VIDEO: OK Go play 1000 instruments for Needing/Getting

Singer Damian Kulash guns it for video glory
Singer Damian Kulash guns it for video glory

If YouTube and Facebook are indeed the new radio, then OK Go are rulers of the airwaves. Their videos for songs such as Here It Goes Again, This Too Shall Pass and A Million Ways are regarded as modern-day, groundbreaking classics.

That foursome from Chicago are at it again in a clip for the song Needing/Getting, from their most recent album, Out Of The Blue Colour Of The Sky. Dispensing with treadmills, dance routines and Rube Goldberg machines, the band took to the road in a Chevy Sonic (the car company sponsored the video, which premiered during Superbowl XLVI), one which was outfitted with appendages to strike/play over 1000 instruments spread out over a two-mile course in a desert outside of LA.

While you watch the above video, don't assume the whole thing came easy: The shoot required four months of prep time and four days of actual filming (imagine the number of takes involved, with each one starting with "OK, go!"). And lead singer Damian Kulash even took stunt driving lessons for the occasion.

No wonder it takes a while for these guys to put out new records.

Joe Bosso

Joe is a freelance journalist who has, over the past few decades, interviewed hundreds of guitarists for Guitar WorldGuitar PlayerMusicRadar and Classic Rock. He is also a former editor of Guitar World, contributing writer for Guitar Aficionado and VP of A&R for Island Records. He’s an enthusiastic guitarist, but he’s nowhere near the likes of the people he interviews. Surprisingly, his skills are more suited to the drums. If you need a drummer for your Beatles tribute band, look him up.