"New Slang" is a song by The Shins

The Shins

The Shins are an American indie rock band comprising singer, songwriter, and guitarist James Mercer, guitarist/bassist Dave Hernandez, Eric Johnson of Fruit Bats, drummer Joe Plummer and bassist Ron Lewis. Their sound draws on several musical genres, including pop, alternative rock, indie rock,...

. It was released as a 7" single

Gramophone record

A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

 in 2001, and subsequently appeared on their album Oh, Inverted World

Oh, Inverted World

Oh, Inverted World is the first album by The Shins, released on June 19, 2001 to critical acclaim. Omnibus Records put out an initial run of vinyl distributed by Darla...

. It achieved mainstream popularity after its inclusion in the soundtrack

Garden State (soundtrack)

Garden State is the soundtrack album to the film Garden State. Compilation producer Zach Braff was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for a Motion Picture for his work on the album.- Album information :...

 of the film Garden State

Garden State (film)

Garden State is a 2004 comedy-drama film written by, directed by, and starring Zach Braff, with Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, and Sir Ian Holm. The film centers on Andrew Largeman , a 26-year-old actor/waiter who returns to his hometown in New Jersey after his mother dies...

and its appearance in a McDonald's

McDonald's

McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...

 television commercial. James Mercer

James Mercer (musician)

James Russell Mercer is an American guitarist and Alternative rock musician. He is a founding member and lead singer-songwriter of the Grammy-nominated indie rock group The Shins. In 2009, Mercer and producer Danger Mouse formed the side project Broken Bells, for which they released a...

 has stated in an interview with InDublin Magazine that, at the time he wrote the song, he wanted to get out of his "home town, job, relationship and life".

In media

The song was talked about in the film Garden State

Garden State (film)

Garden State is a 2004 comedy-drama film written by, directed by, and starring Zach Braff, with Natalie Portman, Peter Sarsgaard, and Sir Ian Holm. The film centers on Andrew Largeman , a 26-year-old actor/waiter who returns to his hometown in New Jersey after his mother dies...

; it was also featured on the Scrubs

Scrubs (TV series)

Scrubs is an American medical comedy-drama television series created in 2001 by Bill Lawrence and produced by ABC Studios. The show follows the lives of several employees of the fictional Sacred Heart, a teaching hospital. It features fast-paced screenplay, slapstick, and surreal vignettes...

episode "My Balancing Act", and appeared on the series' 2002 soundtrack. The song is featured in the episode "Eloise

Eloise (The Sopranos episode)

"Eloise" is the fifty-first episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and was the twelfth of the show's fourth season. It was written by Terence Winter, directed by James Hayman and originally aired on Sunday December 1, 2002.-Plot summary:...

" of the television series The Sopranos

The Sopranos

The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...

and the "Him" episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The track was named in the 2008 book The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to the Present. Pitchfork listed the song at 62 on its 500 best tracks from 2000 to 2009.

The Shins performed "New Slang" on Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

on January 13, 2007.

The song is available as downloadable content for Guitar Hero World Tour

Guitar Hero World Tour

Guitar Hero World Tour is a music video game developed by Neversoft and published by RedOctane and Activision. It is the fourth main entry in the Guitar Hero series...

and the Rock Band series of videogames.

In 2010, the song was voted the 72nd greatest of all time by Triple J

Triple J

triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...

 listeners in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

Other versions

There are two live versions of the song: one performed with Iron & Wine

Iron & Wine

Samuel Beam , better known by his stage and recording name Iron & Wine, is an American singer-songwriter. He has released four studio albums, several EPs and singles, as well as a few download-only releases, which include a live album...

, which appears on the December 14, 2004 7" single release of "Fighting in a Sack

Fighting in a Sack

"Fighting in a Sack" is a song by American indie rock band The Shins, and is the sixth track on their second album Chutes Too Narrow. It was released as the second of two singles from that album, with the first being "So Says I".-Track listing:...

", and another that appears on the "Know Your Onion" single.

Music video

The music video was directed by Lance Bangs

Lance Bangs

Lance Bangs is an American filmmaker, documentarian, and music video director who has created videos for Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Green Day, the Arcade Fire, the Shins, The Thermals, Belle & Sebastian, Menomena, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, R.E.M., Mike Watt, Death Cab for Cutie, The Black Keys, Kanye West, and...

 and features the band re-enacting the cover art of other bands' albums, including Zen Arcade

Zen Arcade

Upon its release Zen Arcade received positive reviews in many mainstream publications, including NME, The New York Times and Rolling Stone. In his review for Rolling Stone, David Fricke described Zen Arcade as "the closest hardcore will ever get to an opera .....

and New Day Rising

New Day Rising

New Day Rising is the third studio album by the American punk rock band Hüsker Dü, released in 1985 on SST Records. Though less ambitious than prior album Zen Arcade, New Day Rising, in some ways, helped set the template for alternative rock for the next decade...

by Hüsker Dü

Hüsker Dü

Hüsker Dü was an American rock band formed in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1979. The band's continual members were guitarist Bob Mould, bassist Greg Norton, and drummer Grant Hart....

, Let It Be by The Replacements, Moon Pix

Moon Pix

Moon Pix is the fourth album by American singer-songwriter Cat Power . It was released in September 1998 on Matador Records....

by Cat Power

Cat Power

Charlyn Marie Marshall , also known as Chan Marshall or by her stage name Cat Power, is an American singer/songwriter and occasional actress and model. Cat Power was originally the name of Marshall's first band, but has come to refer to her musical projects with various backing bands...

, Double Nickels On The Dime

Double Nickels on the Dime

Double Nickels on the Dime is the third studio album by American punk trio Minutemen, released on the Californian independent record label SST Records in 1984...

by The Minutemen

Minutemen (band)

Minutemen were an American hardcore punk band formed in San Pedro, California in 1980. Composed of guitarist D. Boon, bassist Mike Watt and drummer George Hurley, Minutemen recorded four albums and eight EPs before Boon's death in an automobile accident in December 1985...

, Squirrel Bait

Squirrel Bait

Squirrel Bait was an American punk band from Louisville, Kentucky. They were in existence from 1983 to 1988. Squirrel Bait's dense, moody, melodic hardcore sound, featuring pronounced tempo shifts, foreshadowed the grunge sound of the late 1980s as well as math rock...

's first album, Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...

's Sister

Sister (Sonic Youth album)

Sister is the fourth album by alternative rock band Sonic Youth, released in 1987 on SST Records. It was re-released in late 1994 on DGC.The album furthers the band's move away from noise rock towards more traditional pop structures, while maintaining an aggressively experimental approach. It...

and Slint

Slint

Slint was an American rock band consisting of Brian McMahan , David Pajo , Britt Walford , Todd Brashear and Ethan Buckler...

's Spiderland

Spiderland

Spiderland is the second studio album by the American post-rock band Slint, released on March 27, 1991 on Touch and Go. Featuring dramatically alternating dynamics and vocals ranging from spoken word to shouting, the album contains narrative lyrics that emphasize alienation...

.