I WILL by The Beatles is a classic shorty@ 1:45; love me some LETTERBOX from Flood; also, gottta give props to THROUGH WITH BUZZ by Steely Dan. An orchestrally compact pretzel of a jam.
It’s beyond me why TMBG isn’t more popular or famous than they are. I saw them recently, and they performed one of their songs completely backwards, including the lyrics. After intermission, the venue played the video backwards, and it was almost perfect. The humor, the brilliant lyrics, and their catchy melodies are simply amazing.
I feeling like it's probably because while they now fit into the musical landscape - they kinda invented the whole musical genre. In 1990, there wasn't much else sounding like them on the radio. Drum machines weren't like, accepted by the mainsteam quite yet. Bands like Magnetic Fields wouldn't break for another decade nearly. At the time bands like my bloody valentine were considered noisy and different. I dunno that's just my two cents. Also, I feel like their live shows now are more traditional then they probably always appeared live. Originally. I remember thinking it so cool and quirky to see a band live with two guys, a spinning wheel on stage and one plays accordion... But that's just the whole thing. Live, it was two guys from Brooklyn, one who played accordion. Musical tastes weren't as varied and accepting back then And genres were more restrictive and peoples tastes were dictated more by their preferred genre... Which were way more defining. Just my two cents.
I get it. They’re absolutely my favorite band, hands down, no exception. But they’re also incredibly niche. Their style appeals to a very specific mentality that I don’t think the wider music audience has.
My wife and I loved TMBG and we listened to Flood so many times when we started dating. When we were married in 1994, one of her bridesmaids - a friend to this day - bought us two front tickets to their show as our wedding present. Still a memorable gift.
When I was in college, this album was HUGE with my group of friends. I had to dive into their back catalogue after hearing it, and I wasn't disappointed! If I made a TMBG "Best Of" album, it would include the first five albums in their entirety. I hope you do more on this band, and you highlight their Dial-A-Song service. You'd call a number, and you'd get a song! They even incorporated the number in the lyrics of a Dial-A-Song number "Swing is a Word". I love that you talked about "Minimum Wage". I had a friend who made that his answering machine message (remember those?). Come to think of it, it would make a great ringtone!
These guys are awesome! I’ve first heard of them when “Weird Al” took over MTV and played Don’t Let Start. I was hooked in an instant! Great interview, they are very grounded and cool.
Love this band! My older cousin introduced me to them by making me a tape that had their first album on one side and Lincoln on the other. So when Flood came out it was one of the early tapes that I bought with my own money. I introduced TMBG to many of my friends. And now its so fun to hear them being introduced to my kids through things like Micky Mouse Clubhouse.
It's great to get Flood stories, but your viewers should know that these guys haven't stopped putting out great music. Their body of work is as big as anyone's...and it's all awesome.
They did the theme song for Disney's new 'Mickey mouse clubhouse' in the 2000's. I remember watching it with my toddler and seeing them in the credits and thinking how perfect it was that they were tapped to do that. We got ears it's time for cheers!
TMBG saved my life honestly. I discovered them through Homestar Runner and when I actually got into their music it was at the most critical time in my life. I had no joys or hobbies, but suddenly they hit my ears and everything felt right again. I'm still collecting their CDs and vinyls and listening to them daily.
Man. I saw them in a tiny club as a duo when they released Anna Ng as a single. Just the 2 of them with a sampler. So many songs....a unique, smart, once in a generation band. "I don't want the world, I just want your half"
I'll be damned. Just yesterday, I was thinking to myself, "I bet Professor of Rock never does anything with my favorite band," and not 24 hours later, this drops. I've interviewed both Johns a number of times, and seen them live at least a dozen times, so I'm really excited to see this. Great interview!
an interesting one would be around Boss of Me, a hit for them and for big TV series in early 2000s. It'd be interesting to hear more how they got involved in that.
I've been a fan of Weird Al since I was a kid - maybe 8 - and the first time I heard They Might Be Giants, I was hooked. It was my freshman year of college in 1993. Flood was a few years old, but HUGE among my friends. Here was a band that was singing fun, not-too-serious songs about math and physics, and stylistically they were all over the place: Just like me! I've had the privilege of meeting many famous musicians in my life but I've been starstruck only a few times, and these guys (along with Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, and The Presidents of the United States of America - moreso than an actual President of the United States) got me absolutely gobsmacked. As always, thank you so much for the great content, Adam. I'm a huge fan and look forward to each day's adventure.
TMBG are living legends. And their catalogue has evolved with them, and their fan base has only gotten bigger and more diverse. I got hooked when I was in middle school and heard Experimental Film on Homestar Runner and at 31, they’re still one of my absolute favourite bands of all time.
My husband and I were very early adopters of the Kia Soul. We found an absolutely beautiful tin birdhouse ornament to put in it so we could have a little birdhouse in our Soul. :)
No truer words….“Always here to celebrate the greatest artists and the greatest songs of all time”. Thanks for the daily content which “Always brings a smile”! Thanks Prof!
Not long after I moved to Edmonton to go to university, I heard "Istanbul, not Constantinople" randomly on the radio. It really caught me; it was so different to anything else on the radio. I learned that it was by TMBG, on the Flood album. I went out as soon as I could to find the album, and I listened to that cassette almost incessantly. "Birdhouse in Your Soul" was the cherry on top of one of the best albums I've ever had.
TMBG had a whole collection of micro-songs on the Apollo 18 album. I remember most of them and quote them all the time, but mainly “What’s that blue thing….doing here?” and “Aren’t you the guy (who hit me in the eye?)”
I had a stereo with a five disc changer that would random through all five discs, it was awesome fun getting one track of the Finger Tips wedged between hard rock songs like Van Halen’s Mean Streets and Quiet Riot’s Metal Health. Thanks for this great interview with TMBG.
Fingertips was put out the way it was so that when your disc was on random it would throw one of those songs and randomly between the other songs. On later CDs they condensed it to one song instead of the breakdown and kind of ruined the effect
Yeah, I remember putting the album into my CD player for the first time and it showed 28 tracks. I love the compilation; but I still wish they had expanded some of those compelling little nuggets into full songs.
Arguably one of the best lyrics in music is in that album. From “Road Movie to Berlin”: “We were once so close to heaven, Peter came out and gave us medals declaring us the nicest of the damned.”
Man flood is such an amazing album! Every song is great. My favorite songs are we want a rock, dead, your racist friend, birdhouse (of course), particle man; Whistling in the dark. Istanbul, so many.
They Might Be Giants' debut album is absolutely amazing. Something like 18 songs on it, 15 of which are brilliant. "Absolutely Bill's Mood" is such a great track.
How can anyone NOT like They Might Be Giants? Their music always struck me as pure FUN! At least most of it, anyway. I don’t think I could name a single one of their songs that I didn’t like within the first ten seconds! Try that sometime with any other recording artists. It’s incredibly hard to do - it makes me think of the old saying, “If it was easy, everyone would do it!” Notice just about NOBODY has ever been able to do that except THESE GUYS! TMBG seem to have cracked the secret code somehow, and to me, everything they’ve recorded has been appealing on multiple levels. Thanks, Adam, for this video! You always do a good job, and this one was great fun!!
Great interview. Looks like Flans is pretty well recovered from his accident, good to see. I discovered TMBG with Don’t Let’s Start, thanks to a freshman year roommate, and I couldn’t stand them at first. They slowly grew on me though, and a few years later, when Flood came out, I was hooked the moment I heard Particle Man, Whistling in the Dark, We Want a Rock… so many great cuts on that album, I could never pick a favorite. Fully half the concerts I’ve been to in my life have been They.
This album was my life in 1990. Everyone in my peer group thought I was the biggest dork on earth. I was, but this album is awesome! I was totally right to be obsessed with it.
I saw them at Irving Plaza NYC on Halloween around 1993? They asked people who played string instruments to come early. They put them up in the balcony and taught them the part to a special song… Turned into “Horse With No Name! Fun show! ❤
Love TMBG! Thanks for this video. The very first CD I ever bought was their first album. Back in the day when Cd's started, to get people to buy into this new format they would stick extra songs on the Cd's. I loved everything I heard from this band. Which may have just been Don't Let's Start, I'm sure 120 minutes deserves credit here. I had to have as much TMBD as I could get. I didn't even own a CD player but my friend did. I couldn't listen to this at home but I had to have those extra songs. I even used to call their dial a song back then. Why they aren't one of the most beloved bands of all time, I don't understand. Violent Femmes deserves that rank too BTW.
I think I had heard Istanbul at some point before they were on Tiny Toons, but I don't have any clear memories of TMBG before that episode. I love that in the episode even the characters seem to be confused by the songs' presence (Buster saying "Who are these guys?").
My best girlfriend found TMBG when we were in 9th and 10th grade (she was a grade behind me). She was SO into their songs. I will tell the world that their song Constantinople gets STUCK IN MY HEAD every time I hear it!! And when I first started watching Big Bang Theory, their theme song, I kept saying Bare Naked Ladies was reminding me of They Might Be Giants! I love a song that makes you stop and LAUGH at the “hidden” lyrics…
Saw them in concert 12/31/22 - still going strong. The actually played one of their songs backwards, end to beginning. They recorded it, and then played it beginning to end so we could see how accurate it was, and it was really close.
Create world peace by listening to They Might Be Giants! Love it, you maybe right! You can't listen to them without coming away with a great feeling that puts you in a good mood. A true indie band made some fantastic music with a very original style. Great interview and episode professor
I was into metal and industrial when Flood came out, so it wasn’t part of my meager CD collection at the time. I believe I only had the first 3 Metallica albums, Cowboys from Hell by Pantera, The Mind is a Terrible Thing To Taste and The Land Of Rape and Honey by Ministry, the only LARD album, And I think Fook by Pigface, Oh and The self Titled MR Bungle album which is amazing. You should do that one. This was Pre-nevermind, mind you, but I had a friend that had like 500 CDs at the time and his older brother had even more. So I heard Flood riding around in his mustang with a 6 disc(!) CD changer with hours of music of a wider range than my collection. Then in 1992 my first year in college me and a bunch of friends on out dorm floor all signed up for Columbia house. We tried to not get the same CDs and we would make tape copies if someone else wanted a CD you bought. I remember getting mostly metal like the rest of the metallica discography and all the megadeth albums they had, plus some suicidal tendencies and dead kennedys. The one album I got that didn’t fit in with those was Flood. I played that album over and over until I knew every song by heart. A few years later I went to see them at the house of blues to support Factory Showroom, which is right up there with flood. One of the Johns had laryngitis so the opening act, a Mr Frank Black, you might have heard of him, sat in and sang his parts. That was pretty cool. Oh wait, I just remembered that I had some Primus albums back before I got Flood too. Sailing the Seas of Cheese is another classic you should cover. Les Claypool is a great bassist and comes up with such weird ideas for songs. His current project with Sean Lennon, The Claypool Lennon Delirium is pretty good too.
Loved the earworm, "Boss of Me" from Malcolm in the Middle, long before Walter White became a cult icon. It had that "End of the World as We Know It" by R. E. M. vibe. Professor, you made me relive my purchasing dilemma between cassettes vs CDs. Hmmm, the cassettes are durable, cheaper, and work in my Walkman, but CDs have no hissing and I can go right to the songs I like... What to do?
Enjoyed 1972 hits on my drive to lunch today Nice To Be With You - Gallery Playground In My Mind - Clinton Holmes Go All The Way - Raspberries Listen To The Music - Doobie Brothers Everything I Own - Bread Ah the nostalgia of simpler more innocent times ! Thanks Adam for your TH-cam channel! Got me music nostalgic !
Funny that he mentioned The Residents and their song "Constantinople." I have tried numerous times to listen to The Residents, but they are WAY too _avant garde_ for my tastes. Even Frank Zappa at his most experimental is more listenable than The Residents. A seriously weird band.
FLOOD was a requirement for all theatre nerds in the 90s...I used to teach theatre Tech to youth and I told them they needed to buy the CD...It was great for testing sound systems as well...
I absolutely love They Might Be Giants! I used to babysit one of my nieces and she loved the song Particle Man and her dad used to play it for her a bunch growing up. Strangely enough, my favorite album of theirs is Factory Showroom. I think it's their most consistent album. And there's no more informative song than Why Does the Sun Shine? :)
Because the sun is a mass of incandescent gas, a gigantic nuclear furnace / where hydrogen is built into helium at a temperature of millions of degrees.
Honestly, even though I grew up during the 80s and 90s, and other than 'Particle Man' and 'Istanbul,' I haven't heard their music! I better get on that...
Thank you for introducing me to this duo. I’ve never heard of They Might Be Giants before, but now that I have I’ll have, I will be checking out the rest of their music. I agree, if everyone woke up and were able to keep the good mood they woke with, there would be world peace. It’s hard to nuke someone when your in a good mood. Lol Funny fact, I actually know of Tom Glazer and Dottie Evens, so I already knew “Why does the sun shine”. My grandmother had their album Space Songs.
@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 Funny, I asked my son just a few minutes ago if he knew them too. Though I shouldn’t be surprised, he’s in university, so he has a lot of time to listen to music. The lucky bastard. Lol
One of my greatest concert moments was the encore of an NYC show. They introduced "Dr Evil" by saying "there's really only one kind of doctor..." and then when they were done, they said, "actually, there's one other kind of doctor..." and the crowd went wild knowing they were in for a rendition of "Dr Worm!"
Bass clarinet!! Always dug TMBG but have to admit I can only listen to em in small doses cuz the vocals are so nasally, haha...but I got into em early with Don't Let's Start & then Ana Ng was big on WDRE...think it was a Shreek of the Week...their Dial a Song service is neat, Flood was a cool fun album, the collection Dial a Song is great...
I had no idea that "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" was written in the 1950's, so it's been around decades before They Might be Giants popularised it to contemporary listeners.
I absolutely used to put many short songs like Minimum Wage or "Bonus Cup" songs from The Descendents on mix tapes. I was obsessed with completely filling the cassettes. So much fun and challenging.
Saw them on Conan O'Brian, they played 7.I thought it was awesome and hilarious. I played it for one of my rock and roll buddies, he thought I had lost my mind. He started requesting that I play it 👍👍👍🎶🎼🎵
I love this album so much. My 7th grade science teacher got me into the band by playing us Why Does the Sun Shine in science class. I'm a little surprised you didn't ask about the song We Want a Rock. I've always been curious what that song was inspired by.
Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley are largely responsible for the sound the British Ska band Madness. You can hear their influence on Morrissey's album they produced. Flood is a very polished sounding album
I really like how all of their music is so upbeat, no matter how dark the subject matter is. Slowly Twisting, and You and Your Racist Friend's music is so fun, but the songs are dark and funny.
Great call by the Professor on using “Minimum Wage” to fill out those few extra seconds of the mix tape! I had a few go-to’s for that, including this one. Also, need to put out some love for “Women and Men”! Great track.
I remember when my older brother came home from college and I sat in his car while he played me "Dead" for my first TMBG experience. I still associate reincarnation with a grocery bag.
SF’s Radio Live105 (KITS) held a free concert of Flood in Union Square (think Coppola’s ‘74 “Conversation”) in fall ‘90. Will always treasure that experience. [left: “ERRRRRRR!!!; right “BANG!” Echoing b/w bldgs]😂
They Might Be Giants is such an amazing live act, definitely worth catching them if you ever have the chance. They were the first band I ever saw live, now that I think of it. Though you can tell it was before the Internet era since my friends and I waited around to meet them after the show and since we did not really know what they looked like they literally came out and walked right past us and got on the tour bus and left
TMBG is one of my all time favorite bands. I saw them at a lot of early college shows when they first hit the scene. I knew they'd be extra special so I bought two copies of each album and never opened the second disc. I still have them in pristine condition.
I understand the importance of Flood but it does bum me out it seems to be the only stuff the average listener knows, from a band with over a thousand songs. There is a difference between Best and Favorite with any band I like and with them I wouldn't even put Flood in my top 3, even if it is their 'best.' They hooked me with the Tiny Toons bit when I was ten and I will soon see them for the 18th or 19th time, hoping for minimal Flood songs.
Man, Flood is one of my favorite car-trip albums. Almost every song is great, and you can't help wanting to sing along. "Women and Men", "Lucky Ball & Chain", and "Letterbox" are a few of my favorite lesser known songs off of the album.
This just popped up on my feed and holy woah- how have I never found this channel??? TMBG is a group I truly don't think I appreciated until adulthood to the fullest- between their brilliant mastering and the cleverness in their lyrics, truly one of the greatest musical groups of my generation (or possibly any... it's arguable)
Professor...there needs to be a movement to get you your own show on MTV. Maybe those of us that lived through the 80's, can get the Music back in Music Television? You would be a fantastic host for a "Professor of Rock Show"
The thing to keep in mind about "Blue Bird of Happiness," is that it's a very, very old phrase that was part of the common lexicon in the 1930s, the 1940s, and the 1950s. It's more surprising that someone would question the origin of the phrase as having one specific inspiration than it would be surprising that someone would decide to use it randomly because it's bouncing around in their head as a common English metaphor.
I first heard them on KHSU, a college radio station in Arcata, California that played actual alternative music during the late 80s like The Pixies, The Sugar Cubes, The Ramones, The Butthole Surfers, Tragic Mulato and a lot of other punk inspired bands. Ana Ng and Don’t Let’s Stop were two songs that they played often and were a part of the college radio programming that gave birth to alternative rock music of the 90s.
Why did it take a minute and a half to say the band name? You didn't even put it in the title. I only assumed because I was getting TMBG recommendations all over my homepage.
I'm a bird lover. First attracted by the song title, "Birdhouse in Your Soul", listened, loved the duo! Loved Istanbul, because I grew up listening to my father's music --- including "Puttin' on the RItz" (Irving Berlin, 1929). Great what they did with this tune! The 80's and 90's were great times for a little creative branching out in popular music! Awesome interview.
I just found out about this band! I lost interest in pop music by the end of the’70s and missed out on these guys. Fortunately, the music is still available and I’ll be adding a few cents to their royalties.
Those Tiny Toon videos were my first introduction to them. I remembered watching them when I was young (preteen maybe 8 or 9) and loving them. Again, being a DJ you get to reintroduce songs to people. I played Birdhouse in Your Soul one night and the whole bar started singing. Thank for all the memories! They are good ones!
Poll: What is your pick for the best "SHORT" song of all time?
ZZ Top - Tush (2:15)
Judas Priest - Breaking The Law (2:35)
White Riot The Clash 1:58
The House is Rockin Stevie Ray Vaughan 2:24
I WILL by The Beatles is a classic shorty@ 1:45; love me some LETTERBOX from Flood; also, gottta give props to THROUGH WITH BUZZ by Steely Dan. An orchestrally compact pretzel of a jam.
FINGERTIPS!!!
Paul Revere and the Raiders--Kicks @ 2:16.
It’s beyond me why TMBG isn’t more popular or famous than they are. I saw them recently, and they performed one of their songs completely backwards, including the lyrics. After intermission, the venue played the video backwards, and it was almost perfect. The humor, the brilliant lyrics, and their catchy melodies are simply amazing.
Sapphire bullets! That part of the show absolutely melted my mind.
I feeling like it's probably because while they now fit into the musical landscape - they kinda invented the whole musical genre. In 1990, there wasn't much else sounding like them on the radio. Drum machines weren't like, accepted by the mainsteam quite yet.
Bands like
Magnetic Fields wouldn't break for another decade nearly.
At the time bands like my bloody valentine were considered noisy and different.
I dunno that's just my two cents.
Also, I feel like their live shows now are more traditional then they probably always appeared live. Originally.
I remember thinking it so cool and quirky to see a band live with two guys, a spinning wheel on stage and one plays accordion... But that's just the whole thing.
Live, it was two guys from Brooklyn, one who played accordion.
Musical tastes weren't as varied and accepting back then
And genres were more restrictive and peoples tastes were dictated more by their preferred genre... Which were way more defining.
Just my two cents.
I get it. They’re absolutely my favorite band, hands down, no exception. But they’re also incredibly niche. Their style appeals to a very specific mentality that I don’t think the wider music audience has.
@@joebove4 don't talk to be about niche. My favorite band is the 🎃🔨
@@jaysharpESQ they were pretty darn mainstream in their day, man.
My wife and I loved TMBG and we listened to Flood so many times when we started dating. When we were married in 1994, one of her bridesmaids - a friend to this day - bought us two front tickets to their show as our wedding present. Still a memorable gift.
When I was in college, this album was HUGE with my group of friends. I had to dive into their back catalogue after hearing it, and I wasn't disappointed! If I made a TMBG "Best Of" album, it would include the first five albums in their entirety. I hope you do more on this band, and you highlight their Dial-A-Song service. You'd call a number, and you'd get a song! They even incorporated the number in the lyrics of a Dial-A-Song number "Swing is a Word".
I love that you talked about "Minimum Wage". I had a friend who made that his answering machine message (remember those?). Come to think of it, it would make a great ringtone!
Similar here... I was in college when Flood was released and our group loved it.
I’ve heard a lot about Dial-A-Song! Great album right there!
Fingertips
The better ringtone is Someone keeps moving my chair.
"Mr horrible Mr horrible telephone call for Mr horrible"
These guys are awesome! I’ve first heard of them when “Weird Al” took over MTV and played Don’t Let Start. I was hooked in an instant!
Great interview, they are very grounded and cool.
And they were both on Demento, right?
There's a real depth to the fun and the quirk. It's beautiful.
I was born in 84, I really love the 70s, 80s, and I’m really happy your covering more 90s videos lately! Definitely enjoy this channel. Thanks!
Love this band! My older cousin introduced me to them by making me a tape that had their first album on one side and Lincoln on the other. So when Flood came out it was one of the early tapes that I bought with my own money. I introduced TMBG to many of my friends. And now its so fun to hear them being introduced to my kids through things like Micky Mouse Clubhouse.
They’re such a hoot! So many great songs from them.
I loved it when they were on Sesame Street maybe 20 years ago or so? My little daughter learned to love them, too.
I watched Sesame Street ALL. THE. TIME.
I 1st heard them on Dr Demento and ran out to the store to get flood, and Apolla 18 is the greatest TMBG album, I will die on this hill
14:40 The camera man decides to make a joke. Hilarious.
Road Movie To Berlin was my jam...
My favorite band ever.
It's great to get Flood stories, but your viewers should know that these guys haven't stopped putting out great music. Their body of work is as big as anyone's...and it's all awesome.
THIS. TMBG have yet to release a disappointing album, and they still put on a phenomenal show. Seeing them four times next year.
I know, right? I love them!
brilliant band, they are still going strong, for sure!
They did the theme song for Disney's new 'Mickey mouse clubhouse' in the 2000's. I remember watching it with my toddler and seeing them in the credits and thinking how perfect it was that they were tapped to do that.
We got ears it's time for cheers!
After Apollo 18 they brought in a band and the sound changed. It wasn't until Mink Car was released that I got that classic vibe again.
My last name is as you can see Mann. I had sons in 2018 and 2019. My wife refused my idea to name them Triangle Mann and Particle Mann
Was she holding out for Universe Mann?
TMBG saved my life honestly. I discovered them through Homestar Runner and when I actually got into their music it was at the most critical time in my life. I had no joys or hobbies, but suddenly they hit my ears and everything felt right again. I'm still collecting their CDs and vinyls and listening to them daily.
Man. I saw them in a tiny club as a duo when they released Anna Ng as a single. Just the 2 of them with a sampler. So many songs....a unique, smart, once in a generation band. "I don't want the world, I just want your half"
Birdhouse is perfection. First 2 albums (pre-Flood) are true masterpieces
Agreed!
Lincoln is a staple when I paint
Ah, the antediluvian albums!
@@ZandoFox Haha now that is some nerdy humor for a nerdy band! I approve 🤓🤓🤓
Those first 3 were their beat imo
Still my favourite band. Much like Sparks, they have always had their artistic vision and have never compromised it, across genres and media formats.
I'll be damned. Just yesterday, I was thinking to myself, "I bet Professor of Rock never does anything with my favorite band," and not 24 hours later, this drops. I've interviewed both Johns a number of times, and seen them live at least a dozen times, so I'm really excited to see this. Great interview!
If he does an episode on Istanbul I’d be shocked.
an interesting one would be around Boss of Me, a hit for them and for big TV series in early 2000s. It'd be interesting to hear more how they got involved in that.
I would like to know how many people actually finished the contract with Columbia. I didn't and that was 35 years ago at least.
That would be good information to have.
I don't know what you're talking about...🤐😇
I was always scared I would be thw one to get in trouble...
Oohh snap... And BNG records
My parents finished it! 🤣 This was before CDs, though. 😂
I've been a fan of Weird Al since I was a kid - maybe 8 - and the first time I heard They Might Be Giants, I was hooked. It was my freshman year of college in 1993. Flood was a few years old, but HUGE among my friends. Here was a band that was singing fun, not-too-serious songs about math and physics, and stylistically they were all over the place: Just like me!
I've had the privilege of meeting many famous musicians in my life but I've been starstruck only a few times, and these guys (along with Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz, and The Presidents of the United States of America - moreso than an actual President of the United States) got me absolutely gobsmacked.
As always, thank you so much for the great content, Adam. I'm a huge fan and look forward to each day's adventure.
Weird Al is very nice. I’m re-uploading my interview with him in a few weeks when his biopic is released.
TMBG are living legends. And their catalogue has evolved with them, and their fan base has only gotten bigger and more diverse. I got hooked when I was in middle school and heard Experimental Film on Homestar Runner and at 31, they’re still one of my absolute favourite bands of all time.
They’re the best!
Birdhouse was the first dance at our wedding. For my wife & I, it's Our Song.
Particle man on Tiny Toons was more addictive than anything else when it came out. Everyone at school couldn't shut up about it lol
Ha ha. So very true!
Particle Man is awesome. 😎
@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 But Triangle Man is the Workingman's Hero.
If you were under 12 in 1990, Tiny Toons was how you learned about They Might Be Giants.
My husband and I were very early adopters of the Kia Soul. We found an absolutely beautiful tin birdhouse ornament to put in it so we could have a little birdhouse in our Soul. :)
When I was a younger girl I had one teacher who was a birdwatcher, and she had a true birdhouse in her soul.
No truer words….“Always here to celebrate the greatest artists and the greatest songs of all time”.
Thanks for the daily content which “Always brings a smile”!
Thanks Prof!
Thanks for watching and supporting the channel Paul!
Not long after I moved to Edmonton to go to university, I heard "Istanbul, not Constantinople" randomly on the radio. It really caught me; it was so different to anything else on the radio. I learned that it was by TMBG, on the Flood album. I went out as soon as I could to find the album, and I listened to that cassette almost incessantly. "Birdhouse in Your Soul" was the cherry on top of one of the best albums I've ever had.
Thanks for sharing!
Had the same experience the first time I heard it. I was like, “Why would someone make a song about Turkey?” Mom said, “Just for silliness.”
Love these guys. All their albums are just fun, “Particle Man” and “Your Racist Friend” are brilliant songs too.
For sure. Great stuff.
This whole album is awesome.
I remember Particle Man from Tiny Toons
yes would have loved to hear how Particle Man came about
TMBG had a whole collection of micro-songs on the Apollo 18 album. I remember most of them and quote them all the time, but mainly “What’s that blue thing….doing here?” and “Aren’t you the guy (who hit me in the eye?)”
Always made me chuckle and brightened my day.
"Fingertips"
I had a stereo with a five disc changer that would random through all five discs, it was awesome fun getting one track of the Finger Tips wedged between hard rock songs like Van Halen’s Mean Streets and Quiet Riot’s Metal Health. Thanks for this great interview with TMBG.
Fingertips was put out the way it was so that when your disc was on random it would throw one of those songs and randomly between the other songs. On later CDs they condensed it to one song instead of the breakdown and kind of ruined the effect
Yeah, I remember putting the album into my CD player for the first time and it showed 28 tracks. I love the compilation; but I still wish they had expanded some of those compelling little nuggets into full songs.
Arguably one of the best lyrics in music is in that album. From “Road Movie to Berlin”:
“We were once so close to heaven, Peter came out and gave us medals declaring us the nicest of the damned.”
Man flood is such an amazing album! Every song is great. My favorite songs are we want a rock, dead, your racist friend, birdhouse (of course), particle man; Whistling in the dark. Istanbul, so many.
They Might Be Giants' debut album is absolutely amazing. Something like 18 songs on it, 15 of which are brilliant. "Absolutely Bill's Mood" is such a great track.
I agree. They could pack in a lot of songs.
Not a bad song on that album.
Everything Right is Wrong Again & Hide Away Folk Family are two of my favorites from that album
Saw them in Carbondale IL in 1990 then went bowling with John Flansburgh after the show.
How can anyone NOT like They Might Be Giants? Their music always struck me as pure FUN! At least most of it, anyway. I don’t think I could name a single one of their songs that I didn’t like within the first ten seconds! Try that sometime with any other recording artists. It’s incredibly hard to do - it makes me think of the old saying, “If it was easy, everyone would do it!” Notice just about NOBODY has ever been able to do that except THESE GUYS! TMBG seem to have cracked the secret code somehow, and to me, everything they’ve recorded has been appealing on multiple levels. Thanks, Adam, for this video! You always do a good job, and this one was great fun!!
Thanks ED!
They don’t have a bad song on them. Their music always makes me laugh.
Great interview. Looks like Flans is pretty well recovered from his accident, good to see. I discovered TMBG with Don’t Let’s Start, thanks to a freshman year roommate, and I couldn’t stand them at first. They slowly grew on me though, and a few years later, when Flood came out, I was hooked the moment I heard Particle Man, Whistling in the Dark, We Want a Rock… so many great cuts on that album, I could never pick a favorite. Fully half the concerts I’ve been to in my life have been They.
this was recorded awhile back. he is recovering well, tho. They're playing live right now
This album was my life in 1990. Everyone in my peer group thought I was the biggest dork on earth. I was, but this album is awesome! I was totally right to be obsessed with it.
I agree! It was a Geek Rock Masterpiece
I’m such a nerd too because I love this stuff!
I saw them at Irving Plaza NYC on Halloween around 1993? They asked people who played string instruments to come early. They put them up in the balcony and taught them the part to a special song… Turned into “Horse With No Name! Fun show! ❤
Love TMBG! Thanks for this video. The very first CD I ever bought was their first album. Back in the day when Cd's started, to get people to buy into this new format they would stick extra songs on the Cd's. I loved everything I heard from this band. Which may have just been Don't Let's Start, I'm sure 120 minutes deserves credit here. I had to have as much TMBD as I could get. I didn't even own a CD player but my friend did. I couldn't listen to this at home but I had to have those extra songs. I even used to call their dial a song back then. Why they aren't one of the most beloved bands of all time, I don't understand. Violent Femmes deserves that rank too BTW.
I think I had heard Istanbul at some point before they were on Tiny Toons, but I don't have any clear memories of TMBG before that episode. I love that in the episode even the characters seem to be confused by the songs' presence (Buster saying "Who are these guys?").
My best girlfriend found TMBG when we were in 9th and 10th grade (she was a grade behind me). She was SO into their songs. I will tell the world that their song Constantinople gets STUCK IN MY HEAD every time I hear it!! And when I first started watching Big Bang Theory, their theme song, I kept saying Bare Naked Ladies was reminding me of They Might Be Giants! I love a song that makes you stop and LAUGH at the “hidden” lyrics…
Constantinople is a bonafide earworm!!!
Saw them in concert 12/31/22 - still going strong. The actually played one of their songs backwards, end to beginning. They recorded it, and then played it beginning to end so we could see how accurate it was, and it was really close.
Create world peace by listening to They Might Be Giants! Love it, you maybe right! You can't listen to them without coming away with a great feeling that puts you in a good mood. A true indie band made some fantastic music with a very original style. Great interview and episode professor
Thanks My Name!
We all need a little silly in our lives, and it doesn’t get any better than TMBG and Weird Al. This song is a vibe, for sure!
I was into metal and industrial when Flood came out, so it wasn’t part of my meager CD collection at the time. I believe I only had the first 3 Metallica albums, Cowboys from Hell by Pantera, The Mind is a Terrible Thing To Taste and The Land Of Rape and Honey by Ministry, the only LARD album, And I think Fook by Pigface, Oh and The self Titled MR Bungle album which is amazing. You should do that one. This was Pre-nevermind, mind you, but I had a friend that had like 500 CDs at the time and his older brother had even more. So I heard Flood riding around in his mustang with a 6 disc(!) CD changer with hours of music of a wider range than my collection. Then in 1992 my first year in college me and a bunch of friends on out dorm floor all signed up for Columbia house. We tried to not get the same CDs and we would make tape copies if someone else wanted a CD you bought. I remember getting mostly metal like the rest of the metallica discography and all the megadeth albums they had, plus some suicidal tendencies and dead kennedys. The one album I got that didn’t fit in with those was Flood. I played that album over and over until I knew every song by heart. A few years later I went to see them at the house of blues to support Factory Showroom, which is right up there with flood. One of the Johns had laryngitis so the opening act, a Mr Frank Black, you might have heard of him, sat in and sang his parts. That was pretty cool. Oh wait, I just remembered that I had some Primus albums back before I got Flood too. Sailing the Seas of Cheese is another classic you should cover. Les Claypool is a great bassist and comes up with such weird ideas for songs. His current project with Sean Lennon, The Claypool Lennon Delirium is pretty good too.
If you're introducing to them to someone, show them: "A Tale of Two Johns." A wonderful introduction to the band!
These guys are so great. That film is out of print so they put it on TH-cam so everyone can enjoy it
Loved the earworm, "Boss of Me" from Malcolm in the Middle, long before Walter White became a cult icon. It had that "End of the World as We Know It" by R. E. M. vibe. Professor, you made me relive my purchasing dilemma between cassettes vs CDs. Hmmm, the cassettes are durable, cheaper, and work in my Walkman, but CDs have no hissing and I can go right to the songs I like... What to do?
Ha ha. I remember that choice. I was a proponent of both.
Just because I’m an old fashioned kind of girl, I’d definitely try the cassettes!
Enjoyed 1972 hits on my drive to lunch today
Nice To Be With You - Gallery
Playground In My Mind - Clinton Holmes
Go All The Way - Raspberries
Listen To The Music - Doobie Brothers
Everything I Own - Bread
Ah the nostalgia of simpler more innocent times !
Thanks Adam for your TH-cam channel! Got me music nostalgic !
Funny that he mentioned The Residents and their song "Constantinople." I have tried numerous times to listen to The Residents, but they are WAY too _avant garde_ for my tastes. Even Frank Zappa at his most experimental is more listenable than The Residents. A seriously weird band.
FLOOD was a requirement for all theatre nerds in the 90s...I used to teach theatre Tech to youth and I told them they needed to buy the CD...It was great for testing sound systems as well...
I absolutely love They Might Be Giants! I used to babysit one of my nieces and she loved the song Particle Man and her dad used to play it for her a bunch growing up. Strangely enough, my favorite album of theirs is Factory Showroom. I think it's their most consistent album. And there's no more informative song than Why Does the Sun Shine? :)
Particle Man is such a fun song!
Because the sun is a mass of incandescent gas, a gigantic nuclear furnace / where hydrogen is built into helium at a temperature of millions of degrees.
Hey Adam, it would be really cool if you toured with these guys! I'm actually thinking of seeing them in Oakland in April because of this video.
Honestly, even though I grew up during the 80s and 90s, and other than 'Particle Man' and 'Istanbul,' I haven't heard their music! I better get on that...
Thank you for introducing me to this duo. I’ve never heard of They Might Be Giants before, but now that I have I’ll have, I will be checking out the rest of their music. I agree, if everyone woke up and were able to keep the good mood they woke with, there would be world peace. It’s hard to nuke someone when your in a good mood. Lol
Funny fact, I actually know of Tom Glazer and Dottie Evens, so I already knew “Why does the sun shine”. My grandmother had their album Space Songs.
I KNOW you will love them!
Check out their debut album (self-titled)--it's phenomenal.
Hey Brent, They Might Be Giants did that famous cover of “Istanbul (Not Constantinople) and it’s how I got interested in them.
@@xxlilly_playsxxkiz9980 Funny, I asked my son just a few minutes ago if he knew them too. Though I shouldn’t be surprised, he’s in university, so he has a lot of time to listen to music. The lucky bastard. Lol
@@brenturquhart7090 Yes, he’s got plenty of time to listen to music! I’m still in high school, so I have plenty of time to listen to music!
One of my greatest concert moments was the encore of an NYC show. They introduced "Dr Evil" by saying "there's really only one kind of doctor..." and then when they were done, they said, "actually, there's one other kind of doctor..." and the crowd went wild knowing they were in for a rendition of "Dr Worm!"
Bass clarinet!! Always dug TMBG but have to admit I can only listen to em in small doses cuz the vocals are so nasally, haha...but I got into em early with Don't Let's Start & then Ana Ng was big on WDRE...think it was a Shreek of the Week...their Dial a Song service is neat, Flood was a cool fun album, the collection Dial a Song is great...
I had no idea that "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" was written in the 1950's, so it's been around decades before They Might be Giants popularised it to contemporary listeners.
It's pretty cool. Those guys know their stuff.
The Four Lads recorded it first in 1953!
I absolutely used to put many short songs like Minimum Wage or "Bonus Cup" songs from The Descendents on mix tapes. I was obsessed with completely filling the cassettes. So much fun and challenging.
I've heard They Might Be Giants numerous times on The Dr.Demento Show-These guys are fantastic.
Saw them on Conan O'Brian, they played 7.I thought it was awesome and hilarious. I played it for one of my rock and roll buddies, he thought I had lost my mind. He started requesting that I play it 👍👍👍🎶🎼🎵
I was gonna say the same thing! Like, “Are you serious? You’re a nerd now!”
I absolutely love this interview and song/group. Have you already covered the song Camouflage by Stan Ridgeway ? Such a classic.
I haven't. Will do.
@@ProfessorofRock thank you! What an odd gem but definitely worth covering.
What an underrated gem right there. Love it.
I love this album so much. My 7th grade science teacher got me into the band by playing us Why Does the Sun Shine in science class. I'm a little surprised you didn't ask about the song We Want a Rock. I've always been curious what that song was inspired by.
Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley are largely responsible for the sound the British Ska band Madness. You can hear their influence on Morrissey's album they produced. Flood is a very polished sounding album
I loved them since "Don't Let's Start"! What a fun band!
Got to see TMBG in Chattanooga several years ago. Great concert!
I really like how all of their music is so upbeat, no matter how dark the subject matter is. Slowly Twisting, and You and Your Racist Friend's music is so fun, but the songs are dark and funny.
Great call by the Professor on using “Minimum Wage” to fill out those few extra seconds of the mix tape! I had a few go-to’s for that, including this one. Also, need to put out some love for “Women and Men”! Great track.
My 2 favorite TMBG songs are Istanbul (Not Constantinople) and She was a hotel detective.
I remember when my older brother came home from college and I sat in his car while he played me "Dead" for my first TMBG experience. I still associate reincarnation with a grocery bag.
John the other one is a seriously underrated guitarist. Probably the album I listened to most in my life and got it from Columbia House.
Ha ha. Very cool.
Great memories.
Thank you for highlighting one of my favorite bands of all time!
Still one of my favorite songs all-time. I LOVE these guys. 👍
As an autistic nerd, I think they’re awesome!
Talk about songs that put you in a good mood, you should review “Walking on Sunshine”
SF’s Radio Live105 (KITS) held a free concert of Flood in Union Square (think Coppola’s ‘74 “Conversation”) in fall ‘90. Will always treasure that experience. [left: “ERRRRRRR!!!; right “BANG!” Echoing b/w bldgs]😂
That was such a badass place to see a concert.
They Might Be Giants is such an amazing live act, definitely worth catching them if you ever have the chance. They were the first band I ever saw live, now that I think of it. Though you can tell it was before the Internet era since my friends and I waited around to meet them after the show and since we did not really know what they looked like they literally came out and walked right past us and got on the tour bus and left
Crystal Bernard is in the video. Where? Anyone see it? She went to high school with a friend of mine.
My favorite group of all time. My favorite album is Mink Car.
Fingertips and Please Pass the Milk are my fave short tmbg tunes
TMBG is one of my all time favorite bands. I saw them at a lot of early college shows when they first hit the scene. I knew they'd be extra special so I bought two copies of each album and never opened the second disc. I still have them in pristine condition.
They’re just that awesome, huh?
Heard of Inst/Con first, probably another song and then Particle Man on TT when I was a young. Fun times :)
Same here.
Don’t let’s start was my introduction to TMBG
I understand the importance of Flood but it does bum me out it seems to be the only stuff the average listener knows, from a band with over a thousand songs. There is a difference between Best and Favorite with any band I like and with them I wouldn't even put Flood in my top 3, even if it is their 'best.' They hooked me with the Tiny Toons bit when I was ten and I will soon see them for the 18th or 19th time, hoping for minimal Flood songs.
I remember first hearing TMBG in college. Ana Ng is still my favorite of their songs. Takes me back to apartment and frat parties from back then.
Man, Flood is one of my favorite car-trip albums. Almost every song is great, and you can't help wanting to sing along. "Women and Men", "Lucky Ball & Chain", and "Letterbox" are a few of my favorite lesser known songs off of the album.
Hot Cha, where are you? Everybody's eyes are closed. I can't see why I need you so / Hot Cha, where are you?
I miss Columbia House. Got me started on CDs.
The film they're named after--
th-cam.com/video/AAFUgEUlg58/w-d-xo.html
Where is Ana Ng from? What makes her presence so majestic?
This just popped up on my feed and holy woah- how have I never found this channel???
TMBG is a group I truly don't think I appreciated until adulthood to the fullest- between their brilliant mastering and the cleverness in their lyrics, truly one of the greatest musical groups of my generation (or possibly any... it's arguable)
Such a great, creatively, funny band.
I also once made a mix CD for someone and just put Minimum Wage right in the middle just because
They are The Beatles of my generation no doubt
Professor...there needs to be a movement to get you your own show on MTV. Maybe those of us that lived through the 80's, can get the Music back in Music Television? You would be a fantastic host for a "Professor of Rock Show"
Wouldn’t that be nice? Music on MTV again? It might inspire some creativity again.
Love They Might Be Giants.
The thing to keep in mind about "Blue Bird of Happiness," is that it's a very, very old phrase that was part of the common lexicon in the 1930s, the 1940s, and the 1950s. It's more surprising that someone would question the origin of the phrase as having one specific inspiration than it would be surprising that someone would decide to use it randomly because it's bouncing around in their head as a common English metaphor.
I first heard them on KHSU, a college radio station in Arcata, California that played actual alternative music during the late 80s like The Pixies, The Sugar Cubes, The Ramones, The Butthole Surfers, Tragic Mulato and a lot of other punk inspired bands. Ana Ng and Don’t Let’s Stop were two songs that they played often and were a part of the college radio programming that gave birth to alternative rock music of the 90s.
Saw these guys live in Portland, ME earlier this month. One of my favorite shows ever to attend! So much fun.
Learned a bunch from today’s segment! There’s always something new to appreciate in the world of music. Thx Adam!
Thanks Robster! I really appreciate you!
Why did it take a minute and a half to say the band name? You didn't even put it in the title. I only assumed because I was getting TMBG recommendations all over my homepage.
TH-cam algorithm. Kept you watching for a minute, right?
@@christophermanley3602 Honestly I wouldn't have even watched if TH-cam's recommendations weren't so crap for me lately.
I'm a bird lover. First attracted by the song title, "Birdhouse in Your Soul", listened, loved the duo! Loved Istanbul, because I grew up listening to my father's music --- including "Puttin' on the RItz" (Irving Berlin, 1929). Great what they did with this tune! The 80's and 90's were great times for a little creative branching out in popular music! Awesome interview.
I just found out about this band! I lost interest in pop music by the end of the’70s and missed out on these guys. Fortunately, the music is still available and I’ll be adding a few cents to their royalties.
Those Tiny Toon videos were my first introduction to them. I remembered watching them when I was young (preteen maybe 8 or 9) and loving them. Again, being a DJ you get to reintroduce songs to people. I played Birdhouse in Your Soul one night and the whole bar started singing. Thank for all the memories! They are good ones!