They Might Be Giants

[LSK]

Also - I lost my train of thought.... they need more girly t-shirts on their website? OH! I remember! I wonder if Randall hates TMBG strictly on the basis that Spiraling Shape is claimed to be about the faking of the moon landing.

Randall hates TMBG?

[Sprocket]

So I reccently started listening to John Henry. The older albums I only have a number of MP3s from, but not whole albums. I'm IN LOVE with the song "My Plan" It sounds a lot like it started with a similar melody to "The Statue got me High" but it does something else entirely.

[SecondTalon]

I wonder if Randall hates TMBG strictly on the basis that Spiraling Shape is claimed to be about the faking of the moon landing.

That part of my brain that does the reason making and the part that remembers song lyrics both burst in to tears and are trying to console each other.

Moon landing?! The hell?

[LSK]

So I reccently started listening to John Henry. The older albums I only have a number of MP3s from, but not whole albums. I'm IN LOVE with the song "My Plan" It sounds a lot like it started with a similar melody to "The Statue got me High" but it does something else entirely.

There's no TMBG song named "My Plan".

I wonder if Randall hates TMBG strictly on the basis that Spiraling Shape is claimed to be about the faking of the moon landing.

That part of my brain that does the reason making and the part that remembers song lyrics both burst in to tears and are trying to console each other.

Moon landing?! The hell?

Also, from http://www.museumofidiots.com/john/articles/fs.html: "TMBG wishes to make the case that not all of our songs have a single strict interpretation, but "Spiraling Shape" is generally about the fervent embrace and then abandonment of a cultural "bubble." It might be "smart" drugs, it might be virtual whatever, or it could simply be spin art. Steve Light adds his snazzy vibraphone to this swirling cut."

So it's not at all about any moon landing.

[Sprocket]

People consider it to be. THat's all I'm saying. I'm not saying that's what it's about.

And the song is called "no one knows my plan" to get specific, but I'm sure you could have figured out which one I meant. It's on John Henry. Forgive me for downloading it somewhere where it was labeled My Plan, but that's how the world works these days.


August 7, 2007
A cover of Particle Man has been used to promote the new Wii and Nintendo DS versions of Geometry Wars. The song can be heard on the trailer here.

[Sprocket]

I had a dream I was hanging out in this strange open space in like a local art gallery, you know the kind that's installed into what was once a residential home, and it's got rotating exhibits of contemporary artists whom are usually local? Anyway we were talking about what album I like best, and which was the most popular. We were saying John Henry was surprisingly the most popular, and I told him I like Apollo 18 the best, and we were watching this footage of the band when it started and flasburgh wasn't in it yet and a bunch of other dudes were, one who I realised when I woke up was my boy, Skippy. (yes this dream has no historical accuracy)

[Peevish]

A clarification on Then: The Early Years - it is two full albums (19 songs each), as well as two full albums worth of bonus material. It is 72 tracks long, and I found it used for under $20, bitches!

By a long shot the best purchase I ever made.

Top 20:

1. They'll Need A Crane
2. Am I Awake?
3. Ana Ng
4. Dr. Worm
5. Kiss Me, Son Of God
6. O, Do Not Forsake Me
7. Thunderbird
8. Damn Good Times
9. Lie Still, Little Bottle
10. Fingertips
11. Shoehorn With Teeth
12. The Famous Polka
13. I've Got A Match
14. Hope That I Get Old Before I Die
15. Birdhouse In Your Soul
16. She's An Angel
17. My Man
18. The World's Address
19. Man, It's So Loud In Here
20. Snowball In Hell

Not an easy list to make. Honorable mentions: Token Back To Brooklyn, Subliminal, I Should Be Allowed To Think, They Got Lost, Bed Bed Bed, Reprehensible, Older, Bangs. I don't own any of these songs, so I can't judge them properly.

Bay Area peeps: September 30th a Great American Music Hall!

[epershandrea]

Bay Area peeps: September 30th a Great American Music Hall!

LIES!!! It's at The Fillmore.

[LSK]

A clarification on Then: The Early Years - it is two full albums (19 songs each), as well as two full albums worth of bonus material. It is 72 tracks long, and I found it used for under $20, bitches!

By a long shot the best purchase I ever made.

I love Then: The Early Years. What's weird is that I hate the first two albums with a passion, but I love them when they're in longer compilations. Definitely worth a look.

[Handsome]

Or just get Dial-A-Song 20 Years of They Might Be Giants, I think it was mentioned earlier. Anyway, that's probably the best compilation album of theirs that I have.

[Sprocket]

A clarification on Then: The Early Years - it is two full albums (19 songs each), as well as two full albums worth of bonus material. It is 72 tracks long, and I found it used for under $20, bitches!

By a long shot the best purchase I ever made.

Top 20:

1. They'll Need A Crane I aprove, best of
2. Am I Awake? Unknown
3. Ana Ng Maybe the best song ever.
4. Dr. Worm over played, but good
5. Kiss Me, Son Of God Never did much for me.
6. O, Do Not Forsake Me kind of annoying[edit -ok! I like it]
7. Thunderbird fun, but just ok
8. Damn Good Times another fun one.
9. Lie Still, Little Bottle reasonable
10. Fingertips never did much for me
11. Shoehorn With Teeth classic but just ok
12. The Famous Polka Don't remember
13. I've Got A Match your embrace and my what?
14. Hope That I Get Old Before I Die eh.
15. Birdhouse In Your Soul Well ofcourse.
16. She's An Angel Yes!
17. My Man Yes!
18. The World's Address good
19. Man, It's So Loud In Here heh heh, yes.
20. Snowball In Hell good.

Not an easy list to make. Honorable mentions: Token Back To Brooklyn, Subliminal, I Should Be Allowed To Think, They Got Lost, Bed Bed Bed, Reprehensible, Older, Bangs. I don't own any of these songs, so I can't judge them properly.

Bay Area peeps: September 30th a Great American Music Hall!

[Bakemaster]

Your embrace and my collapse.

[Peevish]

Am I Awake is track 1 off the Indestructible Object EP, released shortly before The Spine. Superior to every track on the LP. Linnell's darkest song by far.

The Famous Polka can be found on disk 1 of Then: The Early Years (you see why I rep this album?). It's frenetically fantastic. It features prominently in Gigantic: A Tale Of Two Johns, as the song that got the whole audience dancing at the lip of the stage for 2 minutes before the entire floor collapsed and the audience dropped one story to the level below. And the band played on...

I could quibble over the slightly inflated public opinion of Birdhouse In Your Soul, but I have a weird relationship with Flood. Somehow, Lincoln just works perfectly for me.

[Sprocket]

I could quibble over the slightly inflated public opinion of Birdhouse In Your Soul, but I have a weird relationship with Flood. Somehow, Lincoln just works perfectly for me.

I own THEN, I just haven't MP3ized it. I feel the same way about flood, I had no idea birdhouse had any public popularity until recently.

[epershandrea]

I really like Mink Car (I accidentally ended up with the UK version of it, which I like better than the US version), but there are a few songs on there that I just don't like. I could do without I've Got A Fang, and I'm not a huge fan of Cyclops Rock. The rest of the album rocks me like a wagon wheel.

Does anyone else get the urge to do the Twist when Yeh Yeh comes on?

[Sprocket]

I really like Mink Car (I accidentally ended up with the UK version of it, which I like better than the US version), but there are a few songs on there that I just don't like. I could do without I've Got A Fang, and I'm not a huge fan of Cyclops Rock. The rest of the album rocks me like a wagon wheel.

Does anyone else get the urge to do the Twist when Yeh Yeh comes on?

I had the same problem with Fang and Cyclops. They really grew on me. I love it when they do covers like Yeh Yeh. They do a Concrete and Clay that's great too.

Mink Car was actually the first TMBG CD I ever bought. I had reccently gotten into down loading music and I had all of Mink Car and all of Cake's Comfort Eagle, and I LOVED both, so I felt it was only right to buy them. I have a lot of other TMBG MP3s, I mean, a lot, but they're disorganized so I'm not sure how much of any album I may have. I have burned copies of Flood and No! I got The Else at their audience apreciation show, and I bought Apollo 18 which was my introduction to the band, because my sister used to play it for me. In college a friend of mine bought me THEN....I love Steve.

[Bakemaster]

I was just having a conversation with my former roommate and was compelled to tell him that wearing a raincoat is flying around in a yellow rubber airplane shaped like a raincoat. He responded by reminding me that being awake is swimming around in a lake of the undead. Then I was compelled to put on The Spine but I accidentally grabbed Lincoln but that was okay. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

No other thread has caused, is causing or will cause me to type so many heart emotes in a row. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

[Sprocket]

Oh yeah, the last TMBG album I bought, which I fogot to include on that list, and as I didn't have to buy The Else, but just be one of the first 50 people into the Wolf's Den, was The Spine.

Am I Awake is track 1 off the Indestructible Object EP, released shortly before The Spine. Superior to every track on the LP. Linnell's darkest song by far.

I do so LOVE Linell being dark. I must have this song. Do fetch it for me, and pick up a bean burrito supreme with extra guacamole for me on your way back. Quickly now.

[Peevish]

I am impelled:

I was just having a conversation with my former roommate and was compelled to tell him that wearing a raincoat is flying around in a yellow rubber airplane made of a raincoat.

I can sit still for Yeh Yeh, but I shake my bootay for Damn Good Times. As long as we're talking about covers, they do a phe-fucking-nomenal cover of The Meat Puppets' Whirlpool on Why Does The Sun Shine?

I do so LOVE Linell being dark. I must have this song. Do fetch it for me, and pick up a bean burrito supreme with extra guacamole for me on your way back. Quickly now.

I don't normally do this, but here. Just gimme a heads up when you've got it, I don't wanna leave it up too long. You never know who's watching...

[Sprocket]

I have the link. The duck has flown the coop! The DUCK has FLOWN the coop!

I found the aeiou thing detracting from the song. It sillied it up too much for me to get into the depressing mood because it sound like a donkey. "No One Knows My Plan" is still what i'm really in to right now. It needs a better ending, and it definitely sounds like "the statue got me high" came out of it,.

Ok, so "O Do not forsake Me" is good. John Henry is rather good in general, except for "A Self Called No Where" (I already live in Boston, I don't need to hear it when I listen to TMBG unless it's Wicekd Little Crittah). I really like "Sleeping in the Flowers" My only problem is I really hate the Santana guitar style all over this album...Lincoln does it too. I get that it's a parody of guitar at the time but I don't like the real or the parody, because a TMBG parody is a pretty straight thing, it's not really caricatured, it's just how they choose to use it, and I don't like Santana style guitar playing. But Snail Shell wouldn't be the same without it. Snail shell is like Joan Jet crossed with Santana, and it's probably the most Weird Al-lish singing for John Linell ever. "was it something you would do for anybody or was it what you'd only DO FOR ME!"

"We'll be Sleeping in the Flowers, Tell my boss that I am fired!"

[Bakemaster]

I am impelled:

I was just having a conversation with my former roommate and was compelled to tell him that wearing a raincoat is flying around in a yellow rubber airplane made out of a raincoat.

Fix fix'd, for the sake of pedantism. The first line of the song doesn't say "yellow rubber" so this is the later one.

@Cat: I've known a bunch of people who didn't like John Henry, and there are some songs I'm not wild about but it's good... I used to listen to it at the Berklee music library, need to get a copy of my own one of these days.

[Sprocket]

HOLY CRAP - TMBG Network Television Debut 1989...WOW on Linell's hair! (once you get passed that, he's kind young and cute) and WOW Skinny Flasnburgh!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56HkrvET ... ed&search=

I really am looking for a John Linell, with better teeth.

He seems to always have a problem when he sings on tv, he over enunceates everything.

Also, that song I keep saying I like so much from 1995...i can't believe they were this young still back in 1995

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k90Xc_Kh ... ed&search=

[Bakemaster]

Cool video. The related links led me to a music video for Dr. Worm, a song I've also never heard before, and also the name of a guy/band on SongFight! which I didn't realise was a TMBG reference. Good song.

[Sprocket]

and also the name of a guy/band on SongFight! which I didn't realise was a TMBG reference. Good song.

What's that?

Also, Wow, you never heard Dr. Worm? I think I need to make you a mix cd.

[Bakemaster]

SongFight! is an online weekly songwriting competition, after which WriteFight ("my" website, I took it over from the creator some months ago) was modeled. Many more-and-less-well-known artists have cut their teeth on SongFight!, or contributed on occation, for instance:
MC Frontalot
The Spinto Band (in a slightly different incarnation)
KOMPRESSOR
MC Hawking
State Shirt
...and many, many more! Plus the aforementioned Doctor Worm. I'm not sure which of the hundreds of artists in the archive are recognizable in other contexts, and it's a daunting task to sort through everything that's there and find the good stuff, but holy shit some of it is good, especially keeping in mind every single song in that archive was written in the span of one week for a predetermined title.

[Sprocket]

HOLY BALLS! I never knew frontalot and mchawking came from somwhere. I thought they simply manifested from the ethos of mankinds undesired thoughts and wishes circling the smoke stacks of superfulous cities and carrying with them the pain of citizenship in the modern century.

Also thanks to this I now know that Flanburgh sings Lie Still Little Bottle WTF knew.

and also this is pretty awesome. Some kids James K. Polk project.

all these people have their cell phone videos of TMBG at their local borders signing stuff for a Here Come The ABC's promotion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKfjBwx3 ... ed&search=

[Bakemaster]

Well, Hawking only ever entered that one fight as far as I know, and they were both definitely doing music before they did SongFight!, but Front used to be quite the regular there (and on somesongs.com) back in the day.

[Sprocket]

and Gee Willikers THIS video is awesome!!! So is the song. But I wish the plot was fulfilled. Must rescue Linnell!

[KicktheCAN]

Cool video. The related links led me to a music video for Dr. Worm, a song I've also never heard before, and also the name of a guy/band on SongFight! which I didn't realise was a TMBG reference. Good song.

How have you never heard Doctor Worm!? I used to watch that video all the time on Nickelodeon, in fact it was the only thing I watched on Nickelodeon. Also Am I Awake is one of my favorite songs but I have no idea where I got it, I was switching over to a new media player and it was just kind of in my collection, never even heard it before, weird.

[ChooChoo]

I probably got hooked on TMBG when a friend was driving me home and he played "Particle Man" on his iPod. I was like, holy shit, play that one again!

And we sang along.

And there was much rejoicing.

[Sprocket]

I probably got hooked on TMBG when a friend was driving me home and he played "Particle Man" on his iPod. I was like, holy shit, play that one again!

And we sang along.

And there was much rejoicing.

Yeah I was really surprised when I learned that Particle Man and Instanbul were not their most well known songs.

On the other hand, after the time before the last time I saw them I started to write this parody -

Sick of this song , sick of this song
played it to long , we're sick of this song
We had a vote
the fans say it's gone
they're sick of this song

New comer man, new comer man
rented a van to hear particle man
he's out of luck, the fans say it sucks
they're sick of this song

All of the fans, all of the fans
all of the fans hate particle man
new comer man vs. all of the fans
all of the fans

They're gonna fight with upper hand
a lower hand and behind the back hand
when they come together this song gets banned
the greatest fans
all of the fans.

[muteKi]

I really like Mink Car (I accidentally ended up with the UK version of it, which I like better than the US version), but there are a few songs on there that I just don't like. I could do without I've Got A Fang, and I'm not a huge fan of Cyclops Rock. The rest of the album rocks me like a wagon wheel.

Does anyone else get the urge to do the Twist when Yeh Yeh comes on?

Fun fun song. Also like Damn Good Times (reminds me of Sonic 3D Blast, though), John Lee Supertaster, Another First Kiss, Ana Ng, Following an Angel, Spiraling Shape (Dreamcast references ha ha), Pet Name (oh, what the hell), AKA Driver, Stomp Box, Hearing Aid, and maybe a few others.

[EDIT:]Forgot about the songs in the 1st podcast. "When I was the square root of a negative number, it was a very good year. It was a very good year for dodecahedrons in a state of quantum uncertainty..." Jeez, I love that.[/EDIT]

Weird stuff is cool.

[Sprocket]

Oh but don't tell John Linnell he's weird, cuz he gets weird about that. Freakin' weirdo.

[Dethanol]

I'm actually going to see TMBG tommorow, I cannot wait. This'll be my second time seeing 'em, first time it was a free concert in Nashville I think. I have no doubt they'll be awesome.

[Sprocket]

The only non-awesome TMBG show I went to was at Avalon in Boston. But actually, the one in Thursday at the Square in Buffalo was a bit anti-climactic.

[TiberiusM]

I'm actually going to see TMBG tommorow, I cannot wait. This'll be my second time seeing 'em, first time it was a free concert in Nashville I think. I have no doubt they'll be awesome.

I'll be there too, gotta pick up my ticket after work (30 some minutes). I'd wear an xkcd shirt if I had one though!

[Dethanol]

As would I, if only I had one...

[German Sausage]

In Cowtown, the guitar is exactly the same as Blister in the Sun by the Violent Femmes.

also, is it just me, or is Supertaster a parody of Little Acorns by the White Stripes?

I was just wondering if anyone had noticed these.

[no-genius]

No question about it. Buy "Dial-a-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants."

FANTASTIC! I will look into this.

Much appreciated, all!

or 'A user's guide to...' - but that only has 1 CD.

[Bakemaster]

http://weeklydig.com/arts-entertainment ... nts-uncool