Exclusive Video: Watch Our New Guitar Gods Playing Live and Loud

Happy Wednesday, y'all! Peep the hot new cover of Rolling Stone, featuring our picks for The New Guitar Gods — John Frusciante, John Mayer and Derek Trucks. Before you go nuts dissecting our three choices, get this: It was our resident musical sage David Fricke who anointed the three kings and selected twenty-two additional geniuses who have helped define modern guitar music. You can see the full list in the new issue, on stands nationwide this Friday. In the meantime, check out this behind-the-scenes video, in which our cover dudes jam together and discuss their respective love affairs with the gee-tar. Know what a "brown note" is? You're about to find out...

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Song Stories

“Time to Pretend”

MGMT | 2008

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.”

More Song Stories entries »

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