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Song Stories

“I Don't Need Society”

D.R.I. | 1983

Bands that fall into the grindcore category seem to abide by a simple guideline: "How fast can you go?" And D.R.I. (short for "Dirty Rotten Imbeciles") are considered one of the genre's godfathers, as heard by their Dirty Rotten LP from 1983, and this, the album's lead-off cut — which barely lasts more than a minute. "I laugh when I listen to those early albums," D.R.I. singer Kurt Brech said. "Sounds like a grinding noise! Someone told me we invented grindcore, could be true but we never planned it that way. We were just experimenting with playing as fast as we could and still stay tight." 

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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.”

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