They Might Be Giants
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
Flansburgh and Linnell met when they were children in Lincoln, MA. During high school, they began writing songs together, yet they never officially formed a band. Both Johns went to college after high school, with Linnell playing in the Mundanes, a
ew wave group from Rhode Island. By 1981, the pair had reunited, deciding to move to Brooklyn to pursue a musical career. Taking their name from a George C. Scott film and performing their original material with a drum machine, They Might Be Giants soon became fixtures on the Manhattan underground. Although Flansburgh and Linnell were building a cult following, they had a hard time getting a record deal, so they set up Dial-A-Song -- a phone line that played songs on an answering machine -- as a way to get their songs heard. The gimmick worked. Not only did it lead to a deal with the indie label Bar/None, but over the years it was a successful venture; at one point, the service was receiving hundreds of calls a day.
They Might Be Giants released their eponymous debut in 1986, and the album became a college radio hit; it also made waves on MTV due to the inventive video for Dont Lets Start. Two years later they released Lincoln, which expanded their following considerably. Featuring the college hit Ana Ng, Lincoln climbed to number 89 on the charts, earning the attention of major labels. They Might Be Giants decided to sign with Elektra Records in 1990, releasing Flood later that year. Flood worked its way to gold status, thanks to the singles Birdhouse in Your Soul and Istanbul (Not Constantinople), which both had popular videos directed by Flansburgh. In the wake of the groups success, Restless/Bar/None released the B-sides and rarities compilation Miscellaneous T in 1991.
Apollo 18, released in 1992, wasnt quite as successful as Flood, yet it consolidated the groups cult. For the albums supporting tour, They Might Be Giants performed with a full backing band for the first time, hiring former Pere Ubu bassist Tony Maimone and drummer Brian Doherty. The shift toward a full band coincided with the dominance of grunge rock in alternative rock. Though they were strengthened by the powerful sound of a full band, They Might Be Giants failed to receive much attention from MTV, mainstream modern rock radio, or college radio when they released John Henry in the fall of 1994. Recorded with the full band, John Henry lost the group several fans, yet the groups concerts remained popular attractions, especially on American college campuses. Still, the bands next album, 1996s Factory Showroom, was virtually ignored by the press, MTV, and radio. The live Severe Tire Damage followed two years later.
They Might Be Giants maintained their hardest working men in show business status in 2001 when they issued Mink Car, a stunning follow-up to Factory Showroom that boasted collaborations with M. Doughty, Adam Schlesinger, and the Elegant Too. They celebrated their 20th anniversary in summer 2002 with the release of their first childrens album, No! Rhino also celebrated the bands tenure with the first-ever They Might Be Giants retrospective, Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants. A year later, Flansburgh and Linnell joined Canadian artist Marcel Dzama for the childrens book and CD set Bed, Bed, Bed. The Indestructible Object EP arrived in spring 2004, just a few months before the bands eighth full-length album, The Spine. Early in 2005, Here Come the ABCs and its accompanying DVD were the bands first releases for Disney Sound. Later that year, They Got Lost arrived
