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Featured era: 2012
5 People 1 Guitar
“Five people, one guitar.”
- Featured era
- 2012
- Peak era
- 2012
- Company
- Walk off the Earth
- Category
- Viral Videos
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On Video
Walk off the Earth's "Somebody That I Used to Know" on one guitar
Plays from YouTube when you press play. Views, length and date from YouTube, October 2026.
About This Video
- From:
- Walk off the Earth
- Added:
- January 6, 2012
- Length:
- 4:24
More Videos4 videos
What Was It?
In early 2012 Walk off the Earth, an indie pop band from Burlington, Ontario, posted a cover of Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" in which all five members play the same guitar at the same time. The take they used was the 26th from a 14-hour session.
It spread fast. Gotye and Kimbra, his duet partner on the song, both praised it, and on January 23, 2012 the band played it live on one guitar on Ellen DeGeneres's show. The next month they signed a recording contract with Columbia Records.
The band kept making cover videos and won the Juno Award for Group of the Year in 2016. Band member Mike "Beard Guy" Taylor died in December 2018, aged 51, and the band dedicated its 2019 tour to his memory.
Things You Probably Forgot
- Five pairs of hands on one guitar
- Gotye and Kimbra both giving it their approval
- Playing it live on one guitar on Ellen
- Mike "Beard Guy" Taylor in the line-up
The Story
- 2006 Walk off the Earth formed in Burlington, Ontario.
- 2012 The one-guitar cover went viral, and the band signed with Columbia Records in February.
- 2016 The band won the Juno Award for Group of the Year.
- 2018 The band announced the death of Mike "Beard Guy" Taylor on December 30.
Its Legacy
The video is still on the band's channel. It turned a little-known Canadian cover band into a signed act and remains one of the best-remembered cover videos of the early 2010s.
Memories
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