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MGMT (Remember Them?) Break Down How "Time To Pretend" Got Made
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Jan 19, 2016
Modified Jan 19, 2016
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Jan 19, 2016
Modified Jan 19, 2016
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Every so often I run by the McCarren Park Pool and wonder what happened to MGMT, a band that blew up so big in 2008 and 2009 that they purposefully made a second album that no one would buy. That worked too well, and now they have faded away, surviving only on ancient iPods and Gossip Girl's first season finale. Anyway, founders Benjamin Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden are still alive somewhere, and this week they broke down their hit song (only song?) "Time To Pretend" for Song Exploder:
There are some cool factoids about the track, which Goldwasser and VanWyngarden originally created in 2005—for instance, did you know that "Time To Pretend" has the same tempo as ABBA's "Dancing Queen"? Or that they sampled "Dancing Queen"'s piano sequence? Or that they did realize they looked like "fucking idiots" (their words, not mine) when they wore those stupid capes on Letterman?
Ah, 2008, and all your memories of Hope & Change. Anyway, MGMT's teasing another studio album sometime this year, so there's always a chance for that commercial comeback they didn't want six years ago.
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Rebecca Fishbein
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