Matchbox Twenty

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

• solo career
• collaborations
• one hit wonder
• in the public eye

• grunge rock
• drives you up the wall
• the charts
• around

• stuck in your head
• a hit

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

If you had a television or radio in 1998, there is no way that the phrase ”...it’s 3 A.M. I must be lonely…” can possibly mean nothing to you. Come on, imagine it sung in a voice that sounds sort of like Eddie Vedder.

Do you remember now? Matchbox Twenty helped define rock music after grunge and their lyrics touched millions of people…and annoyed millions of others. The band’s hit “3 A.M.” was so popular that you couldn’t help but hear it anywhere. Maybe you love the song and it defines a time in your life. Or maybe it drives you up the wall. Either way, Matchbox Twenty recently released their first new album since 2002, Exile on Mainstream.

Does that make you excited? It seems to worry Jason and Devan…

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Jason

Devan

Jason:  Dude. You know who’s on the charts again? Matchbox Twenty.

Devan:  What?

Jason:  Can you believe it?

Devan:  They’re still around?

Jason:  I know. They’re one of those bands that I thought would just disappear.

Devan:  I thought they did disappear like 10 years ago. They haven’t had a hit since that “3 A.M.” song.

Jason:  Nah, that Rob Thomas dude has been doing a solo thing.

Devan:  Oh that’s right he had the song with Santana.

Jason:  Oh yeah!

Devan:  “Smooth,” do you remember that one? But since then…

Jason:  Santana’s on the charts too, man. With another compilation, er collaboration.

Devan:  What’s going on? Where have I been? Where have they been?

Jason:  I don’t know. History’s repeating itself but much too quickly, it would seem. Anyway, when that song came out, “3 A.M.,” I thought it was the most annoying thing that I had ever heard and I was sure that it would just sort of be a one hit wonder and it would disappear and I could go back to life without Rob Thomas, but, unfortunately, that’s just not the case.

Devan:  He’s back in a big way.

Jason:  Just forcing himself into the public eye.

Devan:  And he’ll probably come out with another song that’ll be stuck in our heads for the next ten years that we didn’t ask for.

Jason:  Uh, I certainly hope not.

Devan:  I can’t wait.

Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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