They Might Be Giants and You and Us
12We love our rad new theme song on its own merits, of course. But a lot of us have also loved They Might Be Giants for literally decades. Both the song and the video "Don't Let's Start" blew my young mind late at night on 120 Minutes. When I bought the self-titled debut and the then-current Lincoln album one fateful weekend in 1988, a friend and I immediately started the Society for the Advancement of They Might Be Giants, pestering everyone at our high school about the greatest band we'd ever heard.
The first real rock-club show I ever saw was They Might Be Giants on the Flood tour in 1990. A few years later, my punk band the Volatiles recorded a cover of "Santa's Beard", and played it live whenever we played a show around Christmas.
We could all quote, at length, that insane phone conversation at the end of the "Hotel Detective" EP: "Intellectuals meet with other intellectuals, speak another language. But who's There May Be Giants? They got the craziest things in that paper. They come over with all - they got the craziest things." Etc. We were annoying nerds, but we can't blame that on the band.
And I might not even be the oldest, biggest TMBG fan at Meh. @snapster bought their first LP on vinyl when it was still their only LP. The band signed his copy of Flood a few years later.
Some of us have now raised our kids on They Might Be Giants, whether it's @snapster's boys taking a bath to "Seven Days of the Week (I Never Go to Work)" or my girls falling asleep to "The Alphabet of Nations".
What about you? Let's hear tales of your encounters with They Might Be Giants...
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I went to a family TMBG concert at a small venue in Philly. I went with my infant son and preschool daughter. The only song they knew? - Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
TMBG played nearly every kids song they had and Constantinople. They never played Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.
@JerseyFrank For a some time afterwards we knew all of their kids songs. Seven (we want cake! where's our cake?!) was in heavy rotation for years.
@JerseyFrank possibly a licensing issue? I bet Disney has some annoying contracts.
@snapster Could be, but I imagine nearly everyone there would have preferred to hear one of their kid tunes over the MMC theme. Can't play everything. Set list decisions gotta be made. We were not disappointed.
One of the guys went to my college for a semester. Allegedly.
But in 1993, they did play our quad party. I wore a purple toupee. I'd been on to them since '88. Burned through a few tapes in the '82 Granada.
Particle Man was the first TMBG songs I ever heard and I used to sing it all the time. I taught Istanbul (Not Constantinople) to my wife when she caught me whistling it in the shower one day.
@DaveInSoCal I wonder how many people have both those songs as their first TMBG songs and heard them on Tiny Toons.
And you would've gotten bonus points if she heard you whistling in the dark.
@Ignorant at least 1 (me)
@katylava tiny toons music videos to those two songs was hilarious
I'll always associate the song "Women and Men" to the night I was at a dinner party and my best female friend's husband announced to everyone that the song reminded him to tell us he had decided to become a woman. He wanted to stay married to my friend but she wasn't into that. They divorced and he went on to have the surgeries and complete the process.
I knew Istanbul and Particle Man when I was a really little kid, but didn't know who the songs were by or anything. Then my dad got a rental car when I was ten and it had a Flood cassette in it; it had been left at the end of They Might Be Giants (Boy) when the song kind of goes nuts, so he thought the tape was broken. From that tape I learned more about them, but it wasn't until The Spine came out in high school that I became a real fan. Best song? Some Crazy Bastard Wants To Hit Me.
In 1989, I had to recite a poem for senior high school English. I was unprepared. But then, in a moment of clarity, I began, "When you are alone, you are the cat, you are the phone. You are an animal. The words I'm [saying] now, mean nothing more than 'meow'..." I got an A. For this, I thank They Might Be Giants.
I don't like scooping cat poop, but as I attempt to put it off, I recite, "Memo to myself: Do the dumb things I gotta do." This is a mantra for many things in my life. For keeping me grounded, I thank They Might Be Giants.
Whenever my lovely wife gets mad at me, I misquote, "I don't want the world: I just want [to wear hats]." For making my wife smile when she has every right to not, I thank They Might Be Giants.
I am able to answer Jeopardy questions about James K. Polk. My three year old twins can sing the alphabet backwards. For giving me and my children intelligent music, I thank They Might Be Giants.
@cleverogre One of my Projects in OmniFocus is "Dumb things I gotta do."
@cleverogre I recited "Kiss Me, Son of God" for my sophomore English class!
I used to have both They Might Be Giants and Lincoln on tape in my car in the early 90's. I don't remember who got me started on them. But I played those tapes until they died. I have them on my phone now, and on my Pandora list. I haven't kept up with everything they have done and I don't own every album. So I'm not a super fan or anything, but I do enjoy their music and have for a long time.
Now you are making me feel old, I hate that.
아니 어떻게 vmp만 결제가 될수가 있지? 어이없네
From TTA:
needs more Slayer
Love it! I've been excited all week about hearing this song, and was a little afraid I'd been pranked and you'd actually gotten someone else to record your mediocre theme song... because TMBG isn't a meh band.
I guess I got hooked on TMBG through Tiny Toons, though it's a little hard to remember whether I knew the band or the cartoons first. Flood was one of the first two CDs I owned (the other isn't worth mentioning, I was 13 with predictable taste). It's still in regular rotation almost 25 years later.
One of the first concerts I attended was a TMBG show at Catholic University. I had a great spot up by the stage until there was a conga line... and I got dumped out at the back. I commiserated with a fellow concert-goer. We're still together after 16+ years, and I blame TMBG.
I've attended numerous shows since then, and they're always wonderful. My favorites have been the single album shows - sometimes you get to hear something live that they wouldn't normally play. I love how TMBG concerts really bring out an all-ages crowd - there's something for everyone.
If only my petition to change the West Hyattsville Metro station to West Xylophone would go through.
Ha. I've loved TMBG for a long time. Just last weekend on a short road trip I had my music on shuffle and Birdhouse In Your Soul came on (Still one of my top 20 favorite songs) and I was trying to explain all the little bits and pieces of it to one of the girls in the car with me.
I also own a Stylophone thanks to Linnell. I'd seen them before but after hearing TMBG playing Particle Man on one I had to buy one.
Just for the record, even Constantinople was Byzantium first. So get it right.
Ana Ng. Love that song. Still searching for my Ana though.
I never got into TMBG, which is strange because I grew up around the same timeframe as @JasonToon. I am a big Jonathon Coulton fan and I know he is heavily influenced by TMBG. If Meh ever decides to add more deals to their site like they did with Woot they will need a new theme song, though.
I've been a big fan of TMBG since the late 80s. Lincoln and Flood remain my two favorites albums. Particle Man, Ana Ng, Birdhouse In Your Soul, Santa's Beard are all in my top 100. ass hat <3, ass hat <3, ass hat <3 them.
In our bathroom, we have a blue canary in the outlet by the light switch who watches over us.
@dave Us too!
@dave No leakfrogs?
Green leakfrog in the corner by the water heater should be a weird al song.
@Fen_Star green leakfrog in the corner by the toilet who looks up under your skirt; make a little doghouse for your soul
Awesome theme song...it should definitely be loaded when you load the page...here you go to get started:
OnLoad event
HTML5 Audio
@dtm82 we're waiting for the Bono/U2 theme song to cram down your throat that way.
@snapster My understanding was that he had it all written and ready to go. Alas, it was in his luggage that's now strewn across Germany.
@dtm82 autoplay music on the web makes kittens cry
@cleverogre Looks like it's being done!
@PocketBrain not actually. They specifically set the preload to none. It only plays if you specifically interact with it to make it play. No kittens will cry this way.
At every wrap-up party for Drama Club in high school, someone would always play Particle Man and Istanbul but it wasn't until I got addicted to a certain little web cartoon that I realized how much TMBG were in my life.
Puppet Jam: Mission Control
You just gotta love anyone that's willing to jam with a puppet both on and off stage. And the new Meh theme is just great. I've already listened to it 10 times this morning.
Confession time, I was not actively aware of TMBG. I'd heard the name, but couldn't name one of their songs, never had an album.
After reading this thread, I realize I've really enjoyed their music for decades, just didn't know it was them. Thanks for enlightening me.
So I wonder if either of them are lurking around here today....
Does anyone know anything about tour dates? All I could find are NY dates. I am in Atlanta now, but I may move for a jerb. I would hate to buy the IFC and not be able to use the tickets.
@Fen_Star The ticket offer never expires.
@SSteve Perhaps not, but I do.
In 1988/89 I was a dj at college station KUSF in San Francisco and was a huge They Might Be Giants fan. They were coming to the station for an interview on a Sunday but my girlfriend and I had already booked a night at a B&B out of town. We left early on Sunday so I could get to the station to see the interview and meet them and hopefully have them record a promo for me. We didn't get back in time for the beginning of the interview so we were listening to it on the way into the city. She dropped me off at campus just as they segued into Ana Ng. I ran to the studio, burst open the door, and yelled "Hi!!". They got funny looks on their faces and kinda said "hi". Then I looked up and saw the ON AIR light was on. The song ended while I was running to the studio.
So I slunk into the dj booth where my sister was engineering the interview. After she chastised me, she told me that right when she started playing Ana Ng, the album cover fell over onto the turntable and knocked the tonearm into Lie Still, Little Bottle. She figured that they thought our family was out to sabotage them.
After the interview I was too embarrassed to go out and introduce myself.
"No" by TMBG was litteraly my childhood.
@axleman1011 litteraly is like blood brothers but an alliance sealed with an exchange of garbage
@snapster 'metaphorically' my childhood?
I suspect they are people and not giants. There is no "might" about it. They are people.
Soylent green is people too!
Was anyone else here a member of the Hello Recording Club?
Anybody getting in on the IFC?
@pitamuffin Oh, I don’t know. You must be thinking of some other band.
@pitamuffin What @snapster said.
@pitamuffin the ICP?
I saw TMBG in '88 at the Top Hat in Missoula MT. After the show I chatted with John and John while they loaded out ... I think they were touring with one friend/roadie. They joined me and my friends at our table and we closed the bar. I wish I could remember now even one thing that we talked about ... can't ... but I remember that they were funny as hell and open and generous. That was cool ... except that Linnel and my then-wife seemed to really be hitting it off. Whatever. The'80a indie scene was a beautiful thing. I like now too. Oh and Dial-A-Song: "Free if you call from work." Brilliant marketing.
@ericj My band played at Jay's Upstairs once. We shared the bill with the band we were touring with and a local band. The local band never showed up.