Monday, May 10, 2010

Monday music: "This Too Shall Pass," by OK Go

Do you get emails that say "Turn up your speakers"? I do. Well...

Turn down your speakers.

You know, I'm running into this a lot, oddly: really creative, clever videos with songs that are average at best, obnoxious at middle, offensive at worst. This one is a very creative video, and a very obnoxious song. I saw it, passed; then reader RWT brought it back to my attention, and I relented.

Here y'go.

15 comments:

Fred Butler said...

Isn't it suppose to be a Christian song about how God's providence works itself out in unusual ways in our lives?

DJP said...

After the song turned my brain to jelly, it became hard to ask such questions.

Chuck said...

I actually kind of like the song, and OK Go is known for their creative videos. They did the treadmill video routine for 'Here it Goes Again' a few years back.

P.D. Nelson said...

Going to have to read the lyrics to understand the song better. However, I must say I liked their bit when they destroyed the TV set with their previous video playing on it. That is very something and if I had paid more attention in art history I could have probably said what movement it represented. Such is life. Thank you again for a very entertaining start to my morning.

DJP said...

You're very welcome, P.D.

I think Mondays need all the help they can get.

THEOparadox said...

At the risk of overly theologizing the video . . .

Perhaps only Calvinists can really appreciate the beauty of what's been done here. But I'd bet some people who ordinarily oppose the idea of predestination would nonetheless consider this video amazing.

Although some parts appear to be random, it's all been planned, right down to the finest detail. Cool.

Stefan Ewing said...

If this was live action, how many times did they have to rehearse it, replace whatever got moved or broken, and redo it from scratch?

Ouch!

But the end result is visually impressive. (Don't know about sonically: my speakers were on mute.)

Love the creative use of such things as Lego, Brio train tracks, a manual typewriter, and Chinese-style brush paintings.

Note about Rube Goldberg's contraptions: they were just barely within the realm of mechanical possibility, but otherwise totally implausible, and always given as solutions to some mundane problem (for example, a wild contraption to remove a gravy stain from a shirt).

Moon said...

wow! amazing! I wonder how long it took for them to create the whole thing...

Herding Grasshoppers said...

@Stefan... how many times... did you see the pile of broken TVs in the background? Wyatt says there were about 10.

Dan,

We grasshoppers are simple-minded insects. We appreciate the video for the humor and the smashing and bashing and spraying of paint.

Have no idea what the lyrics were.

Fun times.

Julie and Co.

John said...

yeah dan re: your comment to Fred's...I'm just sitting here...dduuuuhhhhh

jello

I've never seen anything like that...

threegirldad said...

Mouse Trap for grown-ups...and more enjoyable without the audio.

candy said...

I love kinetic sculptures.

Cathy in NOLA said...

There is actually a Wikipedia article about this music video. Rather fascinating, actually. The link is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Too_Shall_Pass_(song)

DJP said...

That link is correct, but a little complicated.

If it's not working, click here.

threegirldad said...

Mouse Trap for grown-ups...and more enjoyable without the audio.