MGMT

From The Management to MGMT

Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden met as freshmen at Wesleyan University in 2002, though Song Exploder says 2001, and first performed as The Management. They released two demos, "We (Don't) Care" and "Climbing to New Lows", and shortened the name to MGMT because another band used the original. Both graduated in 2005 and toured as openers for of Montreal. Time to Pretend (EP, August 30, 2005, Cantora Records, produced by David Perlick Molinari of French Horn Rebellion) included early versions of "Time to Pretend" and "Kids". Per Diffuser, the duo had split by 2006, when Columbia's Maureen Kinney found the EP, and they reunited to sign with Columbia that autumn.

Oracular Spectacular was recorded in spring 2007 with Dave Fridmann at Tarbox Road in Cassadaga, New York, and released digitally on October 2, 2007 and physically on January 22, 2008. Columbia asked them to include "Time to Pretend" and "Kids", which they re-recorded with Fridmann, adding heavy distortion and building the new material around them. Goldwasser said it was a fluke that these goofy songs written in college were hits. It reached 38 on the Billboard 200 and 8 in the UK; NME named it the best album of 2008, and the Justice remix of "Electric Feel" won the Grammy for Best Remixed Recording. In 2009 they settled with France's UMP party over unauthorized use of "Kids".

Congratulations (April 13, 2010, with Sonic Boom) reached 2 in the US, MGMT (September 17, 2013) 14, Little Dark Age (February 9, 2018, their last for Columbia) 35 in the US and 27 in the UK, and Loss of Life (February 23, 2024, on Mom + Pop and BMG) won an 80 on Metacritic. The 2011 Guggenheim show was released as 11-11-11 in 2022. They entered the studio with Fridmann again on November 10, 2025 for a sixth album. Stereogum's tenth-anniversary piece called the debut's legacy of influence on indie rock mostly dubious.