Indie Rokkers

Shucks. I'm always doing this thing where I comment, then recomment then comment again. I posted this bit as a reply to jaybird2 but I don't want it hidden under a '1 reply' link. What I say is always so very important, you understand.

Jaybird, my friend, you've missed the point completely. The problem here is that MGMT assumes that their listeners, and critics, are endowed with the mental faculties to understand what they're listening to or criticizing. You have proven them wrong. You seem like someone who's struggling to assert whatever notion of self-worth he can muster; trying desperately to let it be known that someone else is wrong and you are right. Your notion of self-worth seems more like misguided feeling of superiority, delusions of grandeur. Well, sir, you may not be right but atleast you've proven MGMT wrong in one respect. You were overestimated, congratulations. Bask in that consolation, if you must.

And I do see the hypocrisy of what I just wrote. I don't care.

MGMT does not endorse cocaine, heroin or other ''hard' drugs. They do, however, try to expose the failings that they see in the world around them. Choking on vomit at the end of Time To Pretend, that's where they say that these things take you. Drugs aren't the central theme in Time To Pretend, but never mind that.

They do seem to endorse psychedelic drugs, as do I. It's hard to explain why, exactly, but I'll say that thought is too important a thing to be tied down by homeostasis. We must explore our dogmas, ideas and interpretations from every angle possible, and psychedelics offer angles that are otherwise difficult to reach. Not to mention the fun.

I've not seen MGMT endorse liver-wrecking binge drink sessions. I'm not sure where you got that from.

One thing that you absolutely have to understand, and I'm not sure how you missed it, is that Indie Rokkers is not a celebration of easy sex and smoky breath. It's a retrospective and sentimental lament. There's also some excitement to it, right or wrong. The song is an exposition of the protagonist's past. It doesn't explicitly pass judgment on the kid in the song, but it's easily understood that there is some regret, a bit of a bitter taste. Notice the sound of the song. Does the music seem to be celebrating?

The repetition of "Rollin' on" suggests to me that the protagonist is, well, rollin' on. Two ways that I can think to take that. Perhaps he was not really thinking at the time, he was just rolling on. Perhaps he was young and foolish and now he's not. He's rolled on, grown up. The car rolls too, obviously, which offers a nice parallel. If the car stayed in the driveway then it would be rollin' on, would it?

And I told you it was love But you won't know the truth I'm a young man in my prime With my heart still filled with fear And it goes on clear

That's a pretty key stretch of words. Is the young man proud to be lying to this girl? What might it mean that he's young, and strong, but also filled with fear and perhaps a little unsure or confused? Might that offer some explanation of his actions? It goes on clear? Like a coat of paint that you can't see? What's the point of that?

There's a reason that they're driving a Chevy to a levy. That reason is American Pie by Don McLean, a great song with a similar theme. They both sing, in a way, about the loss of adolescent hope and excitement, a lost love and the realization that they've grown up since then. From American Pie:

Bye, bye Miss American Pie. Drove my Chevy to the levee But the levee was dry. And them good ol' boys were drinkin' whisky and rye Singin' "this'll be the day that I die." "This'll be the day that I die."

Rest assured that MGMT writes some thought into their songs. As a listener it is your obligation to examine them, figure them out, before deriding them for some imagined evil. Failing to do so makes you a fool.