OK Go is the band less known for its songs than for creating a viral video for one of its songs. For the band’s new single, “This Too Shall Pass,” they made not one but two viral videos—one marching band, one Rube Goldberg—both of which are pretty inventive, neither of which hides the bare fact that they stole many of the song’s basic components from Bob Marley’s “Mr. Brown.” It’s blatant, but just to make sure we weren’t nuts, we googled “ok go bob marley,” and this guy had already gone full Oliver Stone on the topic. Pretty damning. Watch and listen to both songs after the jump and put your two cents in the comments. Also, Marley family, can we get a cut of the settlement?
A Rube Goldberg Machine masterpiece! OK Go vid was a Trending Topic on Twitter today http://bit.ly/98RjsK
Whoa, I’m being linked by the Tripwire. Like Steve Martin in The Jerk, “I’M SOMEBODY NOW! THE NEW PHONEBOOKS ARE HERE!”
…I guess that means I should pay more attention to spellcheck if people are going to actually read my incoherent blog ramblings, but thanks for the shoutout.
While the compositions follow the same melodies, I will say that the marching band version I think sounds closer to the Marley original than the album version used in the Rube Goldberg video. I hope my ramblings didn’t come off as slanderous at all, because I love Ok Go, I’ve been a big fan of theirs for a lot longer than most who claim to be, and I’d be very saddened if this did cause some problems for the band. I just wanted to point out that from the moment I first heard ‘This Too Shall Pass’ all I could think about was how I could almost sing Marley’s “Mr. Brown” note-for-note over the top of it, and I was curious if others heard that as well.
Kurt
Great video! Too bad they couldn’t write their own melody to go with it. I too had to Google “Mr. Brown OK Go” when I first heard the song.
You were always somebody, m’dude.
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