"Take ya to the Tate Museum," sneers Rhett Miller on his band's eighth LP, begging a question: Why would Dallas twang rockers name-check a British tourist attraction — over a Clash-style guitar stomp, no less? It's because the Old 97's have always been Anglophiles, and 15 years into their career, they're past genre-tweaking — they're lifers writing for keeps. Bob Dylan may have recognized as much when he greenlighted Miller's inspired rewrite of "Desolation Row" (the carpe-diem warning "Champaign, Illinois"). But this multivolume project will still trigger honky-tonk mosh pits: See "A State of Texas," which suggests you can be true to your roots even when you've outgrown them.

“Time to Pretend”

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”