They Might Be Giants

Disney Sound released the CD and DVD separately on February 15th. In 1970, The Turtles released More Golden Hits, which contained the singles Sound Asleep and The Story of Rock and Roll, and in 1971, a B-sides and rarities album, Wooden Head, their last album. 2005 saw the release of Here Come the ABCs, TMBG's follow-up to the successful children's album No!. In spite of Turtle Soup's critical success, commercial acclaim was low and the band soon began disintegrating. 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!. Kaylan and Volman then rebelled against White Whale's attempts to push The Turtles towards Monkees-style studio chicanery, and they recorded Turtle Soup, a critically well-received album that was inspired by The Kinks' Village Green Preservation Society. TMBG contibuted "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too," a political campaign song from the late 1800's. Elenore may be the only Top Ten single to contain the lyrics et cetera.

All proceeds went to progressive orginizations such as Music For America and MoveOn.org. "Elenore" and "You Showed Me" were Top Ten singles. 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. Later in the year, The Turtles released a concept album called The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands, in which the group pretended to be eleven different bands, each with a song. 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. 1968 was a fairly successful year: The next two singles, Sound Asleep and The Story of Rock and Roll charted in the middle of the top 100, but were never received quite as well. (TMBG MP3 Music Store (http://www.theymightbedownloads.com/)). Golden Hits was released later that year, charting in the top 10.

By doing this, the band gets to keep money that would otherwise go to record companies. Two other top-15 singles followed, You Know What I Mean, and She's My Girl, which marked a shift by the band towards psychedelic music as the genre became more popular. In addition, they started one of the first artist-owned online music stores, at which customers can buy MP3 copies of their music for US$10 an album. 1967 became The Turtles' most successful year in the charts, with another song written by Bonner and Gordon, She'd Rather Be With Me, which reached #3 on the US charts in the late spring, and actually outcharted Happy Together overseas. They also went on tour again, visiting over 30 cities. The album by the same name was released in April and charted at a high of #25. TMBG teamed up with Homestar Runner to provide music for several cartoons as well as hiring its creators to do an animated music video for their song "Experimental Film". With its tongue-in-cheek atmosphere, incessant background guitar riff, addictive chorus and backing vocals, simple drum and organ lines, and even an oboe playing along during the second chorus, it spent three weeks at #1 on the American charts in 1967, the only Turtles record to do so.

They followed that up with a new album, The Spine, and an associated EP, The Spine Surfs Alone. Their biggest hit and signature song, "Happy Together", considered 1960s pop at its best, provided a turning point for The Turtles. In 2004 they released their first new rock work in years, the EP Indestructible Object. It occurred to the band that, for eight months, they had been performing a certain song on stage that was moderately popular with the fans, but had yet to be recorded; originally written by songwriters Garry Bonner and Alan Gordon, Happy Together seemed almost a parody of itself, and had been rejected already. They followed it up in 2003 with their first book, an illustrated children's book with an included EP, Bed, Bed, Bed. In the beginning of 1967, a heavy touring schedule combined with a lack of recent chart success were cited by Don Murray (drums) and Chuck Portz (bass), who left the group to be replaced by John Barbata and Chip Douglas, respectively. In 2002 they released their first album "for the whole family", No!. However, their second album You Baby never entered the top 200, and of several singles released that year only two (Grim Reaper of Love, Can I Get to Know You Better) entered the top 100.

The film was released on DVD in 2003. Their third single, You Baby charted in the top 20 in early 1966. The film, released in 2002, won rave reviews and several awards, and was featured in dozens of film festivals. Their second single, Let Me Be also appeared in the top 30 that fall. In 2001, they released the album Mink Car and were filmed as the subject of a documentary made by AJ Schnack titled Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns. Similarly to The Byrds' career, The Turtles' first break was with a Bob Dylan cover, It Ain't Me Babe, which was a Top Ten hit in summer 1965 (see 1965 in music) and the title track to their first album. "Boss of Me" became the band's second top-40 hit in the UK. With the help of DJ and club owner Reb Foster, The Crossfires signed to White Whale Records, and, adjusting to the prevailing musical trends of the time, became a folk-rock group known as The Tyrtles, the misspelling an ode to The Byrds that was soon dropped.

This owes largely to the use of songs from all of the Giants' previous albums: the infamous punching-the-kid-in-the-wheelchair scene from the first MITM season, for example, was done to the strains of "Pencil Rain" from Lincoln. The band was formed by Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman in Westchester, California in the 1965, as a surf rock group called The Crossfires. The decision to include the TMBG single "Boss of Me" as the theme song to the hit television series Malcolm in the Middle, as well as on the show's compilation CD, has brought a new audience to the band. The Turtles are an American bubblegum pop, psychedelic and folk-rock band, best known for 1967's "Happy Together" (see 1967 in music). More recently, they composed and performed the music for the TLC series Resident Life and a song about the cartoon Courage the Cowardly Dog. They also perform the theme music ("Dog on Fire", composed by Bob Mould) for the Peabody Award-winning The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

They Might Be Giants have also performed on other movie and television sound tracks, including The Oblongs, the ABC News miniseries Brave New World, and Ed and His Dead Mother. Also in 1999, They Might Be Giants became the first band ever to release an entire album exclusively on the Internet with Long Tall Weekend, available through Emusic's "TMBG Unlimited" service. 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. The Band of Dans was a trio of guys named Dan: guitarist Dan Miller, drummer Dan Hickey and bassist Danny Weinkauf.

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. Several albums have followed, including John Henry (1994) and Factory Showroom (1996). The 1992 release of Apollo 18 saw Flansburgh and Linnell attract a supporting band, consisting of former Pere Ubu bassist Tony Maimone and drummer Brian Doherty. Following those successes, Bar/None Records released the B-sides and rarities compilation Miscellaneous T in 1991.

This reflects the high "kid appeal" that TMBG has, resulting from their often silly or absurd songs and poppy melodies. Further interest in the band was generated by a pair of music videos featured in Warner Brothers cartoon Tiny Toon Adventures: "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" and "Particle Man". Flood earned them a gold album, thanks to the singles "Birdhouse in Your Soul", which reached number 6 in the UK charts, and "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)". In 1989, they signed with Elektra Records, and released their third album Flood the following year.

The first single from Lincoln, "Ana Ng", reached number 89 on the UK Billboard charts, and was No.1 in the College Charts, earning the attention of major labels. This album 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). In 1988 they released their second album, Lincoln. The video for "Don't Let's Start" became a hit on VH1, earning them a broader following.

The duo released their self-titled debut album in 1986, and it became a college radio hit. It soon caught the eye of Bar/None Records and earned them a review in People magazine. 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 stolen, they set up the Dial-A-Song system with an answering machine hooked up to a tape of them playing popular songs. Although they had a strong local following, they had a hard time getting a record deal.

The band began performing their own music, accompanied by a drum machine, and soon became fixtures on the Manhattan underground. The two finally reunited, and moved to Brooklyn to continue their career. Eventually the two went to separate colleges after high school, and Linnell joined The Mundanes, a New Wave group from Rhode Island. They began writing songs together in high school, but they never officially formed a band.

The two Johns first met as children in Lincoln, Massachusetts. They are also known for "Boss of Me," the theme to the hit television comedy, Malcolm in the Middle for which they won a Grammy Award. Their appearance on the show Tiny Toon Adventures also gained recognition for their songs "Particle Man" and "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)". TMBG's most famous songs are probably one single from each of their first three albums, "Don't Let's Start" (from They Might Be Giants), "Ana Ng" (from Lincoln), and "Birdhouse in Your Soul" (from Flood).

They Might Be Giants (commonly abbreviated to TMBG) is a pop/rock duo consisting of John Linnell and John Flansburgh, collectively known as "the two Johns" or "John and John". The Spine Surfs Alone (2004). Indestructible Object (2004). Bed, Bed, Bed (2003).

They Might Be Giants In Holidayland (2001). Music From Malcolm In The Middle (2000). Man, It's So Loud in Here (2000). Boss Of Me (2000).

Working Undercover For The Man (2000). S-E-X-X-Y (1996). Back To Skull (1994). O Tannenbaum (1993).

Why Does The Sun Shine (1993). The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight) (1992). I Palindrome I (1992). Istanbul (Not Constantinople) (1990).

Birdhouse In Your Soul (1989). Purple Toupee (1989). They'll Need A Crane (1989). (She Was A) Hotel Detective (1987).

Don't Let's Start (1987). 1985 Demo Tape (1985). Wiggle Diskette (1985). Users Guide to They Might Be Giants (album) (2005).

Almanac (album) (2004) (Internet release only). Venue Songs (2004) (Internet release only). Dial-A-Song: 20 Years Of They Might Be Giants (2002). They Got Lost (2002).

Long Tall Weekend (1999) (Internet release only). Live (1999). Then: The Earlier Years (1997). Live!! New York City 10/14/94 (1994).

Miscellaneous T (1991). Here Come the ABCs (2005) (CD and DVD released separately). The Spine (2004). No! (2002).

Mink Car (2001). Severe Tire Damage (1998). Factory Showroom (1996). John Henry (1994).

Apollo 18 (1992). Flood (1990). Lincoln (1988). They Might Be Giants (aka The Pink Album) (1986).

Experimental Film (2004) (animated, with Homestar Runner characters). Courage The Cowardly Dog (2003?) (computer animated, aired on Cartoon Network). Boss Of Me (2001) (premiered on FOX, some airplay on MTV2 and other stations). Doctor Worm (1998).

Snail Shell (1994). The Guitar (1992). The Statue Got Me High (1992) (two versions exist - the BBC aired a different variation). Particle Man (1990) (animated, with Tiny Toons characters).

Istanbul (Not Constantinople) (1990) (animated, with Tiny Toons characters). Istanbul (Not Constantinople) (1990) (claymation version). Birdhouse In Your Soul (1990). They'll Need A Crane (1988).

Purple Toupee (1988). Ana Ng (1988). Rabid Child (1986) (home video, not released publicly). Don't Let's Start (1986).

Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head (1986).