Flansburgh on the center, Linnell on the right.
So the story of TMBG begins in the 70s in the small town of Lincoln, Massachusetts. John Linnell and John Flansburgh became friends during their junior high years, although they think they first met sometime during elementary school. They both were part of their school's newspaper. They eventually started making music together and recorded a couple songs, but none have been released to the public.
After high school, they both went their separate ways, with Linnell going to college for a year before taking a year off (he would never return to college), and joining Rhode Island new wave band The Mundanes. After seeing some popularity, they decided to move to New York. Meanwhile, Flansburgh was
also moving to New York to study art at Pratt Institute. They both still kept in contact with their old high school friends, and so, in 1981, a mutual friend of theirs arranged apartments for the two, and they ended up moving into the same apartment building on the same day.
By 1982 the two Johns began recording music together again. In August of the same year, They played their first live show at a Sandinista rally that a friend of theirs was arranging. Since most of the audience spoke Spanish, and they hadn't decided on a name yet, John & John were introduced as "El Grupo de Rock & Roll" for the show. (They hauled an entire Farfisa Organ around Central Park that day.)
Their first show.
The name They Might Be Giants was taken not from the film with the same name (at least not directly), but from a list of potential names a friend of theirs had for a ventriloquist act.
Just a regular phone call to Brooklyn!
They played a couple more shows before They got struck by bad luck, with Flansburgh's apartment being robbed, and getting most of his equipment stolen, and Linnell breaking his wrist in a biking accident. Being unable to perform live, they started "Dial-A-Song". It was a phone service they advertised, where people would call their number and an answering machine would play TMBG songs for them. This ended up being a success, and the service would help them secure a bigger audience.
After putting out a couple demos in '83 and '85, They released their first self titled album in 1986, and releasing three music videos. In 1988, their second album Lincoln was released. They signed to Elektra Records in 1989, releasing their third album, Flood, in 1990, (which went gold in 1993, and platinum in 2009). Flood ended up obviously being their best-selling album. In 1992, they released the album Apollo 18, which made them the "Musical Ambassadors" of NASA's International Space Year. Apollo 18 would also be their last album as a duo.
During the Apollo 18 tour, TMBG got a full backing band, initially comprised of Kurt Hoffman on keys/woodwinds, Jonathan Feinberg on drums and Tony Maimone on bass. This was obviously a controversial decision, with some hardcore fans even boycotting the shows, but the full band was here to stay, as the Johns felt they had already done everything they could as a duo with a drum machine. The backing band lineup changed shortly after the Apollo 18 tour, and in 1994 the album John Henry was released, with Brian Doherty replacing Feinberg on drums and Graham Maby on bass (Although Maimone still played on some recorded album tracks). This marked a new direction for the band, being their longest album to date, and more guitar and horn-heavy than their previous releases. The band released Factory Showroom in 1996, adding Eric Schermerhorn to the band on lead guitar, and They would part ways with Elektra shortly after.
The late 90s saw the birth of Flansburgh's side project Mono Puff, which released two albums: 1996's "Unsupervised" and 1998's "It's Fun To Steal". TMBG released their live album "Severe Tire Damage" in 1998, which contained one track recorded in a studio, the well known "Dr. Worm". In 1999, They made history by becoming the first major artists to release a full-length, online-only album: Long Tall Weekend, originally released exclusively through emusic.com. This year also saw the birth of John Linnell's solo project, "State Songs".
Five people with two names.
By this point, the backing band had changed once again, comprised of Dan Hickey on the drums, Dan Miller on lead guitar, and Danny Weinkauf on bass. This lineup was commonly referred to as the Band of Dans. They recorded music for the TV shows "Malcolm In The Middle" (Whose theme song earned them a Grammy) and ABC's "Brave New World". Their next album was Mink Car, which featured many guest artists and producers. It didn't sell very well due to literally being released on 9/11. It was the only TMBG album to have fallen out of print, but it was brought back in 2022.
Puppet Johns & Marty.
They released a documentary titled Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns) in 2002. This year also marked Their first venture into children's music, with their album "No!" being a more kid-friendly approach to their music. This proved to be massively successful for the band, as the album debuted at the top of the Billboard children's music chart, and they released the book/EP "Bed, Bed, Bed" in 2003. They returned to "adult" music with their next major release "The Spine", in 2004. Dan Hickey also left the band at this point, being replaced by Marty Beller, and this lineup has remained ever since. They'd return to children's music following a contract with Disney, releasing "Here Come The ABCs" in 2005, "Here Come The 123s" in 2008 (which won them another Grammy),
The Science Johns.
and "Here Comes Science" and another book/DVD called "Kids, Go!" in 2009. They also wrote the theme songs for the Playhouse Disney shows "Higglytown Heroes" and "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse".
They'd still release adult music in between these releases, with the launch of their podcast and "Venue Songs", a CD/DVD set comprised of songs based on venues the band played at, in 2005, "The Else" and "Cast Your Pod To The Wind" (A compilation of their podcast songs) in 2007.
TMBG released "Join Us" in 2011, alongside "Album Raises New and Troubling Questions" (comprised of Join Us b-sides and other rarities). The next release was "Nanobots" in 2013.
The band.
2015 marked the return of Dial-A-Song after a nine year hiatus. They released 52 songs—one released each week of the year—which ended up being enough material for three different albums: 2015's "Glean" and "Why?" (Which was also their last children's album, and considered a follow-up to "No!"), and 2016's "Phone Power". This approach to Dial-A-Song would return in 2018, releasing the albums "I Like Fun" in January (which is when I personally started listening to them!), "My Murdered Remains" and "The Escape Team" in December. Their next album, released in 2021, would be their first book/CD set for adults, aptly titled "BOOK". It's a 12x12", 144-page (heh) hardcover art book of photography by Brian Karlsson, and a 15-track TMBG album. It recently got nominated for the 2023 Grammys for "Best Boxed Or Special Limited Edition Package".
UPDATE: nevermind guys they lost to the grateful dead.Additionally, John Linnell took a Duolingo course in Latin during lockdown, which inspired him to try and make songs in Latin. This project ended up being his newest solo LP, "Roman Songs".
TMBG are currently recording another album, which will be their 24th. I will update this when said album comes out!
