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Song Stories

“Mistadobalina”

Del the Funky Homosapien | 1991

While gangsta rap was dominating hip-hop in the early Nineties, Del -- a cousin of Ice Cube -- found inspiration from quirkier sources, like Sixties bubblegum pop groups. A big fan of the Monkees' TV show, he wrote this song in response to a mostly spoken-word bit by the group titled "Zilch," which began with Peter Tork repeating the name "Mr. Bob Dobalina." "I just kind of conceptualized who Mr. Dobalina would be," Del said, "which is basically somebody who thinks he know what hip, he think he cool, but he's really right off. Like he ain't right on -- he right off."

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Song Stories

“The Pretender”

Foo Fighters | 2007

This song wasn't part of the planned track listing for 2007's Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, and was put together in a day. "It happened after we recorded a lot of stuff," said Dave Grohl. Yet it ended up as the album opener and the lead single. Grohl called it "a stomping Foo Fighters uptempo song with a little bit of Chuck Berry in it." The singer hinted at the lyrics' political overtones: "Everyone's been f---ed over before and I think a lot of people feel f---ed over right now and they're not getting what they were promised."

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