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In our own humble opinion, They Might Be Giant's album Lincoln was the highlight of their career, but we seem to be in the minority since thousands of fans of the band crammed into The Vic Saturday night to hear the band recreate their commercial break-through Flood. Many mainstream fans may deride the band as nerd-rock, but that's a flawed view of a band whose catalog includes a dizzying amount of musical diversity that demands a high level of skill to recreate in a live setting. So yes, there were songs about dead presidents, existential birdhouses and shoe horns with teeth (sung by a duo of sock puppets, The Avatars), but the playful and ofttimes ridiculous lyrics were delivered by an amazingly tight band unafraid to change musical direction, sometimes mid-song. We entered the show somewhat stunned by the extreme dedication of the band's fans, but we left the venue understanding why those folks fell so in love with the talented duo of Johns Flansburgh and Linnell. Sure they're nerd-rock, but they are really kick-ass nerd-rock.
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A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant at the Red Orchid Theatre--it made Crains
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Remember: if your child asks for a They Might Be Giants album, slap him hard in the face and buy him a basketball and a copy of Penthouse and Replacements album instead.
yikes! Replacements?! can't we all just swallow glass shards instead?
I've always believed that in order to like They Might Be Giants, you had to have been born between 1970 and 1975, so that you were between the ages of 15 and 20 when Flood came out. You also had to be on the low-end of your high school's popularity spectrum and at least mildly bitter about that.
Me? I spent many an hour in my college dorm room in 1992 trying to work out the metaphysical significance of Particle Man. And sadly (or perhaps not), I haven't listened to anything they've done since.
Affirmative on the birthdate. They Might Be Giants is the epitome of late 80s college comedy rock.
Damn, it's already a quarter-past-one. We missed 120 Minutes. Let's see if Kids In The Hall is on somewhere...
I was born in 1979 and was 10 or 11 when Flood came out and I had a great time at this show.
I will agree about the popularity spectrum, though. As all the kids I went to high school with who dug it were toiling in the drama club and/or the concert orchestra with me.
Weird kids like weird music no matter when they were born.