around going, “What’s the twist, OK Go?” You know they’re going to be on stationary bikes next. But LCD Soundsystem don’t have that problem.

HAMMOND: I was in England and this song was huge over there. It was No. 1 for, like, 15 weeks. SAMBERG: This goes on the list with “In Da Club,” “Hey Ya!,” and “Crazy.” I heard a bunch of people passed on this song. Britney passed on it. The producer shopped it around, and it ended up being the biggest hit of the year. HAMMOND: Isn’t that what usually happens, though? There’s always some big guy who passed on something. SAMBERG: Like Tom Selleck passing on Indiana Jones. HAMMOND: Or the guy who passed on the Beatles who said that guitar bands are out. SPIN: Or Scott Baio passing on Maverick in Top Gun. SAMBERG: That would have been a very different movie. HAMMOND: I can’t imagine an old angry guy like Scott Baio playing that role. SPIN: Well, it would have been the 1986 version of Baio. HAMMOND: It doesn’t matter. I can’t get the bitter Baio out of my head.

Amy Winehouse
“ Rehab”

Retro-soul bad girl refuses to be treated for her addictions. How’s that working out for her?

Foo Fighters

HAMMOND: Sonically, this song is amazing.

SAMBERG: This is…it’s good, I guess. HAMMOND: Spit it out! Spit it out, you nice bastard! SAMBERG: It doesn’t really strike me as being too crazy-different from the shit Erykah Badu was doing with Mama’s Gun, which is one of my favorite albums. HAMMOND: This is one of those situations where I’m going to wait to see what she does for her next album. I think that’s where you’ll get your answer. SAMBERG: Amy Winehouse’s biggest challenge is going to be not dying, right?

“ The Pretender”

Meaty, growly arena stomper with a chorus that dares to ask, “If Dave Grohl is the most well-adjusted guy in rock, what is he so angry about?”

“To truly be a pop star, you have to be able to _As_min_eg_ry_ico_au_nr_Ia_ds_os_l. off. I couldn’t pass ”

Arcade Fire
LCD Soundsystem

SAMBERG: I’m not going to say anything bad about Foo Fighters, because they did a digital short with us [“People Getting Punched Just Before Eating”]. They sold those punches really well. They’re very comedy-friendly, but I don’t think their music is supposed to be funny. HAMMOND: Grohl is really amazing. Everybody always says that, but it’s true. He’s just a great, genuine, funny guy. I really think that’s a big secret to his success. SAMBERG: I also think everybody’s got a buddy who Dave Grohl reminds them of. HAMMOND: To his fans, he feels like their friend who plays music.

“ All My Friends”

Nearly eight minutes, a single piano riff, and a compulsively danceable meditation on being too old to keep partying but too young to go home.

“ Intervention”

The Great White North’s greatest and whitest deliver a grandiose, caustic, organ-driven hymn that makes going to church sound awesome.

Peter Bjorn
and John

“ Young Folks” Three Swedes craft a whistle-while-you-work ditty for the ages.

SAMBERG: I feel like it’s been

around for a long time. It’s a good song. It was a hit for a reason. HAMMOND: I saw them play this on Conan. They were pretty good. SPIN: Did they whistle live? HAMMOND: I imagine there was some sort of loop. SAMBERG: I think their whole album is whistle-heavy, isn’t it? Somebody in that camp can whistle his ass off. HAMMOND: Whistling live is the hardest thing to do. SAMBERG: Did Axl ever do it live for “Patience”? SPIN: He usually relied on the crowd to do it for him. HAMMOND: That’s the genius of being in a huge band. It’d be great if I could just do a little shake onstage, and that means that the crowd should take over. SAMBERG: You want to be careful about whistling too much. You don’t want to blow your lips out. It’s a hazard. You see these old rocker dudes walking around with their lips hanging around their titties.

SAMBERG: This song is really rad and the video is great—it starts on a close-up of his face, and he’s got some cool Bowie makeup on, and it slowly pulls back and reveals the whole band and all this crazy shit going on behind him. I love videos that match the energy of the song. A lot of bands have a hit because of a really funny video, and you’re not even sure if you like the song or not. HAMMOND: Like that band that did the treadmill thing? SAMBERG: OK Go! HAMMOND: The only problem is, now they have to find some other thing, otherwise they’re going to be stuck having to do that every time. SAMBERG: They don’t want to be the M. Night Shyamalan of music videos. Everybody’s just sitting

SAMBERG: There’s nothing to say about this, because it’s just fucking great. HAMMOND: I’m looking forward to seeing what they do for a third album. They’ve established their sound, and now I want to see where they take it. They are so much better live than on record. I don’t think you can capture that kind of energy they have. SPIN: They also sweat their balls off onstage. SAMBERG: They do. And it’s weird that they play without pants so you can see their balls. Are you going to put your lines in this so my comments don’t just come out of nowhere? The whole thing is going to be, “This song’s great—now what do we think about their balls?” HAMMOND: I can’t wait to read this. SAMBERG: Win Butler definitely has the nicest balls.