.

Song Stories

“Guitars, Cadillacs”

Dwight Yoakam | 1986

When Yoakam first saw the scene that used this song in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," he noticed an odd coincidence. The redneck bar that Arnold Schwarzenegger's cyborg character enters while naked was a San Fernando Valley cop-cowboy club called the Corral, where Yoakam had once performed regularly for a year. That era of playing traditional country music in L.A. -- Nashville thought he was too country -- inspired this song. "I was in L.A., wandering around," he said. "I'd been here nine years, driving air-freight trucks, furniture-moving trucks, trying to get somebody to notice the music." Eventually, he found fans among punk crowds.

prev
Song Stories Main

blog comments powered by Disqus

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 »