Videodrone: They Might Be Giants Add A Big Dollop Of Goofiness To Our Afternoon

videodrone

They Might Be Giants Add A Big Dollop Of Goofiness To Our Afternoon

Reminiscing about the lost days of college rock—back when a fellow bald man could still be seen on MTV (late at night) (and on the weekend) (and who wasn't Daughtry)—I recalled that one of my earlier concert experiences (slightly later than the loosely defined genre's heyday) involved a three-way cute-collision between They Might Giants, solo Black Francis, and um...Frente. Despite having a best friend with a big enough boner for John and John to make me never really need to hear a TMBG album in full again, I still have a lot of affection for this song and its unashamedly earnest nerd stomp. Fellow quirk-survivor Chris Weingarten, who prompted this geeked-out flashback in the first place, also requested I post a link to Too Much Joy's collaboration with Mr. Smith, "That's A Lie." So there it is. [YouTube]

4:00 PM on Wed Mar 12 2008
By Jess Harvell
222 views
10 comments

Comments

by umlaut75 at 04:12 PM on 03/12/08
Reply by Email

*

Yay, TMJ!
/The band, not the popping jaw thing.
by Kate Richardson at 04:19 PM on 03/12/08
Reply by Email

*

I prefer "Don't Let's Start"

+ Watch video
by Gumboots at 04:21 PM on 03/12/08
Reply by Email

*

Wonderful. Ana Ng is still my favorite TMBG song.

"I don't want the world. I just want your half".
by iantenna at 05:18 PM on 03/12/08
Reply by Email

*

gosh. it's like i'm 12 all over again, you're just lying if you claim that you didn't completely nerd out on this band for at least a portion of your childhood. or you're dead, or 12 now.
by tigerpop at 05:19 PM on 03/12/08
Reply by Email

*

LOVE THIS SONG.

"Birdhouse in Your Soul" is still their #1 all-time greatest classic hit though. I can't think of another song that has so consistently made me want to jump up and down. And for 18 years running!
by comehomenow at 05:23 PM on 03/12/08
Reply by Email

*

TMBG are so freakin awesome...i just wrota whole rant about how awesome they are. Love it.
by infinit Loop at 05:26 PM on 03/12/08
Reply by Email

*

god i love that song. makes me feel all warm in the insides.
by thearcanemodel at 06:08 PM on 03/12/08
Reply by Email

*

oh, yay. i am no TMBG fanatic, but all of the aforementioned songs from that era of the band are great. this song holds particular sentimental value for me as i was introduced to it via my then-beloved "nevermind the mainstream" "120 minutes" compilation. those two cassettes (!) were quite the musical gateway drug for precocious lil' 11-year old me.

and despite the bounciness of the tune, that chorus contains some of the most heartbreakingly wistful lines ever committed to tape.
by Tenno at 12:36 PM on 03/13/08
Reply by Email

*

I was never into them, and my friends still love them. I guess it's like the 'Goonies' if you never saw that movie as a kid, watching it now makes you wonder waht all the fuss is about.

PS: I get in arguments over the Goonies all the time. Last week even. It's like 'War and Peace' but with truffle shuffle.
by MrStarhead at 09:15 PM on 03/14/08
Reply by Email

*

I think if you're over 25 now, you were crazy into TMBG when you were 12 or 13. If you're between 20 and 25, though, the band you were crazy into at 12 or 13 is the Presidents of the United States of America. Strange but true.