Andrew VanWyngarden Quotes

United States, Musician
February 1, 1983

Andrew Wells VanWyngarden is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist, guitar player and songwriter for the band MGMT, praised for (according to Interview Magazine) "an uncanny knack for producing pop music that sounds as if it were filtered through a kaleidoscope." One of his (and MGMT cofounder Benjamin Goldwasser's) songs "Kids" (from the Oracular Spectacular album) received a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, while the duo was nominated in the Best New Artist category.

I'm proud of the lyrics because I take a lot of care in writing them. I try to make it so people will want to go in and get really into the lyrics. I hope there are different corners to them, with lots of levels-without sounding pretentious.

Andrew VanWyngarden MGMT
- Writing
- Proud
- Lyrics
Live we're a lot louder and noisier on the album. I think for the album we took a lot of time for the songwriting and we wanted to make good pop music, and I think there's plus and minuses to doing pop music and noise.

Andrew VanWyngarden MGMT
- Live
- Album
- Louder

We like the idea of being a little divisive without making it into some kind of philosophical musical approach, and maybe we can convert some people to our view of the world.

Andrew VanWyngarden MGMT
- Idea
- View
- Divisive
Usually when I write lyrics I try to read a lot and listen to a lot of other stuff. Some of my favourite lyricists are like Lou Reed, kind of the classics - Bob Dylan and stuff like that.

Andrew VanWyngarden MGMT
- Write
- Read
- Listen
I don't think it is too good especially with music to worry about authenticity, it can get in the way of doing something which comes naturally from your own head which is the most authentic thing of all.

Andrew VanWyngarden MGMT
- Music
- Worry
- Authenticity
I love movies and I think that we wouldn't ever stop making videos just because people aren't watching them. I think that's just kinda sad. It would be cool to spend a lot of money, but we'll always make videos just for ourselves.

Andrew VanWyngarden MGMT
- Make
- Ourselves
- Video
We like being ridiculous and I think that's lost on a lot of people, or they think we're coming from this super serious angle, and that's too bad, really.

Andrew VanWyngarden MGMT
- People
- Being
- Ridiculous
I think that love is just as important and prevalent and real as it ever was.

Andrew VanWyngarden MGMT
- Important
- Real
- Love

If you're conscious you must be depressed, or at least cynical.

Andrew VanWyngarden MGMT
I don't feel too comfortable talking about politics and media as I feel like I don't sound too smart.

Andrew VanWyngarden MGMT