Them Crooked Vultures

Intro

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

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• sell out
• behind the kit
• psychedelic
• stoner rock

• supergroup
• join forces
• dud
• killer

• jam
• high energy

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

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A supergroup is like a musical dream-team. Imagine if members from all your favorite bands decided to get together and form a new band. You’d have yourself a rock supergroup.

Supergroups have been around since the 1960s, when members of the already-famous bands The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and The Hollies joined forces and created an even more famous band, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. And more recently there’s been the band Velvet Revolver. But some supergroups turn out to be surprisingly un-super. For whatever reason, putting a bunch of great musicians together doesn’t always result in a great band.

The new supergroup Them Crooked Vultures includes members of Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, and Queens of the Stone Age. They just released their first album, which is also called Them Crooked Vultures. So far the album has gotten good, though not great, reviews. Find out if Marni and Beren think this supergroup is a dream come true, or a dud.

Dialog

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

Beren

Marni

Beren:  What do you think of the rock supergroup?

Marni:  There seems to be quite a lot of them these days. I think the newest one is Them Crooked Vultures.

Beren:  Yeah. Is that John Paul Jones, Dave Grohl, and…

Marni:  Isn’t it Josh Homme?

Beren:  Yeah, from Queens of the Stone Age. That sounds pretty killer though.

Marni:  I have to say, of a supergroup, that sounds like a supergroup I’d want to listen to.

Beren:  Totally, Dave Grohl on the drums.

Marni:  And he and Josh Homme of course played together when he was in Queens of the Stone Age for a while. Yeah, I think it’s good music. It’s really high energy. And people seem to be responding well. They’re selling out all their shows.

Beren:  Totally. I’m curious, I’m interested. I really want to see them. I haven’t heard their music, but anything Dave Grohl touches behind the kit is usually…I not a huge Foo Fighters fan, but…

Marni:  But he’s a pretty phenomenal drummer.

Beren:  He’s an amazing drummer. So Them Crooked Vultures is kind of like psychedelic stoner rock, like Queens of the Stone Age? Or is it more Zeppelin-esque?

Marni:  I think it has elements of both. There’s definitely a lot of jamming. You can see where those guys could definitely go off. But it’s kind of got some elements of psychedelic rock. It’s just good, it’s heavy.

Beren:  Which is pretty cool, because I feel like there aren’t a lot of rock bands right now.

Grammar Point

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