Damian Kulash
The creative force who transformed OK Go from a guitar band into pioneers of the wildly inventive, single-take music video.
Born 1975 (age 51)·Musical artist·Birthday: October 7·Generation X
Biography
Damian Kulash didn't just want to make songs; he wanted to make experiences. As the frontman and co-founder of OK Go, his artistic journey is a case study in adapting to a changing media landscape. The band's early 2000s power-pop found modest success, but it was their 2006 video for "Here It Goes Again"—a meticulously choreographed dance on treadmills—that catapulted them into the viral stratosphere. Kulash, often the director and conceptual engine, seized this moment. He steered the band away from traditional promotion and into a new identity as auteurs of breathtakingly complex, often single-take video spectacles. These weren't mere accompaniments to music; they became the art form itself, involving Rube Goldberg machines, zero-gravity flights, and intricate optical illusions. This pivot required a radical rethinking of music industry economics, leading the band to embrace brand partnerships and YouTube's platform long before it was standard. Kulash’s work argues that in the digital age, a musician's most powerful instrument can be a sense of wonder and a perfectly timed camera roll.
Generation X
1965–1980
The latchkey kids. Raised during divorce, recession, and the end of the Cold War. Skeptical, self-reliant, media-literate. They invented indie culture, grunge, and the early internet — then watched the Boomers take credit.
Damian was born in 1975, placing them squarely in the Generation X. The events that shaped this generation — economic uncertainty, the end of the Cold War, and the rise of personal computing — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Damian Was Born
The biggest hits of 1975
#1 Movie
Jaws
Best Picture
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
#1 TV Show
All in the Family
Damian's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1975Born
Fall of Saigon ends the Vietnam War
Gas: $0.57/galHome: $27,600Min wage: $2.10/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Love Will Keep Us Together" — Captain & TennilleBest Picture: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1980Started school
John Lennon shot and killed in New York
Gas: $1.19/galHome: $47,200Min wage: $3.10/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"Call Me" — BlondieBest Picture: Ordinary People
1988Became a teenager
Pan Am Flight 103 bombed over Lockerbie
Gas: $0.90/galHome: $74,800Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Faith" — George MichaelBest Picture: Rain Man
1991Could drive
Soviet Union dissolves; World Wide Web goes public
Gas: $1.14/galHome: $82,400Min wage: $4.25/hrPresident: George H.W. Bush"(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" — Bryan AdamsBest Picture: The Silence of the Lambs
1993Could vote
European Union officially established
Gas: $1.11/galHome: $86,600Min wage: $4.25/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"I Will Always Love You" — Whitney HoustonBest Picture: Schindler's List
1996Turned 21
Dolly the sheep cloned
Gas: $1.23/galHome: $99,700Min wage: $4.75/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Macarena" — Los del RioBest Picture: The English Patient
2005Turned 30
Hurricane Katrina devastates New Orleans; YouTube launches
Gas: $2.30/galHome: $167,500Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: George W. Bush"We Belong Together" — Mariah CareyBest Picture: Crash
2015Turned 40
Paris climate agreement; same-sex marriage legalized in the US
Gas: $2.43/galHome: $171,900Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Uptown Funk" — Mark Ronson ft. Bruno MarsBest Picture: Spotlight
2025Turned 50
AI agents go mainstream
Gas: $3.10/galHome: $385,000Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Donald Trump"APT." — Rose & Bruno Mars
2026Age 51 today
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- Directed and starred in the treadmill-dance video for "Here It Goes Again," which won a Grammy and became a defining viral phenomenon of the 2000s.
- Pioneered the use of elaborate, single-take music videos as a core artistic and promotional strategy for the band OK Go.
- Co-created the ambitious video for "The One Moment," which compresses a four-minute chain reaction event filmed in 4.2 seconds into a slow-motion masterpiece.
- Advocated for and successfully navigated independent artistic models, releasing music directly to fans and through innovative partnerships.
Did You Know?
He is a graduate of Brown University, where he studied semiotics and art.
He directed a video for They Might Be Giants' song "The Lady and the Tiger" long before OK Go's viral fame.
He served as a member of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities under the Obama administration.
His sister, Trish Sie, is a choreographer and director who has collaborated on many of OK Go's most famous videos.
“"We're not a band that makes videos to support our music. We're a band that makes music to support our videos."”
