OK Get Over It

It's 2010 and I'm left wondering about the purpose of the music video.

A friend of mine put the problem into words: "Music videos are too expensive to be commercials. They're just not effective anymore." Nowadays videos are viewed largely in a 3" x 5" screen, surrounded by ads and nonsensical commentary. They're hamstrung by connection speeds and video quality. MTV’s been dead so long it isn't worth eulogizing anymore. Where’s the audience for music videos? What’s their purpose?

In the three years they've been hosting their screening series, Flux has come to be a premiere tastemaker in Los Angeles. Their selections are neither obvious so obscure they’re inaccessible. If anyone had the answer to this music video question, surely it would be them. I attended their screening series at the Hammer Museum on Tuesday, March 23rd with eyes and ears wide open—looking for the answer to my questions.

The screening featured three abrasive films from Massive Attack that were more like short documentaries hell-bent on making some great social argument without regard for the underlying music they were supposed to accompany than music videos. Music video as propaganda for the band with an agenda.

But the screening also featured more traditional fare from bands like Monsters of Folk, where the visuals added color and form to melody, no social commentary needed. Music video as pure visualization.

Then came the last video of the night, “This Too Shall Pass,” by OK Go, the video superstars better known for their videos than their music. Their self-titled debut album shot to the top of the iTunes charts in 2006 thanks to the popularity of their first online video. "This Too Shall Pass" collected 9 million views on YouTube in one week. And, shown outside the confines of the internet and up on the big screen at the Billy Wilder Theatre Tuesday night, the video created that same excitement as their first video, the joy that comes from watching a great concept executed flawlessly.

After the screening, the crowd moved to the Hammer's courtyard for a short acoustic performance from OK Go. A large screen hung behind the trio. I expected the debut of another video. Possibly featuring roller-skates. Or monkeys (roller-skating monkeys? Ooooh…). But the screen stayed blank and the crowd remained indifferent to the music.

OK Go played on while people talked, performing a Pixies cover that went ignored. In between songs, the crowd drank casually or waited for a slice of pizza at the Hammer Café while the band complained about their former record label, Capitol/EMI (days after the release of "This Too," OK Go left EMI Records and have founded their own distribution label, Paracadute.)

In 2010, music videos must serve at the behest of the band. If a band like Massive Attack wants to make videos to promote a social agenda, then that is their greater purpose. If a band like OK Go wants to make videos just to have fun and be creative, than that is their purpose, too. And if those are the kind of videos that OK Go will keep making, then there's no need to worry about the future of OK Go. Or music videos, for that matter.

Originally in Los Angeles Magazine at: http://www.lamag.com/do/blog_post.aspx?id=24493&blogid=2160