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OK Go on TV shows, movies commercials etc.

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  • Tempe ArizonaTempe Arizona

    Tee-hee, it reminds me of when the Monkees on their episodes used to lip synch and pretend play their instruments during their tv episodes. I love my Monkees!

    For example:

  • beckysiouxbeckysioux
    So, anyone else think Damian is building a bleep machine army?
  • ChristelAdinaChristelAdina

    That's a video I'd like to see (March of the Bleep Machine Brigade, next on the Boardies' to do list)!

    And I love me some Monkees too, Tempe. On that note, I've been looking around this board on and off and the more I explore, the more I am convinced I have found my people! I'm also wondering why I haven't ever joined the forum before (well, I know why, I was busy with other bands, and kept OK Go as one of several that for purely for sonic enjoyment, rather than wholehearted immersion…), because you guys are a truly inspirational and talented bunch. The White Knuckles project videos are brilliant so far!

    And, you're nice Laugh (Another community I was a part of for years never once welcomed me, and I would find myself alone in greeting newbies, not that that's bad. But it's nice to feel that people are actually interacting on several levels). 

    Back on topic, I'm confused as to why NBC doesn't (yet) have the performance up on the Leno site. They have the "watch the entire episode" link, and other invdividual segments of last night's show are up, but no specific OK Go clip.

  • BeverlEyBeverlEy
    You know, when I watching I was thinking they sounded really good for a talk show environment, but it never occurred to me that they were lip-synching.  It just doesn't seem like something OK Go would do. 
  • violetchaos364violetchaos364
    ChristelAdina said:

    As far as Leno goes, I think there were guide tracks, but it's not totally pre-recorded/lip-synched (look/listen closer).

    BeverlEy said: You know, when I watching I was thinking they sounded really good for a talk show environment, but it never occurred to me that they were lip-synching.  It just doesn't seem like something OK Go would do.

    ---------------------------------------

    (Hi BeverlEy!)

    I tend to agree with Christel, not absolutely completely pre-recorded. I'm sure that lip-synching would not be their first or even fifth choice, but would do so if necessary. What situation(s) make something like that necessary, I don't know, I'm not a musician. But I'll trust the guys on that. Besides, Bleepy the Box appearance FTW!

    Christel, I've never been a part of any board, so I'm now permanently spoiled for any other board I try to get into! I think I mentioned the Monkees to Tempe in my epically long friend request to her (HI Tempe!) - love them! I was in love with them when Nickelodeon was playing the shows about -yikes- 20 some years ago when I was 14. I cut up a green knitted hat to match Mike's. Oh, in case you are a fan - there's a Doctor Who thread somewhere. (I would guess there is a thread for just about any topic.)

  • ChristelAdinaChristelAdina

    Violet! How did you know? Laugh

    I was just coming back to comment on your your avatar and signature quote (that may be my favourite epsiode of that season–I'm a Shakespeare junkie with a serious Who/Tennant addiction)!

    See? Now I'm sure I've found my people!

    (Also, because I know it was in this thread somewhere: I'll try to find the Russell Brand/OK Go segment. Not promising, because I had a complete computer crash at the start of the year and lost an agonizing amount of stuff I never had gotten around to backing up, but I will look for it. )

    Edited to say: I don't recall the Monkees on Nickelodeon. I watched it on MTV, I think, at a friend's house and then on video tape (my mom was a HUGE Mike fan). I know Mike's sister, she lives here and often comes to get into shows at the venue where I work/volunteer. She once called him up to have him explain to my supervisor that she was on JJ Cale's guest list (my word was not good enough, I guess),  and put me on the phone with Mike. I was dumbstruck. It was terrible. When she remembers who I am, she likes to mess with me by threatening to do it again.

  • DJRoseDJRose

    It's my one of my favorite episodes of Doctor Who too.  There's something about Doctor Who and OK Go that just goes together, I think.  Completely logical.  And The Monkees was my favorite show when I was 6.  We moved to a new town and I made my first friend in my new school by bonding over mutual love of Davy Jones.  The next summer our moms took us to our first concert to see The Monkees, and Weird Al Yankovic opened.  True Story.

    Anyway, back to the Leno performance.  I'll have to watch it again, because I only watched it the one time yesterday.  I don't think that the guys WANTED to lip synch, mind you, and for that matter I remember some crap from a couple of years ago where they were supposed to do the AMW dance on the Tonight Show but it was cancelled because the Tonight Show doesn't allow lip synching.  I still think they were because Damian's vocals were TOO perfect.  Besides, it was Damian's voice - not Tim's or Andy's - singing the backup vocals.

  • ChristelAdinaChristelAdina

    DJRose said:
    The next summer our moms took us to our first concert to see The Monkees, and Weird Al Yankovic opened.  True Story.

    I never got to go the any of the Monkees reunion shows (my mother spent most of the 80s and part of the 90s punishing me for being a rock and roll girl by trying to prevent me from being a rock and roll girlFrown). However, I've seen Weird Al several times.

    I guess you may be calling the use of any guide tracks "lip-synching", and if so, then yeah. I don't tend to consider it lip-synching if there are at least some live vocals... hadn't really thought about it for a while. I used to be staunchly anti-inauthenticity, and considered all pre-recorded accompaniment to be "cheating". I have since relaxed my stance. And you may be right about the Leno policies, it does vary from show to show (I'm trying to think if I've ever discussed being on Leno with any friends, and I'm only able to come up with memories of Conan, Letterman and Kimmel tales). But then, surely the policies have changed as mainstream musicians are more and more digitized in performances...

  • Tempe ArizonaTempe Arizona

    My hillarious crackpot friend on another forum said, 'they aren't lipsynching. They had other plans. Perhaps a paintball war, and those are their cyborg counterparts!'

    BTW, what are guide tracks?

  • ChristelAdinaChristelAdina

    Guide tracks are exactly what they sound like. Sometimes there are other terms used (in films they are "ghost tracks" in addition to being called guide tracks), but I've always called them that because that's what I've heard. They are pre-recorded pieces from the studio (sometimes used in live settings) to provide a guide for for the singer (or in the case of a film, to help synch the dialogue, or dub in ADR later). 

    When I was younger, I remember there being a bunch of flack around classic rock acts like Aerosmith using pre-recorded vocal tracks to "enhance" the live shows (and apparently groups like ZZ Top did this too, but I can't imagine why they'd need to. Not a lot of layered vocals there), and it was a big deal because of "authenticity". But what can you do when the crowd wants Steven Tyler to sound like the record and doesn't realize all the harmonies are double tracked and layered multiple times? I remember complaining about it, too. Not because I am entirely against it, but because for quite a while some artists were using tracks exclusively (meaning it was all lip-synching, no live singing).

    The most recent well known outcry was the Ashlee Simpson SNL debacle. And, again, that was because it was entirely pre-recorded. I'm ok with guide tracks… to a point. I just really don't like it when a main vocal part is tracked, but I can see how they are a necessary tool in a show for people (like Lady Gaga, Madonna, Gwen Stefani) who have a lot of theatrical elements and/or heavy dancing in addition to playing the music and singing (but Christina Aguilera does her own singing, to my knowledge, so maybe they are just lazy!). And I also understand the function of guide tracks when some studio trick can't be replicated in a certain live situation.

    I suspect that would be the case with OK Go on Leno. But, then, I'm just babbling… Embarassed

    Edited to add: The cyborg stand-ins theory would help to explain Damian's ever-widening power-stance, come to think of it!

  • beckysiouxbeckysioux
    ChristelAdina said:

    Edited to add: The cyborg stand-ins theory would help to explain Damian's ever-widening power-stance, come to think of it!

    Or he likes a good breeze.

  • DJRoseDJRose
    beckysioux said:
    ChristelAdina said:

    Edited to add: The cyborg stand-ins theory would help to explain Damian's ever-widening power-stance, come to think of it!

    Or he likes a good breeze.

    I asked him about the power stance once, because my friend Victoria keeps teasing me about it.  He said it runs in his family, apparently.

    So I just re-watched it, and my earlier assessment stands.  If it was indeed only guide tracks, the Tonight Show's sound man did a terrible job mixing it, because all I can hear is the album version, with one or two diversions.  They have some pre-recorded stuff that they use in their live shows (in N/G for example, they have the children shouting and It's a Disaster playing in the background) and I have no problem with that. 

    It's not like I think less of the guys for doing it, it probably wasn't their choice, but yeah.

  • beckysiouxbeckysioux
    DJRose said:

    So I just re-watched it, and my earlier assessment stands.  If it was indeed only guide tracks, the Tonight Show's sound man did a terrible job mixing it, because all I can hear is the album version, with one or two diversions.  They have some pre-recorded stuff that they use in their live shows (in N/G for example, they have the children shouting and It's a Disaster playing in the background) and I have no problem with that. 

    It's not like I think less of the guys for doing it, it probably wasn't their choice, but yeah.

    You can also hear one of the backing "And it's end love, the sky is falling" and no one is mouthing it.

    I'm thinking they may have used the guide track because they probably didn't have it ready to go live yet. Though, azulaco just tweeted that they performed it at Bonnaroo yesterday, so... I guess my argument doesn't hold much water right now. Meh, whatevs, they still did a great job and looked super-frickin'-awesome.

    And Rach, they also use pre-recorded stuff for Invincible. I didn't notice it until I listened to the USBs I have. When Invincible starts to get slow, in the background there is a countdown from 10 to 1. It's also in the recorded version that I never noticed before. Now, whenever I listen to Invincible I simply have to count along. I love finding new stuff in the old.

  • ChristelAdinaChristelAdina
    beckysioux said:
    ChristelAdina said:

    Edited to add: The cyborg stand-ins theory would help to explain Damian's ever-widening power-stance, come to think of it!

    Or he likes a good breeze.

    I just spit coffee on the keyboard, by the way. Thanks, beckysioux!Laugh

    I went back and watched again with my critical eye, and yeah, you definitely hear it, seemingly unsung, as it were. Never having heard it live, I had nothing to compare it to originally, but maybe it just didn't work any other "live" way. 

  • NovaNova
    ChristelAdina said:
    beckysioux said:
    ChristelAdina said:

    Edited to add: The cyborg stand-ins theory would help to explain Damian's ever-widening power-stance, come to think of it!

    Or he likes a good breeze.

    I just spit coffee on the keyboard, by the way. Thanks, beckysioux!Laugh

    I just snorted noodles up my nose. x_x

    So yes, thanks, Becky. :P

  • beckysiouxbeckysioux
    Nova said:
    ChristelAdina said:
    beckysioux said:
    ChristelAdina said:

    Edited to add: The cyborg stand-ins theory would help to explain Damian's ever-widening power-stance, come to think of it!

    Or he likes a good breeze.

    I just spit coffee on the keyboard, by the way. Thanks, beckysioux!Laugh

    I just snorted noodles up my nose. x_x

    So yes, thanks, Becky. :P

    *bows* I'll be here all week!

  • Unknown
    I have seen the Dave & Buster's commerical with DWYW literally 5 times in the past hour and a half on vh1.  It's been the first commerical they play at a break, every single time.  It really does make me want to order buffalo wings and play that game with the mini basketball hoop.  Maybe a little Whack-a-Mole played in-sync with the cowbell.
  • ughugh
    DJRose said:

     There's something about Doctor Who and OK Go that just goes together, I think. 


    OK, then I will really have to give Dr. Who a chance. My husband watches it constantly and I always just leave the room.

  • beckysiouxbeckysioux
    Penn & Teller just did a HIGA bit on their show Bullshit! It's the Martial Arts episode if'n yer curious. Twas pretty awesome.
  • AleatoryAleatory
    DJRose said:

     I still think they were because Damian's vocals were TOO perfect.  Besides, it was Damian's voice - not Tim's or Andy's - singing the backup vocals.

    On the Leno thing: The use of guide tracks is because they don't physically have enough people to play the parts. Like the hihat hits that go over the whole song, those are because Dan doesn't have enough limbs to play them. Likewise with the vocals. There are definitely more than three vocal parts. 

    And I remember an interview with Andy where he was talking about how hard it was for him to sing End Love because he's the one actually singing the root of the chord, Damian is the one singing the second, so it is Damian singing "backup" at that point, if you consider backup to be the voices singing the non-roots. 

    Really, the entirety of OTBCOTS (with the exception of LL) is incredibly hard to play live without some sort of computer aid. So I don't any less of them because they used guide tracks out of necessity. 

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