Remember MGMT’s music video for “Kids”? It’s been a while, so we’ll give you a quick refresher: It opens with fire and some scary quotes about monsters. Then there’s a Sesame Street-style countdown, and we see a toddler in a crib. Except the kid isn’t alone — he’s being attacked by monsters. Enter a heavily made-up Joanna Newsom (who recently announced some tour dates) as mean, text-happy mommy. They go outside. More monsters. Mom puts the kid down and he runs away, only to end up in a lush glen where MGMT is playing music and channeling David Bowie in Labyrinth. The baby is suddenly wearing an MGMT headband.
Then a monster cop shows up, grabs the kid, and returns him to his mother, who promptly removes the headband. Suddenly, they’re in a car, and the child looks over to see a jeep full of monsters pull up alongside. There’s a monster montage that involves puppets playing on his in-car entertainment system. The kid turns into an animation, and there’s a naked lady dancing in the sky. She becomes the running kid, who in turn becomes a bunch of hot dogs, which in turn become a school of fish. From there, there are smoking ship captains, psychedelic ghosts, dancing pigs, and a whole lot of other stuff we can’t explain.
Then we’re back to the animated kid being chased by a monster. A giant Andrew Vanwyngarden puts out his hand and the boy hops onto his palm — only to have Andrew disintegrate and the child’s body thrown hurtling into the darkness.
So, why did we tell you all of this? The masks and puppets used in this epic music video are currently up for auction on eBay with proceeds going to the Children Art Foundation, a non-profit that brings the arts to underprivileged kids. Valentine’s Day is just around the corner…
The band’s upcoming album, Congratulations , will be out this spring.