Flash Delirium

I think I finally get the video! And perhaps the song as well if they are both related.

The beginning of the video shows MGMT's fans who are excited that they have a new album, so its like a welcoming party. They're old people cause they're old fans of MGMT. And then we see someone try to open the bandages on Ben's neck, as they try to discover another "hit song" by MGMT (I'll explain that later). With the whole puppet part, I think MGMT is branching off from people liking them for the wrong reasons to make a general comment about society, and making the same mistakes over and over.

Then the woman starts to play that song on the recorder or whatever, which encourages Ben to show his own song. There's a hole in Ben's neck which produced MGMT's more popular songs.. "Kids", "Electric Feel", etc. Its bandaged up, to represent that MGMT won't make any more mainstream songs. It was supposed to heal. Andrew is hesitating on whether or not to show any one another mainstream song from the eel, aka "Electric Feel", aka another hit song. Then Ben rips off the bandage and the 'hit song' starts to play.. and then people have "wtf" looks on their faces cause they were probably expecting the music they played in their previous album. And some other people just see the dollar signs (the military dudes who take it out of Ben's throat), by transforming their music and MGMT's image into something they didn't want. The eel, aka the song, is then put into the music business system "strange machine".As a result of that, the song becomes mainstream, and the people who wtf'd at the song before suddenly like it and are dancing to it! the fake fans of mgmt.. they just like it now cause its popular. The military people could represent MGMT's fans who just are waiting for another "Electric Eel" or "Kids" to make a big deal about.

And then craziness ensues.. the flashing lights.. meaning the more fame. I think the song is called Flash Delirium because MGMT is blatantly saying they don't want to be mainstream, cause all the flash bulbs of cameras going off by people making a big deal out of them, taking pics, etc, is making them crazy.

Maybe Ben was thinking about making another "Electric Feel" song, but Andrew told him of the consequences.. and told him that all this craziness would ensue, and they'd become even more famous, which isn't their goal, since there are people who just listen to their popular songs because its "hip" and won't listen to their other songs yet say they are big fans. In the video shows Ben going along with what Andrew said until he was tempted to show the song and then they literally take the life out of him.. (by taking out the eel) but he's famous! "A case of flash delirium" means they are sick of the fame! On the other hand, maybe IRL Ben feels the same way as Andrew w/ the whole thing (most likely) but they did this song to show people what would happen if they just made another "Electric Feel" and how it would drive them crazy.. they don't wanna be consumed by fame.

Sorry this is repetitive but I was on a roll! Haha, hope this helped.. I spent like half an hour typing this... haha thats sad. I hope I got this relatively right, MGMT, if you're reading this! (:

such great song writing right here.. STAB YOUR FACEBOOK! hhaah

One of the reasons I find MGMT at once fascinating, entertaining and disturbing (which is exactly the effect I think they intended) is because, unlike most pop bands today, they're not literal, and their lyrics are hard to interpret.

I'm going to assume that, as with many good poets, they line their songs with multiple layers of meaning, so an eel can at once be a sexual metaphor (i.e. a penis) while also standing for, as some have said, inner-inspiration or a previous song (like "Electric Feel").

My interpretation based upon the combination of the lyrics and the video is that this is an anti-war song and an anti-modern culture song. MGMT is saying, "There's a disgusting war on, and even those people who are opposed to war or military culture are just kind of tuning out and immersing themselves in meaningless distractions, such as Facebook and consumer culture and scantily clad models in magazines, rather than truly speaking out and being outraged, as 60s culture did."

In other words, there's been no vocal, viable alternative or opposition to war except a plastic, self-obsessed, consumerist culture.

For instance, "blank dreams of the coming fun distort the odds of a turnaround" could mean that youth culture's fascination with banal fun (Facebook, television, beauty models) makes it unlikely there will ever be a "turnaround" to society that will result in an end to the wars and aggression.

Instead, we're "inert."

So why bother striving for some nobler purpose when consumerism seems to negate meaningfulness?: "why close one eye and try to pledge allegiance to the sun when plastic ghosts start terrorizing everyone"

However, there's hope for us yet, as nature always aims for something better, some kind of growth and progress... "Plants as far as i know are still, still bending toward the light and if we dance until the heart explodes it'll make this place ignite"

That said, the poster who interpreted the lyrics and the video as a reaction to the negative reaction from fans and music critics to their new album was probably on the right track, too, and I think both interpretations probably hold merit.

A great single for MGMT, ive been waiting so long for this i love MGMT. The songs lyrics are very powerful and to me this song is about how the world or humanity is emotionless and we care for what we shouldnt care for and that all we do, we do without feelings no emotion and its driving him crazy. this song is trying to tell us to get our minds straight and to look at what society has done to us. Thats what Flash Delirium is about for me. Anyone else have more interpretations?

This song and video combination is trying to tell a world of things at once. Mgmt is trying to tell us how horrible much of society has come to be. They are trying to show how people get excited over terrible things and how real things that happen every day aren't good enough for us now. People are emotionless and don't realize what really matters anymore. They expect to all be super heroes or to save people's lives, and just living isn't good enough for them. How we all care about things that don't matter at all or care too much about terrible things.

I think this song makes many points, one of them being that no matter what nature is always going to strive for the same thing, and that human existence is always going to want more and more, until eventually destroying itself.

"Plants as far as i know are still, still bending toward the light"

I'd say this line represents what I said before about nature always needing the same thing, and no matter how much light it gets, it will always be satisfied with just that.

"and even if this hall collapses I can stand by my pillar of hope it's just a case of Flash delirium"

I believe this line means that even if things go terribly wrong, human existence will always want to keep going further in 'hope' that things will get better.

"with the violence forever threatening the night and even if this hall collapses I can stand by my pillar of hope and trust that our heads won't bust"

This is saying the same thing, once again stating how we just keep hoping our heads won't bust after every move we make.

Alright so what i noticed in one little part. after bens throat starts singing the general or whoever he is is freeing ben of his inner demons, and pulls out an electric eel....? reference to something else hint hint I dont though i would like to know the meaning behind all the lil things goin on. are there more little symbols that represent the past MGMT? haha i have no idea. but i would like to know. so if anyone finds anything interesting out. i wanna see haha

I think it has a lot to do with photographs. Cameras flash when they take pictures. When you take photographs, you're not smiling because you're happy (most if not all of the time). You're smiling because everyone takes pictures that way! Its a fake smile and I think they're saying we're trapped in that mentality as a society.

'here's a growing culture deep inside a corpse ages stuck together takin it to the source timeless desperation pictures on a screen scream "hey people, what does it mean?"'

I feel this has a lot of correlation to "stab your facebook". Though, maybe I'm just reading into that because of my obsession lately with Facebook killing this Generation.

"here's a growing culture deep inside a corpse"

Culture is growing more and more into Facebook and social networking, but it is actually a corpse of socialising, as you miss out more and more on life experiences.

'pictures on a screen scream "hey people, what does it mean?"'

It is all pointless. What does all these status updates mean in the long run? Stab your Facebook.

Without going line by line, this song seems to be about finding comfort in TV and other readily-available media when the world's falling apart around you. It's about media saturation, a flood of entertainment, obsession with celebrity, and anything else we can do to keep our minds off the world's real problems. The Sun and "Flash" in this song refer to this blinding effect, the Sun especially to TV and the "Flash" maybe alluding to celebrity obsession (i.e. paparazzi).

I think the last bit of lyrics are supposed to express some of the frenzied thoughts, news bits, and other things that keep us occupied throughout our hectic days.