Kulash On Working With Chevy And Creative Freedom". Forbes . Retrieved 2012-02-23.
  7. ↑ "OK Go premiere elaborate new music video during Super Bowl". The Daily Telegraph . 2012-02-06. Retrieved 2012-02-06.
  8. 1 2 Silver, Curtis (2012-02-09). "Exclusive: Behind the Scenes of OK Go's Super Bowl Music Video". Wired . Retrieved 2012-02-23.
  9. 1 2 Dumenco, Simon (2012-02-15). "Viral-Video Genius Damian Kulash, Lead Singer of OK Go, Tells All". Advertising Age . Retrieved 2012-02-23.
  10. ↑ Dumenco, Simon (2012-02-06). "Is OK Go's Chevy-Sponsored Music Video One of the Best Product Placements Ever?". Advertising Age . Retrieved 2012-02-23.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.