They Might Be Giants

Over the span of their extensive history as a performing unit, They Might Be Giants have fused an unconventional outlook, memorable tunes, and witty lyrics through constantly inventive methods. John Flansburgh and John Linnell draw musical ideas from a broad range of sources, nodding to the British Invasion alongside Tin Pan Alley while evoking pulp fiction and President Polk. Their distinctive sensibilities amplified this range, and the somewhat experimental character of their 1986 self-titled debut mirrored their period within New York’s post-punk scene. Building on cult releases such as 1988’s Lincoln, They Might Be Giants cultivated a substantial college audience, and breakthroughs including 1990’s major-label debut Flood—which later earned platinum certification—positioned them among the leading alternative acts prior to grunge. Toward the close of the decade the group adopted a denser, more guitar-driven approach on records like 1994’s John Henry, yet their inventiveness also appeared in their early adoption of the internet for fan outreach and music distribution. Across the 2000s and 2010s they continued to flourish, issuing favorably received soundtrack and children’s projects—2008’s Here Come the 123’s captured a Grammy, whereas 2009’s Here Comes Science received a nomination—while also delivering well-regarded adult-oriented albums such as 2011’s Join Us, 2015’s Glean, and 2021’s Book.

Flansburgh and Linnell first became acquainted as children in Lincoln, Massachusetts. During high school they started composing songs jointly, although they never formally assembled a group. After graduation the Johns attended separate colleges, Linnell performing with the Mundanes, a Rhode Island new-wave ensemble. By 1981 the pair had reconvened and chose to relocate to Brooklyn in pursuit of a musical livelihood. Appearing initially as El Grupo De Rock, the duo’s debut performance occurred at a Sandinista rally held in Central Park. Shortly afterward Flansburgh and Linnell adopted the name They Might Be Giants, borrowed from a George C. Scott film. Delivering original material with Flansburgh handling guitar, Linnell on accordion and saxophone, and a drum machine supplying the rhythm, They Might Be Giants quickly established themselves within Manhattan’s underground circuit. Following Linnell’s wrist injury in a cycling mishap, the enterprising pair launched the Dial-A-Song service by taping tracks onto an answering machine and promoting the number locally. The venture proved durable over time; at its height the line handled hundreds of daily calls. Beginning in 1984 They Might Be Giants held a monthly engagement at the Lower East Side venue Darinka that lasted three years, concluding with sold-out shows. In March 1985 the duo issued a 7" containing early versions of several tracks.

Leveraging those demos—which attracted notice in People magazine—They Might Be Giants secured a contract with Bar/None Records. Cut at the Public Access Synthesizer Studio and Dubway Studios, 1986’s They Might Be Giants blended synth pop and power pop with touches of folk, country (the track “Boat of Car” prominently samples Johnny Cash’s “A Boy Named Sue”), novelty pop, and jazz (“Rhythm Section Want Ad” incorporates Raymond Scott’s “Powerhouse”). The album garnered critical praise and registered strongly on college radio, moving 10,000 units during its first year and helping establish Bar/None as a viable imprint. One of its singles, “Don’t Let’s Start,” gained traction through its inventive video, which showcased some of the whimsical props employed in the band’s concerts, and ultimately drove total sales past 100,000 copies. Linnell and Flansburgh broadened their reach with the follow-up, September 1988’s Lincoln. Recorded like its predecessor on eight-track tape at Dubway Studios, the set displayed more expansive sonic and thematic scope, addressing emotional distress and social commentary. Titled after the duo’s hometown, Lincoln doubled the debut’s sales and climbed to number 89 on the Billboard Hot 200 Albums chart, where it remained for 19 weeks. One of its singles, “Ana Ng,” reached number 11 on Billboard’s Modern Rock chart.

Lincoln’s performance prompted They Might Be Giants to sign with Elektra Records in 1989. Their third album, Flood, arrived in January 1990 and mirrored their new major-label standing. Tracked at Skyline Studios with Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley producing several cuts, the record presented a smoother yet still eclectic palette that incorporated country elements and unconventional percussion sampled from objects including Flansburgh’s kitchen sink. Flood attained number 75 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart and eventually received RIAA platinum certification; in the U.K. it was later certified gold. Its singles performed solidly as well: “Birdhouse in Your Soul” climbed to number three on the Billboard Modern Rock chart and also charted in the U.K. and Ireland. “Twisting” reached number 22 on the Modern Rock tally, while the band’s reading of the Four Lads’ 1953 hit “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)”—a number they had performed in their earliest days to complete sets—peaked at number 61 on the U.K. Singles Chart. The animated series Tiny Toon Adventures subsequently broadcast videos for “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” and “Particle Man,” introducing the pair to a younger viewership.

After issuing the 1991 B-sides and rarities collection Miscellaneous T, They Might Be Giants delivered their fourth studio album, Apollo 18, in March 1992. Titled for the canceled mission slated to succeed Apollo 17, the release coincided with NASA designating the band official musical ambassadors for International Space Year after the agency learned of them during artwork research at the NASA Archive Center. As on Flood, They Might Be Giants challenged themselves sonically. Recorded at New York’s Magic Shop, Apollo 18 featured richer instrumentation and a somewhat somber mood compared with earlier work, and contained the suite of brief songs titled “Fingertips” that could be interspersed when the CD was played on shuffle. The album reached number 99 on the Billboard 200 and number 59 on Australia’s ARIA albums chart; the single “The Statue Got Me High” rose to number 24 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart. For the accompanying tour They Might Be Giants performed with a complete backing band for the first time, enlisting former Pere Ubu bassist Tony Maimone and drummer Jonathan Feinberg. Their initial release featuring a full-band configuration was September 1993’s Why Does the Sun Shine? (The Sun Is a Mass of Incandescent Gas) EP, which included covers of material by the Allman Brothers, Meat Puppets, and Hy Zaret, whose 1959 composition supplied the title track.

Following the August 1994 Back to Skull EP, They Might Be Giants released their fifth album, John Henry, that September. Juxtaposing a weightier, guitar-centric sound with references to Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, expressionist Belgian painter James Ensor, and Alice Cooper, the record incorporated contributions from Maimone plus guitarist Robert Quine and attained number 61 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. For October 1996’s Factory Showroom the group added second guitarist Eric Schermerhorn, reintroduced more of their original electronic-pop textures, and captured one track on wax cylinder at the Edison Laboratory. The album did not chart domestically, however, and They Might Be Giants subsequently parted with Elektra. They moved to Restless for 1998’s Severe Tire Damage, primarily a live set that also contained the previously unreleased studio song “Doctor Worm.” Bassist Danny Weinkauf and guitarist Dan Miller joined around this period, and in 1999 the band became the first established act to issue an album solely online with Long Tall Weekend. That year they appeared on the soundtrack to Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me with the track “Dr. Evil.”

They Might Be Giants opened the 2000s with numerous endeavors. May 2000 brought the Working for the Man EP, which previewed several songs slated for the next album. Released in September 2001, Mink Car constituted another characteristically eclectic effort assembled while touring between 1999 and 2001 and featured guest appearances by M. Doughty, Adam Schlesinger, and the Elegant Too. The album’s creation was documented in Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns), a film directed by AJ Schnack. Also in 2001 the band supplied songs for an issue of McSweeney’s literary journal as well as “Boss of Me,” the theme for the television series Malcolm in the Middle (which additionally featured other band tracks in its episodes). The song became They Might Be Giants’ second U.K. top-40 single and earned their first Grammy for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. They concluded the year with November’s They Might Be Giants In … Holidayland, an EP gathering seasonal numbers from earlier releases.

They Might Be Giants marked their twentieth anniversary with June 2002’s No!, co-released by Rounder Records and the band’s own Idlewild imprint; their first family-oriented album earned praise for its playful material. That year also saw two compilations: the rarities set They Got Lost appeared in July, while the retrospective Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants followed in September. The next year Flansburgh and Linnell collaborated with Canadian artist Marcel Dzama on the children’s book-and-CD package Bed, Bed, Bed. In 2004 the Indestructible Object EP preceded July’s full-length The Spine. The album was supported by the EP The Spine Surfs Alone. That year drummer Marty Beller joined the lineup. Also in 2004 They Might Be Giants appeared on the animated series Home Movies and the final episode of Blue’s Clues. Additionally they contributed their interpretation of the 1840 campaign song “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too” to Future Soundtrack for America, a politically themed compilation benefiting groups including MoveOn.org.

In 2005 They Might Be Giants resumed family-oriented work with February’s Here Come the ABCs, an alphabet-themed collection accompanied by a DVD that constituted their first Disney Sound release. Like No!, Here Come the ABCs received positive notices, topping the Billboard Children’s Music chart, securing two National Parenting Awards, and achieving gold certification. In May Rhino issued A User’s Guide to They Might Be Giants, an abridged edition of Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants. That November Venue Songs, a CD/DVD set of performance-site-inspired tracks, appeared. That year the band also supplied a cover of Devo’s “Through Being Cool” for the Sky High soundtrack and initiated a podcast series that would run for nearly a decade. Over the ensuing years They Might Be Giants produced music for a Dunkin’ Donuts advertising campaign and contributed to various film and television soundtracks, among them Disney’s Meet the Robinsons, the cinematic adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, and The Drinky Crow Show.

They Might Be Giants released their next album, The Else, in May 2007. Produced in conjunction with the Dust Brothers as well as longtime collaborator Pat Dillett, the record climbed to number nine on Billboard’s Top Digital Albums chart. The initial physical pressing of The Else included Cast Your Pod to the Wind, a selection of standout podcast material. Other 2007 projects encompassed a commissioned work for the robotic ensemble League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots and a cover of “Havalina” for the Pixies tribute compilation Dig for Fire. In February 2008 the group’s third children’s album, Here Come the 123’s, appeared and captured a Grammy for Best Musical Album for Children the following year. Their third Disney Sound album, Here Comes Science, arrived in September 2009. Featuring tracks on paleontology, astronomy, and chemistry together with a DVD of videos by Divya Srinivasan, Tiny Inventions, Hine Mizushima, and Feel Good Anyway, the album received a nomination for the Best Musical Album for Children Grammy.

They Might Be Giants paused their children’s output for July 2011’s Join Us, the band’s first adult-oriented album in four years. A characteristically diverse collection, the record reached number 32 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart—their first appearance there since 1994’s John Henry—and number eight on both the Rock Albums and Alternative Albums charts. That November they issued the rarities compilation Album Raises New and Troubling Questions, which contained several tracks originally considered for Join Us. Shortly after completing the Join Us tour they commenced work on the subsequent album. Preceded by a January 2013 EP of the same name, March’s Nanobots formed a song cycle featuring multiple brief pieces reminiscent of Apollo 18’s “Fingertips” tracks. It peaked at number 57 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. In 2014 they released Idlewild, a compilation of select Idlewild imprint releases from 1999 to 2013.

They Might Be Giants also paused their extensive touring commitments to prepare three new albums. In December 2014 the band relaunched Dial-A-Song—which had ended its original run in 2006 owing to persistent technical issues—with the intention of issuing one new song weekly through the end of 2015. Several of those songs surfaced on Glean, which appeared in April 2015 and reached number 67 on the Billboard 200 chart. It was followed by the children’s album Why? that November. In March 2016 the band released Phone Power. The third album drawn from the Dial-A-Song initiative, it peaked at number 122 on the Billboard 200 chart. That year the group also composed the song “I’m Not a Loser” for SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical.

For their twentieth album, I Like Fun, They Might Be Giants collaborated with co-producer and mixer Dillett at New York City’s Reservoir Studios, a facility formerly used to record Flood. I Like Fun appeared in January 2018 and attained number 108 on the Billboard 200. The band continued to issue tracks via Dial-A-Song throughout the year. That December they released My Murdered Remains, containing selections from both the 2015 and 2018 Dial-A-Song runs, alongside The Escape Team, a concept album inspired by the comic of the same name by frequent TMBG video artist David Cowles. The following year They Might Be Giants supplied a reworked version of the song “Hot Dog” to the Disney Channel series Mickey and the Roadster Racers. In April 2020 they issued Modern, a download-only compilation benefiting band members and crew after the COVID-19 global pandemic halted their previously active touring schedule. That August the band returned with a song concerning the electoral college for a CNN documentary. November 2021 brought the release of Book, an album emphasizing They Might Be Giants’ classic sound and concise songwriting. Reaching number 88 on the Billboard 200, the album was packaged with an art book of photography by Brian Karlsson and typography of lyrics drawn from Book, My Murdered Remains, and I Like Fun. The book additionally incorporated lyrics from the Pamphlet EP, made available concurrently with Book’s release and marking the band’s first short-form project in eight years.

Once the COVID-19 global pandemic eased sufficiently to permit safe touring, They Might Be Giants spent the majority of 2022 and 2023 on the road, including a tour commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of Flood’s release. Nevertheless, 2024’s live album Beast of Horns avoided material from that record, concentrating instead on the contributions of the group’s touring horn section, the Tricerachops Horns (Stan Harrison, Mark Pender, and Dan Levine).