INSIDE SPIN EDITOR’S LETTER

MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngarden at Coachella

Under New MGMT

THESE DAYS, SINCE SO many recipients of online buzz seemingly disintegrate as soon as they leave the blogosphere, it’s refreshing when a new band succeeds in the world beyond. This month’s vowel-challenged cover stars, MGMT, appear to have the right stuff—that is, songs and a sound and a look. Songs you can hum along to, get stoned to, and, perhaps most important, shake your ass to. A sound that suggests a disco-dusted gumbo of Bee Gees, the Flaming Lips, and Gary Numan. A look—think the downtown-dwelling brethren of Peter Pan’s Lost Boys—that inspired a couture line. MGMT released their first album, Oracular Spectacular, last January, and by September it was still floating in the i Tunes Top 25; the Bowie-biting “Metanoia” single also bothered the charts for a spell.

With sales an increasingly unreliable indicator of a pop act’s popularity, MGMT reinforced their worth with sets at almost every major 2008 festival, including Bonnaroo, Coachella, and Glastonbury. It was their appearance at August’s Lollapalooza, where they drew tens of thousands of sweaty, bouncing bodies, that convinced me they belonged on our cover. For “Head Games,” Victoria De Silverio (whose history with Spin dates back to 1997) spent time with the band in Toronto and Manhattan and discovered a couple of unassuming guys whose nonchalance amid the incipient craziness doesn’t feel like a pose. And with a little spiritual guidance in the unlikely form of Jennifer Aniston, they may just keep their sanity.

On a (literal) housekeeping note, this is the last issue of Spin to be pro-
duced at 205 Lexington Avenue, an address we’ve had for ten years. I could
get all sappy and talk about the ghosts of alt rock’s past haunting the halls,
but I won’t, if only because our new digs are
going to be just so much more awesome.
On an even bigger (figurative) house-
keeping note: You don’t need me to tell you
this, but on November 4, many of you can
help make history. Don’t waste your chance.
Doug Brod
Editor