If you’ve ever wondered what the members of MGMT would look and sound like had they arrived on the music scene a decade earlier than they did in the early 2000s, look no further than the video for the group’s newest song, “Bubblegum Dog.” In the clip released today (Nov. 29), Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser lovingly tip their hats to such classic ’90s videos as Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy,” the Smashing Pumpkins’ “Today,” Stone Temple Pilots’ “Interstate Love Song,” Alice in Chains’ episode of MTV Unplugged, and Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun.”
“Bubblegum Dog” is the second single from MGMT’s first album in six years, Loss Of Life, which is out on Feb. 23. The video was directed by real-life couple Julia Vickerman and The Best Show co-host Tom Scharpling, who saw it “as an opportunity to combine the charming, DIY, surreal, cardboard craft aesthetic of shows like Yo Gabba Gabba and The Mighty Boosh with these ultra-serious grunge videos we grew up watching on MTV — all that heavy, brooding angst smashed up against absurd childlike fun.”
They added, “Ben and Andrew are legitimately funny guys, so we were excited they got to really go for it with their acting, paying homage to the eternally moody mid-90’s rock stars they looked up to when they were kids. They were completely game for everything, playing around with different wigs/costumes/personas/facial hair and continually chiming in with new ideas along the way. That was a wonderful feeling, because it let us know they were having a good time. For the climax of the video, they let us shoot gallons of pink slime at their faces, which we appreciated. Ben got quite a bit in his mouth, which was unintentional … but he thought it was funny, so then we were allowed to think it was funny.”
Loss Of Life is the follow-up to 2018’s Little Dark Age, the title track of which became a long-running TikTok hit during the first stage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
