They play indie rock music, with influences such as Cheap Trick, T Rex and Queen. They share management with They Might Be Giants, with whom they toured before signing to Capitol Records. They served as the house band to the public radio program This American Life on the show's fifth anniversary tour. Ira Glass, the show's host, wrote their first official bio, calling them "living catnip" and describing their songs as "part indie rock, part stadium rock, part straight up pop with the occasional whiff of The Pixies or The Cars or Elliott Smith."
In the United Kingdom, "Get Over It", from their self-titled debut album, appeared at No. 21 in the singles chart on March 16, 2003, and the band performed it on that week's edition of Top of the Pops. Also that week, the single's video was named video of the week by Q Magazine. The single was also featured in EA Sports video games Triple Play Baseball and Madden NFL 2003 in 2002.
The band contributed a cover of "This Will Be Our Year," the Zombies classic, as the lead track of Future Soundtrack for America, a political benefit album put out by Barsuk Records in the fall of 2004. Lead singer Damian Kulash also became somewhat politically active during that election cycle, writing a heavily downloaded how-to-guide entitled "How Your Band Can Fire Bush" for bands hoping to help unseat President George W. Bush, which garnered him an avalanche of hate mail.
The band's second record, "Oh No", was recorded in Malmö, Sweden and produced by Tore Johansson (The Cardigans, Franz Ferdinand) in the fall of 2004. Released in August 2005, it gained notoriety for its first single, the Clash-esque "A Million Ways." Its popularity was due in large part to its video, which proved to be a viral internet sensation in the fall of 2005. The ultra-low budget, one-take video featured the band in their back yard performing a dance choreographed by lead singer Kulash's sister, Trish Sie. Using a camera borrowed from a friend, the video was produced for under ten dollars and released without the knowledge or consent of their label, Capitol Records. By November 2005, the video had become the most downloaded music video ever with over 3 million downloads. It also spawned hundreds of tribute performances by amateur dancers around the world, a phenomenon that was encouraged by the group, which sponsored a dance contest, "OK Go Dances with You(Tube)", in which contestants were asked to upload videos of themselves doing the 'million ways dance' to YouTube, which would subsequently be judged, with the winning group of dancers to appear on stage with the band at a future OK Go performance.
The nontraditional video for "A Million Ways" is not without precedent for the band. Previous oddball video efforts featuring OK Go include their Ping Pong Instructional Video and the Federal Truth In Music Project.
Their next video featured the band dancing on treadmills to the single "Here It Goes Again" from the "Oh No" Album. This video was produced in a similar style to "A Million Ways", and also choreographed by singer/songwriter Damian Kulash's sister, Trish Sie. As with the previous music video for "A Million Ways", "Here It Goes Again" was also recorded as one continuous unedited take, although it required 7 days of rehearsal, and was the best (take 14) of 17 attempts. The amateur and yet brilliantly original 'treadmill video' sparked an even greater viral internet phenomenon than the AMW video, and was subsequently viewed on YouTube and elsewhere online well over 15 million times. On February 11, 2007, the "Here It Goes Again" music video earned the band members of OK Go and Trish Sie the Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video.
OK Go toured North America with Silversun Pickups and Snow Patrol in 2007.
It's A Disaster
OK Go Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Patience is the hallmark of the old and the infirm.
The lived and learned, lived and learned, lived and learned
Outlived their lust and traded want in for concern,
Singing "that's all right."
So come on down, come on down, come on down.
Get out your pestilence and vice and pass them round.
Jump off this ship before the shit just runs aground,
Singing "that's all right."
But it's a disaster.
It's an incredible mess, but it's all we got now.
Howling with laughter, panic, alarm, and distress,
But it's all we got now.
Yeah, that's all we got.
Oh, heads or tails, heads or tails, heads or tails?
Are you dumb enough to break the mold, or smart enough to fail?
Happy trails, happy trails, happy trails.
Can't beat a little bit of envy in your sails,
Singing, "that's all right."
But it's a disaster.
It's an incredible mess, but it's all we got now.
Howling with laughter, panic, alarm, and distress,
But it's all we got now.
Yeah, it's all we got.
It's a disaster.
It's an incredible mess, but it's all we got now.
Howling with laughter, panic, alarm, and distress,
But it's all we got now.
Yeah, it's all we got.
It's a disaster.
It's an incredible mess, but it's all we got now.
Howling with laughter, panic, alarm, and distress,
But that's all we got now.
Yeah, that's all we got.
Yeah, that's all we got.
The lyrics of "It's A Disaster" by OK Go are a reflection on life's complexities and its unpredictable nature. The song starts with the repetition of "Crash and burn" as a metaphor for life and how it can be a bumpy ride. The following line "Patience is the hallmark of the old and the infirm" suggests that as one gets older, they learn to be patient with the ups and downs of life. The next line "The lived and learned, lived and learned, lived and learned" is an echo of that idea that life is about learning lessons from our experiences.
The chorus goes on to suggest that despite the messiness of life, we have to embrace it and make the best of it. The lines "It's an incredible mess, but it's all we got now. Howling with laughter, panic, alarm, and distress, But it's all we got now." show that life can be a mix of emotions, from happiness to panic, but it's all we have.
The following verse contains a metaphor of "heads or tails" that represents decision making. It suggests that we all have to make choices in life, but the outcome may either break the mold or lead to failure. The song concludes with the chorus, reiterating that life may be a disaster, but it's all we've got now, and we have to learn to embrace it.
Overall, "It's A Disaster" is a beautiful reminder that life is full of unpredictability and that we must embrace the chaos that comes with it. It is about learning to appreciate what we have and make the best of it.
Line by Line Meaning
Crash and burn, crash and burn, crash and burn.
Things are going wrong repeatedly.
Patience is the hallmark of the old and the infirm.
Only old people and sick people have enough patience.
The lived and learned, lived and learned, lived and learned
Experienced people learn from living life multiple times.
Outlived their lust and traded want in for concern,
They replaced their desires with worries after surviving many experiences.
Singing "that's all right."
Despite everything, it's okay.
So come on down, come on down, come on down.
Join in with others.
Get out your pestilence and vice and pass them round.
Bring your bad habits and share them with everyone else.
We'll blow this town, blow this town, blow this town.
Let's leave this place.
Jump off this ship before the shit just runs aground,
Abandon the ship before it gets too bad.
Singing "that's all right."
Despite everything, it's okay.
But it's a disaster.
Everything is in chaos.
It's an incredible mess, but it's all we got now.
The situation is terrible, but it's all we have.
Howling with laughter, panic, alarm, and distress,
Emotions are mixed.
But it's all we got now.
We have to deal with what is given to us.
Yeah, that's all we got.
That's really all there is.
Oh, heads or tails, heads or tails, heads or tails?
Do you take chances?
Are you dumb enough to break the mold, or smart enough to fail?
Would you risk failure?
Happy trails, happy trails, happy trails.
Wish you luck on your journey.
Can't beat a little bit of envy in your sails,
Having some jealousy could motivate you.
Singing, "that's all right."
Despite everything, it's okay.
Yeah, it's all we got.
There's nothing else to rely on.
It's a disaster.
Things are terrible.
But that's all we got now.
We have to make do with the situation.
Yeah, that's all we got.
That's really all we have.
Yeah, that's all we got.
There's nothing else to rely on.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: DAMIAN KULASH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind