"New Slang" is a song by American rock band The Shins, released in February 2001 as the lead single from the group's debut studio album, Oh, Inverted World (2001). Written by guitarist and vocalist James Mercer, it concerns his hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico and his experiences there in his late 20s. The lyrics are fueled with "angst and confusion," as Mercer was finding himself constantly depressed and disconnected from his friends and scene.
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thumb|left|150px|James Mercer in 2004. The song explores his feelings on his hometown of [[Albuquerque, New Mexico.]]
The Shins were not truly a band when James Mercer composed the song, and the idea of making music his career seemed uncertain. The song's creation was partially a reaction to the music scene in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the band's hometown, which Mercer described as "macho, really heavy, and aggressive."
Friends of the band, including Zeke Howard from Love As Laughter and Isaac Brock from Modest Mouse sent record labels cassette demos of the band's songs, including "New Slang". Mercer sent a demo to Sub Pop Records in Seattle, Washington, and label co-founder Jonathan Poneman caught a concert in San Francisco while the band was on tour with Modest Mouse. Positive press for "New Slang" made the group's debut, Oh, Inverted World, one of the most anticipated indie rock albums of 2001, and Sub Pop signed the band in full. Rolling Stone ranked it the "most affecting" song from Oh, Inverted World, describing it as "a shuffling folk ballad with a spaghetti-western feel and a somber melody that could have come off an Elliott Smith album." Pitchfork panned the song, deeming it an imitation of Simon & Garfunkel. The New York Times also covered the song, noting that "It has an odd, slightly serpentine vocal melody (it sounds a bit like an adapted madrigal), and the lyrics are absurd and somehow touching."
The A.V. Club called "New Slang" one of the year's "loveliest ballads." Will Hermes, in a piece on NPR's All Things Considered, called the song a "masterpiece," as well as "ridiculously melodic and structurally flawless." Pitchfork later included the song at number 62 on its list of "The Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s," calling it "An agoraphobic bedroom-pop gem that shuffled its way onto a stage larger than anyone imagined possible. "New Slang" paved the way for Norah, Nick, Juno, and the many lovely, odd, and grating mainstream/indie pairings to come."
Accolades
{|class="wikitable"
|-
! Publication
! Country
! Accolade
! Year
! Rank
|-
| Triple J
| Australia
| Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time
| 2009
|align="center"| 72
|-
|rowspan="2"| Pitchfork
|rowspan="3"| United States
| The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present
| 2008
|align="center"| *
|-
| The Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s
| 2011
|align="center"| 57
|}
<small><nowiki>*</nowiki> denotes an unordered list</small>
Music video
The song's music video was filmed in various locations in Albuquerque and Portland. Shooting in just two cities created logistical problems for album covers originally photographed in cities such as Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Louisville. For the homage to Double Nickels on the Dime, the band had to track down the exact model of the car featured on the album cover (a Volkswagen Beetle), and Albuquerque happened to have a San Pedro Street, which is featured on a freeway sign on the original cover. Mercer elaborated on the song's inclusion in the ad in an interview: "That whole thing was just an ad agency that McDonald’s hired to do a “hip commercial,” or whatever. So the kid who offered the whole thing up to us was a Shins fan." Online message boards (many on Pitchfork) and fans of the Shins criticized the move as excessively commercialist. The band's hometown alt weekly ran an editorial titled "McShins, New Corporate Suck-ass" in reaction. The ad's aesthetics were criticized for straying from the company's typical upbeat themes, and fans of the band found its inclusion subversive, considering a set of the song's lyrics, which at times refer to "the dirt in your fries." In addition, the band used the money to finance a tour and relocate to Portland, Oregon, where they built a basement studio and recorded their second album, Chutes Too Narrow (2003). The band extended their tour in support of the song and its popularity. "We saw a change in our audience. By the time we were done touring for Chutes Too Narrow, there was this new interest," said Mercer. "We toured again almost as the soundtrack to that movie, and colleges were all of a sudden interested in us playing on their campuses. We wanted to consummate the new relationship by touring and having a relationship with them. I mean, it just kept growing!" This additional exposure helped Oh, Inverted World move 500,000 units in the United States.