boner4mgmt: part two, 2004.

For those just joining us, I am recounting my history with MGMT. At this point, we are at 2004. The band is still called The Management. To catch up, check part one here.

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In my first year of college, I often misheard statements in the way the "telephone" game works. This became a problem in some instances, such as the time I was convinced that my student assembly rival slept with the entirety of Yale's swim team. As a supplement to this girl's awfulness, I would often bring up this "fact" when ranting to friends. And after recounting this rumor to the person who I thought told me it, I discovered that the person who apparently slept with the entirety of Yale's swim team was allegedly Jenna Bush.*

This sort of thing also happened while I was pledging a certain co-ed literary society. One of the members of this society was named Ben, and he wrote for a notable geektastic website. I'm almost positive that someone told me that this "Ben" character was also a member of The Management. I got really excited about being in the same society as one of the guys who made "Kids", and I don't remember if I was disappointed or embarrassed to discover that this "Ben" wasn't Ben Goldwasser. I knew this guy's last name, but I didn't know that the "Ben" in The Management was named Ben Goldwasser. To make matters worse, The Management were heavily affiliated with the rival co-ed society across the street.

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In fall 2004, my newly sophomore self was introduced to the folks in a wonderful apartment known as "B2". This apartment would become a second home for me, a land of theme parties, a couch to sleep on, and most importantly...dance parties. There was a sign stating that B2's living-room was a "No 'Hey Ya!' Zone", but jams like "Toxic" and "Kids" blared through the speakers on any given Saturday night.

I have a visual in my head of two friends doing an interpretative dance to "Kids". It was to the lyric "A baby is born...crying out for attention". One friend acted as the baby. The other one was a vagina birthing him. It was a very deep and interesting interpretative dance, and I hope that anyone reading this gets it. The dance went on for six minutes and seven seconds, because anyone who was anyone knew that the Afterschool Dance Megamix of "Kids" was the only version to play at a dance party.

One of the lovely ladies of B2, Katey, once pondered with me which song had the potential to be the next "Kids" on campus. We may have even concocted devious plots to infiltrate the dance party scene and make this song the next hit by The Management. Unfortunately, we never agreed on which song would be our hit. I rooted hard for "Just Becuz", but she pushed even harder for "We Care". Or was it "We Don't Care"? My memory on this matter is foggy.

[[dl: THE MANAGEMENT (MGMT) - We Care (YSI)]]
[[dl: THE MANAGEMENT (MGMT) - We Don't Care (YSI)]]

So 2004 certainly isn't the most exciting year. Stay tuned for 2005, which marks my first time seeing the band live, a science project gone awesome, and the introduction of "MGMT".

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- BUY IT - SITE IT - SPACE IT - HYPE IT - WIK IT -

* In hopes that Daddy Bush won't claim war on this blog, I want to say now that there's no way this rumor was true. I mean, the whole swim team? At YALE? Seriously? This could never have happened, as there's no way that the majority of them weren't gay.

boner4mgmt: part one, 2003.

I originally intended for this to be a huge post dedicated to my eternal, undying love of MGMT. I've now decided to break it up into a daily series (by year) starting with 2003. I realize that MGMT are a big deal right now, but this series isn't a ploy to get hits to this blog. It's precisely because of MGMT being a big deal that I've realized this long history we have together, despite the fact that I've never had a conversation with either of the original members. So bear with me through this unnecessary introduction, as I chronicle my life with The Management. Er...I mean, MGMT.

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Prior to attending college, I was on AIM talking to another prospective student. It was the standard pre-college chit-chat. What dorm do you want to live in? OMG, let's party so much together when we get to school! Were you early decision too?...What kind of music do you like?

I paused. This is the sort of question that trips you up as a teenager. You want to stay true to yourself, while also citing some artist who makes you seem really cool. And you don't want to be that tool who says something like, "Hehe, ne-thing but country!!" Or you're just me. And you simply say..."I'm really into emo." Lame. And then the person you're talking to says, "Oh, like Modest Mouse?" If she could see your face upon asking this, you'd probably be blushing because your favorite albums at this point are by Dashboard Confessional and Something Corporate. You have no idea who she's talking about, but play it cool by saying, "Oh, I've never heard of them. Can you send me one of their songs?"

Oh my god, I’ve gotta gotta gotta gotta move on
Where do you move when what you’re moving from
Is yourself?

Her away message would occasionally read this way, a lyric from "Neverending Math Equation". Knowing the reference made you feel like you were in the know. But you had so much more to learn...

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Within the first couple of weeks of college, I found myself sitting in a girl named Janine's room. We were already friends in the sense that we lived in the same dorm and once encountered a rollerblading asexual together. It was in her room that I would first hear the word "hipster", a word that five years later would ironically be used by outsiders to label my existence. It was in her room that I would first hear the sounds of Ben Gibbard's voice, and do interpretative dances to "Such Great Heights". And it was in her room that I would first hear The Management.

[[dl: THE MANAGEMENT (MGMT) - Kids (original version) (YSI)]]

The moment the song hit my ears, I was in love. It was unlike anything I heard before, which may not be saying much given how ignorant my ears were at that point. My memory of that day is a little hazey, but in my head I scurried back to my room and immediately acquired any recordings by this mysterious campus band. I then proceeded to have my first ever private one-man dance-party with "Kids", the first of many.

And then there was "We Care", "We Don't Care", "Hot Love Drama", "Money To Burn", and most importantly--"Just Becuz". While it never seemed to be the preferred song of most connoisseurs of The Management, I latched onto this song. The entire school may have been united in loving "Kids", and whether it makes sense or not..."Just Becuz" was my own personal "Kids".

[[dl: THE MANAGEMENT (MGMT) - Just Becuz (YSI)]]

The rest of my 2003 experience with The Management would include consistently misquoting the lyrics to "Kids" while drunk at parties. Kissedaguy.com style!

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BONER TRACK: THE MANAGEMENT (MGMT) - Hot Love Drama (YSI)
DOUBLE BONER TRACK: THE MANAGEMENT (MGMT) - Money To Burn (YSI)

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- BUY IT - SITE IT - SPACE IT - HYPE IT - WIK IT -