Let’s be honest — there’s not much that’s authentically “D.C.” about The Real World D.C. Sure, the show takes place here, but as our painfully detailed re-caps have shown, the roommates have mostly been tethered to their Dupont Circle home and a rather limited sampling of nearby bars and restaurants. But at least one song played in the background of a recent episode came from a local band.

Mike Boggs, who records as the one-man band We Were Pirates, recently emailed us to let us know that one of his songs, “Settle Down,” was used in a recent episode. Additionally, he said, an instrumental version of a second song he wrote will be used in the March 31 season finale.

So how did Boggs, a local who has been recording since 2007, get his music nationally broadcast on MTV? Luck, it seems. “The production company, Bunim Murray, got in touch with me directly,” he told DCist. “The music supervisor somehow stumbled upon my music on the wild frontier of the internet and liked it. When he got in touch with me, I totally thought it was bullshit and responded with something along the lines of, ‘Yeah, whatever man.’ Fortunately, he was persistent. After he responded and proved his credentials I apologized, I explained to him that I get a lot of MySpace messages and spam emails from shady music industry people promising to ‘get your music on MTV…for a price.’ Turns out he was a really cool guy that helped explained the process to me.”

Boggs’ poppy clip may only have gotten a few seconds of actual airtime, and he sure won’t be getting rich off of it, but “the national exposure is more than enough,” he said.

As for the show itself, Boggs sheepishly admitted to never having watched an episode, though he appreciated that it took place in the city. “I’m kind of a sucker for anything on a national scale that is unique to D.C. Hell, [Sunday] night when I was watching C-SPAN for hours, and cheesy as it is, even though I grew up here, I still get a kick out of the fact that all of the national policy is determined just a few miles away.”