They Might Be Giants

I love kids singing.  I want to start off saying I hate Kids Bop and Jordy.  That out of the way I typically like it when kids sing on albums.  Here's a short list I've thought of.  I love the Langley School Music Project, The Shaggs, Patience and Prudence, those kids that sing on Pink Floyd's The Wall, those kids at the beginning of the Rolling Stones's "You Can't Always Get What You Want", the Von Trapp family from The Sound of Music, that adorable Rachel from The Tracht... MORE

Every now and then, I need to go back in time and remind myself just how good They Might Be Giants are. And then I smile quietly to myself. Pony, twist, monkey and frug
These are the things I taught to you
Headshake, boogie, hypocrite pop
I'm stuck in a vat outside of New York... Beautimous. Simply beautimous.

Come on mog. Let me post one more. You can do it.

Their work appears four nights a week for years on end on Comedy Central. Spinner has an interesting article on the origins of The Daily Show's fanfare. As it turns out, arguable the most well known theme music of the last 10 years was originally written by Bob Mould. The song "Dog on Fire" was recorded for the 1996 solo album by the ex-Hüsker Dü frontman, the same year the Daily Show premiered. As it happens, one of the co-creators of the show was a Minneapolis native a... MORE

Hey there - I've never been a fan of the news, which is ironic since I work for the news some of the time, so in the mornings (and here comes the shameful secret), I check out Playhouse Disney. It's great. TMBG have CDs, "Here Come the ABCs" and "Here Come the 1,2,3s". These are brilliant. I'm even going to get them even though it's been ...days...since I've played with Playdough. These guys are brilliant. -Jauretsi

So, some recent discussion of prolific output prompted me to think of a band I've always had a very mixed reaction to, They Might Be Giants. A lot of their stuff kind of grates on me, but then occasionally their stuff is fantastic. They weren't putting out an album a month, but in the mid 80’s they set up their Dial-A-Song service. Think of it as an early free music sharing "technology". It was basically an answering machine with a tape of the band playing various song... MORE

"She's in love with her broken heart, she's in love with the dark." I've always been fairly indifferent to this 'holiday' and there is no change this year. Although, I do admit a fondness for (yet) another reason to quaff champagne. Happy Valentine's Day, however you choose to spend it!

That's right! M-Fin' Patriots get frickin' spanked. Take that! Congrats NY! Rub it in their smug faces.

And now for something completely different. We leave (briefly) the world of Finnish Monster Metal, and head to the world of American Geek Rock. Or whatever the hell this is. This song has always creeped me out--there's something about the juxtaposition of the jaunty melody and vocals with the surreal horror of the lyrics that gets under my skin. So who says Halloween music has to be dark, brooding, and minor chord-ish? Here's a nice tale of murder, the living dead, p... MORE

Anybody remember the cartoon show on old-school Nickleodeon, "Tiny Toon Adventures"... they had that one episode where it was like an MTV Top 10 or something... Well, this song was on it [if you don't remember the cartoon or the song there must be _something_ wrong in your childhood, I mean, don't take it personal and all but still...!]... ...even old New York was once New Amsterdam... ~ 'Sunshine'

This is my #2 favorite TMBG song, ever. The first time I heard this song, it was last year, and I was listening to the "A User's Guide" best-of. I fell in love with the happy, infectious melodies. And, it was something that, nowadays I can relate to, because I have bangs! ^_ ...what!? ~ 'Sunshine'

Funny story about certain TMBG songs, such as this one, "Birdhouse in Your Soul" and "Don't Let's Start" [my all-time favorite TMBG song], when I first heard these songs on the radio in my small-town, I never knew who they were or who did them. All I knew is, they had some seriously good music. They knew what the hell they were doing. This was the first song I ever heard from the Giants--ahh, memories... If you haven't seen the video, get on YouTube and hunt the damn... MORE

And now, to finally close out the Indie Intelligence Spotlight, my favorite TMBG song of all time [and by damn one of the best songs, ever]... I don't know what's crazier--the song or the video!! No joke. This week I had the humor of the Store Manager at my job sing along with me to the lyrics. Now he's Puerto Rican, he's never heard TMBG until I played them all. Damn. Week. [Yay!] But you just _know_ you got on his good side when you sing a fun song and he tries to... MORE