They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants formed in 1981, when high school friends and Massachusetts natives John Flansburgh and John Linnell coincidentally moved to Brooklyn at the same time. Pursing a minimalist, dadaesque style out of both necessity and convenience, the multi-instrumentalists began writing and recording songs in their apartments, using an inexpensive drum machine as their rhythm section. Performing under the banner El Grupo De Rock and Roll, the pair made their public debut at a political rally in Central Park in 1982, but changed their name to They Might Be Giants-inspired indirectly by the film "They Might Be Giants" (1971) starring Joanne Woodward and George C. Scott-shortly afterward. The duo continued to perform into 1983, though failed to take off properly. After a series of personal misfortunes, Flansburgh and Linnell experimented with an unorthodox means of self-promotion they called "Dial-A-Song," recording short original songs onto Flansburgh's answering machine and advertising the number publicly through handbills and small newspaper ads. The tactic worked, ultimately earning press notice-and a record deal with Hoboken indie Bar/None Records-as a result. The band's debut album, They Might Be Giants (1986), and its follow-up Lincoln (1988) garnered college radio success and MTV airplay for the duo's low budget but visually inventive videos for quirky but catchy singles like "Don't Let's Start" and "Ana Ng." Signing with the major label Elektra Records for 1990's Flood, They Might Be Giants became full-fledged alternative-rock stars, scoring a top ten chart hit in the U.K. with "Birdhouse In Your Soul." Having taken the two-man-band concept to its logical conclusion, the duo began experimenting with full-band arrangements on the eccentric Apollo 18 (1992), which featured a track, "Fingertips," that was composed of 21 separate song fragments each given its own CD index number so that they would appear in random order scattered about the album when played in shuffle mode. For this album's tour, Flansburgh and Linnell hired a full band for the first time. The follow-up John Henry (1994) added multi-instrumentalist Kurt Hoffman and Pere Ubu bassist Tony Maimone, while Factory Showroom (1996) featured Brian Doherty, Eric Schermerhorn, and Graham Maby. However, the A&R executive who had signed They Might Be Giants to Elektra had left the company following Apollo 18, and the two subsequent albums were largely ignored by the label's promotions department, so the band returned to the independent scene with 1998's live album Severe Tire Damage. The 1999 studio follow-up Long Tall Weekend was released through pioneering download retailer eMusic, making it the first download-only album ever released by a major artist. Following the more traditional release of their eighth album, Mink Car, which had the misfortune of being released on September 11, 2001, They Might Be Giants -- both of whom were fathers of young children by this point -- released their first album of songs directed toward children, No! Helming their own Idlewild label, They Might Be Giants settled into a comfortable cycle of alternating albums aimed at children and adults in the 21st century. The duo also immersed themselves in pop culture, earning exposure with music created for or showcased by "Tiny Toon Adventures" (CBS/Fox 1990-95), "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" (1999) and "Malcolm in the Middle" (Fox 2000-06); the theme song for the latter program won the band their first Grammy. Longtime fans of the band also got their own documentary "Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns" (2003). They Might Be Giants continued exploring the digital-only realm, releasing the MP3-only album series TMBG Unlimited and launching their own podcast in 2005. In 2008, their 13th album and third children's album, Here Comes the 123s became their first Grammy-winning release. After 2009's Here Comes Science, the duo released Join Us (2011), their first adult-themed rock album in over four years; the follow-up Nanobots was an experiment in writing very short but not fragmentary songs, comprising 25 separate songs in 45 minutes. In 2015, Flansburgh and Linnell temporarily revived the long-dormant Dial-A-Song project, posting new minimalist songs on a phone line every day. Three albums of songs from the project, Glean, Why (consisting of child-oriented songs) and Phone Power, were released.