There's no one better to ask the ever popular question than Gloria. Good old Gloria. "Who's There May Be Giants?" No one ever seems to know who they are, and yet the name and concept of the band is somehow curiosity-drawing and compelling. Even take Gloria, once again: "I turned off the intellectuals, I put on They May Be Giants." Even though most people, upon hearing They Might Be Giants, either wear a face of bewilderment and ununderstanding, or one of disgust at the "weirdness" of the band, there are the selected few who fall immediately and undeniably in love.

They Might Be Giants are a very good band. They consist of mostly John Flansburgh and John Linnell, with a few Dans thrown in: Dan Hickey, Dan Miller, and Danny Weinkauf. TMBG have been around since the early 80s; 1983 was when they first began recording songs as They Might Be Giants, a name they’d taken from a 70s movie about this weird guy who thought he was Sherlock Holmes. You see, John and John were good friends back in high school in Lincoln, Mass. They met working on their school newspaper, and became good friends. However, after high school they parted and went their separate ways, both participating in a few bands here and there, and gaining more musical talent (Flansburgh learned how to play the guitar down in DC and was part of The Turtlenecks and Linnell was in The Mundanes)...but sooner or later, both of them ended up in Brooklyn, New York. Amazingly enough, they both moved into the same apartment building in ‘ 82 or so. They recorded some stuff together, and their first gig was as “El Groupo de Rock ‘n Roll”. The rest is history. That phrase makes no sense. All of that was history. Not just the rest...oh well. These things happen sometimes.
Anyway, They Might Be Giants debuted with their self-titled album in 1986. In 1988, they released “Lincoln”, their second album. Lincoln had Ana Ng on it, which was probably #1 on a few charts...in any case, it was a huge hit. TMBG were into the music business. They were played on MTV quite a bit, got an article in People Magazine, and all sorts of fun stuff. As time passed, they released "Miscellaneous T", which featured a whole bunch of B-sides as well as some fun new recordings, like the Untitled Track, which is a conversation recorded on Dial-A-Song (more about that in a minute) between Gloria and her friend. It’s really quite amusing...In 1990, they released their now platinum (I think) album, “Flood”. Flood was...well, Flood was big. Birdhouse in Your Soul hit many many lists and such, and was on the top ten list in England, I believe. Flood was what made Them famous. Next came "Apollo 18", another masterpiece, featuring the 21 fingertips; little clips of “songs” that were about 6 to 8 seconds long. Fingertips are wonderful. After Apollo 18, they released the quite controversial “John Henry”, which, for the first time, featured an entire band, instead of just the Johns. Some people hate it, some love it. I, for one, love it. Then came “Factory Showroom”, yet another fabulous album. On this, They covered a song by a band called Cub, called “New York City”. That, my friends, is a fabulous song. Then came “Severe Tire Damage”, the live album, and with that, the slump. See, STD (Severe Tire Damage) was great, but only had two new songs on it (plus some bonus shiznit, but that doesn’t really count). What people really wanted was a new album. Severe Tire Damage was in ’98, I believe, and that new album is just came out in fall of '01. They Might Be Giants were having some trouble with labels and such. They did make “Long Tall Weekend” released on Emusic.com, but that was an mp3 only album, so they TMBG fans without computers or ability to play mp3s were kind of left in the dust. However, now, *FINALLY*, comes the new album. "Mink Car" was released on September 11, 2001. I don't think of "Mink Car" as being one of their best...at all. However, there are some kick ass songs on it. "Bangs", for example, is very awesome. Some *interesting* stuff on this album that is very different is "Another First Kiss" which is the twist of "Fist Kiss", a completely awesomely cool punk song off of STD. "Another First Kiss" is a Dawson's Creek style, icky folkish, lovey-dovey song. egh. Overall, though, it's an okay album. They Might Be Giants' first childrens' album, "No!" was released on June 11, 2002. It's totally fun for the whole family! "Bed, Bed, Bed" is superfun, and Danny Weinkauf of bass playing fame even sings a track, "Where Do They Make Balloons?" !! The CD has some great flash animations and games, so check it out.
So what were They doing during their slump? Well, it wasn’t much of a slump, really. John Flansburgh had his side project, Mono Puff, which you’ll learn about in a moment, and Linnell created a solo album, “State Songs”. But that, my friends, is nowhere near all. Have you ever happened to see the very popular “Malcolm in the Middle”? Yes, the TV show on Fox. That one. Guess who does the theme song as well as *all* of the incidental music for that? Yup, They Might Be Giants. “Boss of Me”, the theme song, is pretty big (kind of big) right now, and it and another song by Them, “Older”, were recently featured on the Malcolm in the Middle Soundtrack. PLUS, They do all of the music on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show”, and did the theme song for “The Oblongs” which was on the WB network a bit, but failed miserably and won’t come back. PLUS, They have been working on a children’s album, entitled “No!” It’s all done, and finally released on Rounder on June 11, 2002! Currently, "No!" is the #1 childrens' album in America! TMBG also wrote and played “Dr. Evil” which was the opening song for “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me”. Flans’ wife sang it.
All right, so, you wanna hear They Might Be Giants? Don’t wanna download mp3s? Want to hear songs that you probably won’t hear anywhere else? Try Dial-A-Song, They Might Be Giants’ ingenious service. Just a normal call to Brooklyn, at 718-387-6962, Dial-A-Song is free when you call from work!! (Think about it for a minute. You’ll get it.) There’s a new, old, or somewhere in the middle song on there all the time, and it changes every week! *cough cough* (more like every month) *cough cough*... So, please, call Dial-A-Song today at 718-387-6962. You’ll be happy you did.

NEW STUFF
    Hey, here's some new stuff about They Might Be Giants, as updated in April '03. They Might Be Giants have a documentary film, "Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns", which will start playing regular theatres in late May. I haven't seen it yet, but I hope to soon... from what I've heard, it is excellent, and includes guest speakers such as Sarah Vowell, Janeane Garafolo, and that guy from Blink 182. check its website, giganticfilm.com, for more details about where it's playing. They are also planning on making a childrens' BOOK based on the song "Bed, Bed, Bed", which MAY come out late this year, and will include new songs.

John Flansburgh
Flans plays lots of instruments, though not as many as Linnell. He mostly plays the guitar though. He has also played the drums, the giant stick, the huge marching band drum, and I’m sure other things too. He had a side band called Mono Puff, which released two albums, “Unsupervised” and “It’s Fun to Steal”, before someone moved to California and it was all ruined, unfortunately. He used to have this great CD of the Month club called Hello CD of the Month. In fact, Mono Puff was at first called Hello the Band, originating from that club. None of this shtuff is here anymore, though, so...oh well. He is married to Robin Goldwasser, who was a part of Mono Puff and sang “Dr. Evil” for Austin Powers 2.

John Linnell
Linnell plays almost every instrument imaginable. His main thing, though, is the accordion. That and the keyboard. Linnell is the coolest rock accordionist in the world. Possibly the only one. However, he also plays that huge sax thing, various horns, clarinet, guitar, and a helluva lot of other stuff. As for his personal life, it is very much a mystery. All that we know of his wife is that her name is Karen and she is British. Linnell likes to keep his personal life hidden very far away from the public eye. They do have a son, named Henry, who is about 3 years old now. Oh, by the way, Linnell is 42 (as of June 12, 2001) and Flans is 41 (as of May 4, 2001). Anyway, Linnell released his solo album, “State Songs” a few years ago. It’s a pretty good album, but you can tell he needs Flans. It’s still very good. Shall there be more? Maybe. I don’t know.

THE DANS

Dan Hickey
Hickey plays the drums. He also plays the glockenspiel. If you’ve never seen Dan Hickey play the glockenspiel, you are missing out on magic. During “Shoehorn With Teeth”, that’s his thing...it is wonderful. Hickey is very cool.

Dan Miller
Also very cool, this Dan plays the guitar. He also sings a fingertip or two in concerts.

Danny Weinkauf
He plays the bass. Ooh, and Danny also sings! He sings "Where Do They Make Balloons?", this really cool song on "No!".

There are also other people, but I know nothing about them, and they do not play in concerts. They play the horns. One of them is another Dan - Dan Levine, I believe, and another is Jim O'Connor.

So that it. That’s THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS. Now go explore.