TIME TO PRETEND, by the Connecticut-based indie band MGMT, was the opening track to their debut album Oracular Spectacular, which came out in 2007...but didn't begin to catch my attention until the following year. My local alternative rock station, WHHZ/100.5/"The Buzz" by 2008 had completely abandoned their earlier indie/alternative format in favor of mainstream rock acts like Nickelback and Shinedown, which they had previously ridiculed, so I in turn abandoned them and listened instead to my TV cable service's Music Choice alternative channel...which is where I was introduced to Time to Pretend. Eventually I got the album...Kids was probably the most famous track from it. MGMT is essentially the project of college roommates Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser, with others hired to complete the band. When I finally got around to watching the video to Time to Pretend I was swept away...it's one of the great music videos of all time, playing off more on the song's wistful title than its much darker and more somber lyrics. On one level the song talks of the notion of sinking into a fantasy life while on another...accompanied by some explicit lyrics...it deals in ironic fashion with young music stars who jump unreservedly into a drug-drenched hedonistic lifestyle and pay for it all with an early death: the final line is a severe slap in the face and reminded me a little of Bad Company's similarly-themed hit Shooting Star. But I was much more intrigued by Time to Pretend's unique instrumentation with its special synthesizer accompaniment. The song starts out sounding like an anthem but ends as something completely different...there are a lot of ways the listener can treat it: I strongly recommend its far-out fantasy collage video. Back in 2008 I deemed it as my top song of that year and have always held it in high regard ever since...
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