MGMT

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

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• blow up
• mix
• hook
• synthesized music

• duo
• short for
• case in point
• spill over

• check out
• license

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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You’ve probably heard at least one song off the pop duo MGMT’s debut album, Oracular Spectacular. The band has gotten lots of positive attention from music critics and its song “Time to Pretend” is so popular that even the President of France, Nikolas Sarkozy, is a fan. But do you know how to pronounce the band’s name?

If not, don’t worry. It’s pretty confusing. “Mgmt” is often short for “management.” But the band members say that’s not how you should pronounce their name. They want you to pronounce the individual letters, like this: “Em-Gee-Em-Tee.”

Now that you know what the band is called, find out what Mason and Marni think about MGMT’s sound.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Mason

Marni

Mason:  You know what the song of 2008 was? It was that “doo doo da doo doo…”

Marni:  Oh, MGMT?

Mason:  That’s right. That’s what they are. So here’s…case in point about the song of like 2008, and it’s kind of spilling over into 2009, but Nikolas Sarkozy used their song at a rally.

Marni:  Illegally, apparently. They were not happy with that.

Mason:  Right! Which I mean…but a lot of politicians use music. I guess they just license it.

Marni:  Apparently. But they’re so catchy. I mean I can see why anyone would want to use it. Because it is…I don’t know, they’ve just kind of blown up with this funky, noisy…It’s really great dance music. I mean whenever I see a dance mix lately it’s got MGMT on it.

Mason:  Well what’s the rest of their stuff like? ‘Cause that one song, it’s just got that great hook.

Marni:  It’s got a great hook. They’ve got some really, really catchy songs. I think that they’re a great band to listen to recorded and great to listen to…like if you wanna dance. But I can’t imagine what they would look like live. They’re just a duo doing synthesized music.

Mason:  I tell you what. I’d be curious enough to check it out.

Marni:  As would I.

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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