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Kids (MGMT song)

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"Kids"
Song

"Kids" is the third single from MGMT's album Oracular Spectacular. It was released as a single on October 13, 2008.[1] The band recently had a legal dispute with the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, over the "insulting" compensation he offered for his illegal use of the song during a party conference.[3][4]

Rolling Stone's Kevin O'Donnell described the song as "a noisy New Order-style synth jam".[5] The intro with kids screaming are actually altered sounds of adults.

The version that appears on Oracular Spectacular is updated from earlier versions that appear on the group's EPs Time to Pretend (2005) and We (Don't) Care (2004). A track entitled "Kids (Afterschool Dance Megamix)" appears on the album Climbing to New Lows (2005).

Reception

To date, the single has peaked at #9 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, where "Time to Pretend" had previously peaked at #23 [6].

NME named it the number-one song on its list of the Best Singles of 2008.[7]

Two months after exiting the UK Top 40, the song was featured in an advertisement for the BBC1 program Waterloo Road. From this the song gained renewed interest, re-entering the UK Top 40, and on January 16, 2009, the song reached its highest position to date of #16.

"Kids" came in at #5 on Australia's Triple J Hottest 100 countdown for 2008.

The single received considerable airplay in the U.S., UK, Ireland and Australia before the release date, charting in the UK, Ireland and Australia. In Australia, "Kids" debuted before the release date at #89, and currently it has peaked at #30, playing on radio stations like Nova. A Soulwax remix of the song was played heavily on UK radio ahead its official release as well.

The song got to the number one spot on the Norwegian chart, based on downloads alone. This made some controversy about how reliable the chart was, as the song had not been playlisted on any major radio stations and it disappeared from the chart the next week.[8]

Use in media

"Kids" was selected for the soundtrack for the video game FIFA 09[9] in commemoration of former AC Milan, now Real Madrid, football star Kaká, released in September 2008. The song was also featured in the Quiksilver and Red Bull snowboarding film, That's It, That's All[2], and in Taylor Steele's surf movie 'Stranger Than Fiction' as the final song, in episode 6 the BBC's Survivors (2008 TV series), as the trailer song in the documentary American Teen, also a trailer for a Chanel 4 show "Big Art", the skiing film "Reasons", the 2008 film American Teen, in the second episode of Paris Hilton's British Best Friend, and in the Gossip Girl episode 19 "The Grandfather" in season two. The song has also made a couple of appearances as background music in the fourth series of the BBC One British drama Waterloo Road. The song was also played on the BBC 3 show "The Real Hustle" The song was also played in the Staples Center at X Games XV.

It is played near the end of the 2009 film Whip It.

MGMT was involved in a legal dispute with the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy. Sarkozy's UMP party used the song on several occasions, before offering the band a €1 gesture.[4]. Eventually, UMP reached an agreement on a €30,000 ($39,000) settlement fee.[10].

Music videos

A fan made video was created in December 2007 and uploaded to YouTube the following month. The video has since been viewed over 20 million times on YouTube. MGMT later invited the participants to join them for the official video of "Electric Feel".[11][12] link

On June 3, 2009, MGMT released the official music video for the song Kids . It was directed by Ray Tintori, who directed MGMT's previous videos for "Time to Pretend" and "Electric Feel". The video follows a toddler menaced by monsters that his inattentive mother (Joanna Newsom) cannot see.[13] The quote at the beginning of the video attributed to Mark Twain is actually a quote from Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil.[14] The video has been criticized for its treatment of the toddler who appears to be truly frightened throughout the video.[15] Though as noted on the MGMT website[16] "No children were harmed in the making of this video." The animated sequence was done by Augenblick Studios, and has a style of animation very similar the one used on Augenblick's Superjail! TV series.

Cover versions

An acoustic version of "Kids" was recorded by The Kooks in August 2008,[17] to appear on the next volume of Triple J's cover compilation Like a Version. Another acoustic version by Australian singer Ben Lee appears on the bonus CD from his 2009 album The Rebirth of Venus. The song has also been covered live by Weezer (in a medley with "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga), Jack's Mannequin and VIC. Matt Hires has also covered the song in some of his live shows, just like the Swedish indie rockband Vinklad.

Track listing

CD Single

  1. "Kids" – 5:06
  2. "Kids (Soulwax remix)" – 5:42
  3. "Of Moons, Birds & Monsters (Holy Ghost! remix)" – 6:16

12" Single

  1. "Kids" – 5:06
  2. "Kids (Soulwax remix)" – 5:42

Different versions and lengths

  • "Kids" featured on We (Don't) Care (2004) (as The Management) – 5:11
  • "Kids (Afterschool Dance Megamix)" featured on Climbing to New Lows (2005) (as The Management) – 6:07
  • "Kids" featured on Time to Pretend (EP) (2005) – 5:28
  • "Kids" featured on Oracular Spectacular (2007) – 5:02
  • "Kids (Vocal Mix)" featured on CD Single (2008) – 5:03
  • "Kids (Soulwax remix)" featured on CD Single (2008) – 4:35
  • "Kids (PSB Abstrakt Mix)" remixed by Pet Shop Boys and featured on their homepage (2008) – 5:39
  • "Kids (PSB Synthpop mix)" remixed by Pet Shop Boys and featured on their homepage (2008) – 6:11
  • "Kids (radio edit)" featured on Last.fm (2008) – 3:50
  • "Kids" (performed by Dr. Fox's Old Timey String Band) featured on their homepage (2008) – 3:37
  • "Kids" (performed by Jack's Mannequin) Live at the LIVE 105 studios San Francisco (2008)- 3:03
  • "Kids" (performed by Jack's Mannequin) Live at the "Viper Room" (2008) - 2:42
  • "Kids" (performed by The Kooks) featured on Like a Version: Volume Five (2009) – 2:55
  • "Kids" (performed by Ben Lee) on the bonus CD from The Rebirth of Venus (2009) – 2:55
  • "Kids" (performed by Weezer) at the KROQ Weenie Roast (2009)- 4:43
  • "Kids" (performed by Chiddy Bang)- 3:12

Charts

Chart (2008/2009) Peak
position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart[18] 21
Austrian Singles Chart 43
Belgian Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders) 19
Belgian Ultratop 50 Singles (Wallonia) 32
Canadian Hot 100 44
Danish Singles Chart 33
German Singles Chart 59
Irish Singles Chart[19] 9
Latvian Airplay Top 50[20] 22
New Zealand Singles Chart[21] 29
Norwegian Singles Chart[21] 1
Swiss Singles Chart 43
UK Singles Chart 16
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[22] 91
U.S. Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks[22] 9
U.S. Billboard Rock Songs[22] 17

End of year

Country (2008) Position (Year End Singles Chart)
United Kingdom 136[23]

Certifications

Country Certification Sales
Australia Gold 35,000+
United States Gold[2] 500,000+

References

  1. ^ a b ""Kids" single". NME. Retrieved 2008-09-09. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ a b RIAA Gold & Platinum Searchable Database - MGMT, accessed 2009-07-10
  3. ^ "MGMT suing Nicolas Sarkozy over 'Kids'". NME. Retrieved 2009-03-13. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ a b MGMT to sue Sarkozy for music use 26th Feb 2009
  5. ^ O'Donnell, Kevin. "Artist to Watch: MGMT". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-11-14. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/chart_display.jsp?cfi=377&cfgn=Singles&cfn=Hot+Modern+Rock+Tracks&ci=3105540&cdi=10112262&cid=01%2F17%2F2009
  7. ^ "NME's Track Of The Year 2008". NME. Retrieved 2008-12-12.
  8. ^ "The Kids are Not Alright"". NRK P3. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
  9. ^ "EA's FIFA Soccer 09 soundtrack scores". EA Sports. August 14, 2008. Retrieved 2009-04-23.
  10. ^ U.S. rockers MGMT win piracy row with Sarkozy's party 28th Apr 2009
  11. ^ MTV Newsroom » Electro-Pop & French Toast on the MGMT ‘Electric Feel’ Set
  12. ^ "Circle Of Friends Make Magic In Los Feliz". canyon-news.com. Canyon News. 2009-03-01. Retrieved 2009-03-15.
  13. ^ http://music-mix.ew.com/2009/06/mgmt.html
  14. ^ http://books.google.ca/books?id=m4FpCC8FX30C&printsec=frontcover&dq=beyond+good+and+evil+nietzsche
  15. ^ http://www.myfoxillinois.com/dpp/entertainment/music/dpgo_MGMT_criticized_for_kids_music_video_fc_20090605_2544203
  16. ^ http://www.whoismgmt.com/kids/
  17. ^ Lewis, Luke. "The Kooks Cover MGMT Kids". NME. Retrieved 2008-09-10. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ Top 50 Singles Chart - Australian Recording Industry Association. Accessed on August 27, 2008.
  19. ^ The Irish Charts. Accessed on August 27, 2008.
  20. ^ European Hit Radio. Accessed on March 27, 2009.
  21. ^ a b [1]. Accessed on September 16, 2008.
  22. ^ a b c Billboard.com - Artist Chart History - MGMT - Singles; Accessed on March 13, 2009.
  23. ^ http://www.ukchartsplus.co.uk/ChartsPlusYE2008.pdf
Preceded by Norwegian VG-lista number-one single
September 9, 2008 - September 16, 2008 		Succeeded by
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