White Knuckles

Last updated
"White Knuckles"
White knuckles.png
Single by OK Go
from the album Of the Blue Colour of the Sky
ReleasedOctober 12, 2010
Recorded2009
Genre
Length3:19
Label Paracadute Recordings
Songwriter(s) Damian Kulash
Producer(s) Dave Fridmann
OK Go singles chronology
"End Love"
(2010)		"White Knuckles"
(2010)		"All Is Not Lost"
(2011)

"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.

Contents

It was featured in the film The Cabin in the Woods .

Rock Band remix

Fans of the song were given the opportunity to create a remix of "White Knuckles" for inclusion in the Rock Band music video game series through the Rock Band Network. [1] This was won by The Big Robot.

Music video

The music video for "White Knuckles" was co-directed by lead singer Damian Kulash and his sister Trish Sie. The pair had previously directed the band's famous treadmill video for "Here It Goes Again." [2] The one-shot video features the band members performing choreographed actions with minimal props (mostly IKEA furniture) alongside a number of trained dogs and one goat, with the actions set in time to the song. [2] [3] Sie thought that in considering the success of the treadmill video, "wouldn’t it be kind of cool if this time the guys were the machines and they’re enabling and operating the dogs". [2] The idea for the "White Knuckles" video followed shortly after the completion of the treadmill video, just prior to the 2006 Video Music Awards. The band considered the idea "absurd and awesome", and a routine was developed in 2009 using only three live animals, with stuffed animals as stand-ins. [2] During the recording of Of the Blue Colour of the Sky, Kulash and Sie played the album alongside their own dogs and watched how the dogs reacted to the songs, finding that "White Knuckles" "matched the playfulness of [their] dogs". [4] The song "White Knuckles" includes the words "paw" and "pet", matching up to the concept of using dogs within the video. [2] Much like with the video for "Here It Goes Again", bassist Tim Nordwind does the lip-syncing in this video instead of Kulash.

The crew of the "White Knuckles" video: the band OK Go, their co-stars, and their trainers Whiteknuckles crewshot.jpg
The crew of the "White Knuckles" video: the band OK Go, their co-stars, and their trainers

Fourteen dogs and the goat were provided and trained by Talented Animals, with head trainer Lauren Henry; all of the dogs were from animal rescue shelters. [2] [5] Part of the requirement of the band was that the shot had to be performed in a single take, a feat that Roland Sonnenburg, a spokesperson for Talented Animals, said was "not bloody likely" to happen. [6] Each dog was paired with the trainer they worked best with to prevent one dog from taking the wrong direction. [2]

The development of the routine, training of the dogs, and the shooting were filmed in a disused plastics factory in Corvallis, Oregon. [3] The dogs were trained for two weeks prior to the band's direct involvement, tweaking and tuning the choreography to work with the animals they had. [6] The band and Sie joined in about one week prior to the shooting period to acclimate themselves to the dogs. [2] [6] The trainers sought to create a relaxing atmosphere for the animals, realizing that they would not be easy to handle under normal human situations, and tried to ensure that the dogs would be enjoying the tricks they had to perform. [2] The dogs were able to learn the routine's tricks; the most difficult trick, according to Tim Nordwind, was convincing two dogs to step in and out of a set of shelves while the band members provided platforms for the dogs to use and while spinning the shelves around. [2] They initially trained the dogs to perform their tricks at half-speed, and slowly increased the pace to match the song's beat; however, as they neared the end of the filming period, the dogs were enjoying the performance so much that they began to outpace the song. [6] The goat, appearing only briefly in the video, was originally going to be pulled across the set on a treadmill to reference the "Here It Goes Again" video, but after the band used this reference in the "This Too Shall Pass" video, they decided against repeating it. Instead, they used a feed bag to lure the goat, which would often drag the band's Andy Ross across the set. [2]

A total of 124 takes were made during the filming period; about 30 were complete takes, with 10 of those being considered "excellent" by the group. [6] The released version was Take 72, completed on the second-to-last day of shooting. [2] [6] They had considered splicing together other takes where certain actions were more "magical" than in Take 72, but the group did not want to cheat the one-shot requirement, and instead used what they had considered the best overall shot. [6]

The video premiered on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on September 20, 2010, and was posted shortly afterward by the band to YouTube. [7] The video quickly became a viral video as OK Go's previous videos, reaching a million views on YouTube within 24 hours of its posting. [8] With the release of the video, OK Go encouraged its viewers to assist in animal rescue efforts through their web site, and will provide a portion of sales of the video to the ASPCA. [5] [9] [10]

The video had been shot in both 2D and 3D, though only had been released using the 2D version as there were few opportunities to show off the 3D version, according to Sie. As part of an initial system update, the Nintendo 3DS portable video game system includes the 3D version of "White Knuckles". [11]

Track listings

CD single

No.TitleLength
1."White Knuckles" (Radio Edit)3:02
2."White Knuckles" (Album Version)3:19

Digital Maxi Single

No.TitleLength
1."White Knuckles"3:18
2."White Knuckles" (Boys Like Us Mix)2:58
3."White Knuckles" (Static Revenger Club Mix)4:45
4."White Knuckles" (Sam Sparro Remix)5:56
5."White Knuckles" (Static Revenger Instrumental Dub)4:02
6."White Knuckles" (Neil Voss Remix)3:18
7."White Knuckles" (Music Video)3:26

Digital Remix EP

No.TitleLength
1."White Knuckles" (Boys Like Us Mix)2:58
2."White Knuckles" (Static Revenger Club Mix)4:45
3."White Knuckles" (Sam Sparro Remix)5:56
4."White Knuckles" (Static Revenger Instrumental Dub)4:02
5."White Knuckles" (Neil Voss Remix)3:18

10" Single

Side A
No.TitleLength
1."White Knuckles" (Neil Voss Remix)3:18
2."All Is Not Lost" (Serious Business Remix)4:56
Side B
No.TitleLength
1."This Too Shall Pass" (Passion Pit Remix)4:26
2."White Knuckles" (Boys Like Us Mix)2:58

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>OK Go</i> (album) 2002 studio album by OK Go

OK Go is the debut studio album by American rock band OK Go. It was released on September 17, 2002, by Capital Records.

<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 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, singer, songwriter and music video director, best known for being the lead singer and guitarist of the American rock band OK Go.

<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 61 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Do What You Want (song)</span> 2006 single by OK Go

"Do What You Want" is a song by American rock band OK Go from their second album, Oh No. It is the second single off the album released in the UK.

<i>Of the Blue Colour of the Sky</i> 2010 studio 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.

<i>Muppets: The Green Album</i> 2011 compilation album by Various artists

Muppets: The Green Album is a cover album of twelve songs originally from the Muppets, covered by alternative rock and pop artists. The album was released by Walt Disney Records on August 23, 2011, on a digipak CD and as a digital download. A music video was also produced for the album's sole single; "Muppet Show Theme Song", featuring OK Go attempting to produce their own music video until they are interrupted by the Muppets' antics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Needing/Getting</span> 2012 single by OK Go

"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.

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 White Knuckles Remix Contest". Indaba Music. Archived from the original on September 10, 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Lynch, Joseph Brannigan (2010-09-20). "How OK Go Went to the Dogs in Their New Video". New York Magazine . Retrieved 2010-09-20.
  3. 1 2 Elan, Priya (2010-09-25). "Here they go again: new OK Go video is a White Knuckle ride". The Guardian . Retrieved 2010-09-25.
  4. ↑ "Ok Go's New Video Is For the Dogs". US Magazine . 2010-10-01. Retrieved 2010-10-01.
  5. 1 2 "Donating to Animal Rescue". OK Go. 2010-09-20. Archived from the original on 2010-09-22. Retrieved 2010-09-20.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Diaz, Jesus (2010-09-20). "New OK Go Video Is Awesome, Full Of Awesome Dogs". Gizmodo . Retrieved 2010-09-20.
  7. ↑ "OK Go TV Today". AntiMusic. 2010-09-20. Retrieved 2010-09-20.
  8. ↑ Kreps, Daniel (2010-09-21). "OK Go Score Latest Viral Hit, 'White Knuckles'". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on September 23, 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-21.
  9. ↑ "OK Go – White Knuckles: New music video". The Guardian . 2010-09-20. Retrieved 2010-09-20.
  10. ↑ Burgress, Daniel (2010-09-20). "WATCH: OK Go's "White Knuckles" Clip". Spin . Retrieved 2010-09-20.
  11. ↑ Crecente, Brian (2011-03-24). "Nintendo Gives With One 3DS Update, Will Take Away With Another". Kotaku . Retrieved 2011-03-24.
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.