They Might Be Giants

:This article is about the band. For the movie, see They Might Be Giants (movie).

History

The two Johns first met as children in Lincoln, Massachusetts. They began writing songs together in high school, but they never officially formed a band. Eventually the two went to separate colleges after high school, and Linnell joined The Mundanes, a New Wave group from Rhode Island. The two finally reunited after moving to Brooklyn (same apartment building on the same day) to continue their career.

Related Topics:
Lincoln, Massachusetts - High school - The Mundanes - New Wave - Rhode Island - Brooklyn

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Then: The Earlier Years (1982-1989)

The band began performing their own music accompanied by a drum machine, and soon became fixtures on the Manhattan underground. Their early work has been described as a type of performance art, in which they used many innovative stage props, including giant cardboard cutout heads of William Allen White. Many of these props would later turn up in their first music videos.

Related Topics:
Drum machine - Manhattan - Performance art - William Allen White - Music videos

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Although they had a strong local following, they had a hard time getting a record deal. They did many live performances in New York, but when Linnell broke his wrist in a biking accident and Flansburgh's apartment was broken into and all his guitars were stolen, they set up the Dial-A-Song system with an answering machine hooked up to a tape of them playing popular songs. It soon caught the eye of Bar/None Records and earned them a review in People magazine.

Related Topics:
New York - Dial-A-Song - Bar/None Records - ''People'' magazine

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The duo released their self-titled debut album in 1986, and it became a college radio hit. The video for "Don't Let's Start" became a hit on MTV, earning them a broader following.

Related Topics:
Self-titled debut album - 1986 - Don't Let's Start - MTV

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In 1988, they released their second album, Lincoln. The album's artwork, featuring the famous podiums on the cover, marked a high point of the band's regular collaboration with Brooklyn musical inventor Brian Dewan. Beyond artwork, Dewan also performed and sang on many of their songs, both on their albums and live.

Related Topics:
1988 - ''Lincoln'' - Brian Dewan

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Lincoln caused a major shock within the US music industry when, in its first week of release, it knocked U2's The Joshua Tree off the top of the Billboard College Charts (the US music industry's equivalent to the "Alternative/Independent" charts elsewhere in the world) after only a one-week stay at the top. (Most were expecting U2 to be on top for the remainder of the year.) The first single from Lincoln, "Ana Ng", reached number 89 on the UK Billboard charts and was #1 in the College Charts, garnering the attention of major labels.

Related Topics:
U2 - The Joshua Tree - Billboard - Ana Ng

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Elektra Period (1990-1998)

In 1989, they signed with Elektra Records, and released their third album Flood the following year. Flood earned them a gold album, largely thanks to singles for "Birdhouse in Your Soul", which reached number 6 in the UK charts, and "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)".

Related Topics:
1989 - Elektra Records - ''Flood'' - Birdhouse in Your Soul - Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

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Further interest in the band was generated when two cartoon music videos were created by Warner Brothers for Tiny Toon Adventures: "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" and "Particle Man". The videos reflected the high "kid appeal" that TMBG had, resulting from their often silly or absurd songs and poppy melodies.

Related Topics:
Music videos - Warner Brothers - Tiny Toon Adventures

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Following those successes, Bar/None Records released the B-sides and rarities compilation Miscellaneous T in 1991. Following the 1992 release of Apollo 18, Flansburgh and Linnell decided to move away from the two-guys-with-samples nature of their live show, and recruited a supporting band that consisted of former Pere Ubu bassist Tony Maimone and drummer Brian Doherty. Through subsequent touring, the new "band" began to function as a collective unit, encouraging the Johns to record new albums in the band format. Several albums followed, including John Henry (1994) and their last for Elektra, Factory Showroom (1996).

Related Topics:
Bar/None Records - Miscellaneous T - 1991 - 1992 - Apollo 18 - Pere Ubu - Bassist - Tony Maimone - Drummer - Brian Doherty - John Henry - Factory Showroom

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Beyond Elektra (1999-Present)

In 1999, the ever-changing backing band lineup settled on "The Band of Dans", forming a full house line-up of Johns and Dans for almost five years. The Band of Dans was a trio of guys named Dan: guitarist Dan Miller, drummer Dan Hickey and bassist Danny Weinkauf. In 2004, however, Dan Hickey left the band and was subsequently replaced by Marty Beller, who had already played with TMBG for kids' shows and other projects.

Related Topics:
1999 - Full house - Guitarist - Dan Miller - Dan Hickey - Danny Weinkauf - 2004 - Marty Beller

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For most of their career, TMBG have been on the forefront of activity on the Internet. As early as 1992, the band was sending news updates to their fans via Usenet newsgroups. In 1999, They Might Be Giants became the first band to release an entire album exclusively on the Internet with Long Tall Weekend, available through Emusic's "TMBG Unlimited" service. Five years later, the band started one of the first artist-owned online music stores, at which customers could buy MP3 copies of their music for US$10 an album. By creating their own store, the band could keep money that would otherwise go to record companies. (TMBG MP3 Music Store)

Related Topics:
1992 - Usenet - 1999 - Internet - Long Tall Weekend - Emusic - TMBG Unlimited - MP3

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In 1999, the band contributed the song Dr. Evil to the motion picture . Over their career, the band performed on numerous movie and television soundtracks, including The Oblongs, the ABC News miniseries Brave New World, and Ed and His Dead Mother. They also performed the theme music ("Dog on Fire", composed by Bob Mould) for the Peabody Award-winning The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. More recently, they composed and performed the music for the TLC series Resident Life, the theme song for the Disney Channel program Higglytown Heroes, and a song about the cartoon Courage the Cowardly Dog.

Related Topics:
Dr. Evil - The Oblongs - ABC News - Ed and His Dead Mother - Bob Mould - Peabody Award - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - TLC - Courage the Cowardly Dog

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Contributing the TMBG single "Boss of Me" as the theme song to the hit television series Malcolm in the Middle, as well as to the show's compilation CD, brought a new audience to the band. Not only did the band contribute the theme, songs from all of the Giants' previous albums were used on the show: for example, the infamous punching-the-kid-in-the-wheelchair scene from the first MITM season was done to the strains of "Pencil Rain" from Lincoln. "Boss of Me" became the band's second top-40 hit in the UK.

Related Topics:
Boss of Me - Malcolm in the Middle

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On September 11, 2001, they released the album Mink Car and were filmed as the subject of a documentary made by AJ Schnack titled '. The film, released in 2002, won rave reviews and several awards, and was featured in dozens of film festivals. The film was released on DVD in 2003.

Related Topics:
September 11 - 2001 - Mink Car - Documentary - AJ Schnack - Film - 2002 - DVD - 2003

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In 2002, the band released their first album "for the whole family", No!. They followed it up in 2003 with their first book, an illustrated children's book with an included EP, Bed, Bed, Bed.

Related Topics:
2002 - No! - 2003 - Bed, Bed, Bed

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In 2004, the band released their first new rock work in years, the EP Indestructible Object. They followed that up with a new album, The Spine, and an associated EP, The Spine Surfs Alone. For the album's first single, "Experimental Film", TMBG teamed up with Homestar Runner creators Matt and Mike Chapman to create an animated music video. The band's collaboration with the Brothers Chaps also included several Puppet Jam segments with puppet Homestar.

Related Topics:
2004 - Indestructible Object - The Spine - The Spine Surfs Alone - Experimental Film - Homestar Runner - Matt and Mike Chapman

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TMBG also became slightly involved with the electoral process by contributing a track to the Future Soundtrack For America compilation, a project compiled by John Flansburgh with the help of Spike Jonze and Barsuk Records. The band contributed "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too", a political campaign song from the presidential election of 1840. The compilation was released by Barsuk and featured indie, alternative, and high-profile acts such as Death Cab For Cutie, The Flaming Lips, and Bright Eyes. All proceeds went to progressive organizations such as Music For America and MoveOn.org.

Related Topics:
Future Soundtrack For America - Spike Jonze - Barsuk Records - Tippecanoe and Tyler Too - Campaign song - Presidential election of 1840 - Barsuk - Death Cab For Cutie - The Flaming Lips - Bright Eyes - Progressive - Music For America - MoveOn.org

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Following the Spine Surfs the Hiway Tour of 2004, the band announced that they would take an extended hiatus from performing to focus on other projects, such as a musical produced by Flansburgh and written by his wife, Robin "Goldie" Goldwasser, titled People Are Wrong!.

Related Topics:
Spine Surfs the Hiway Tour - 2004 - Robin "Goldie" Goldwasser - People Are Wrong!

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2005 saw the release of Here Come the ABCs, TMBG's follow-up to the successful children's album No!. Disney Sound released the CD and DVD separately on February 15th.

Related Topics:
2005 - Here Come the ABCs - No! - Disney Sound

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