About They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants, often abbreviated as TMBG, is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as a musical duo, often accompanied by a drum machine. In the early 1990s, TMBG expanded to include a backing band. The duo's current backing band consists of Marty Beller, Dan Miller and Danny Weinkauf. They have been credited as vital in the creation and growth of the prolific DIY music scene in Brooklyn in the mid-1980s.
The group has been noted for its unique style of alternative music, typically using surreal, humorous lyrics, experimental styles and unconventional instruments in its songs. Over their career, they have found success on the modern rock and college radio charts. They have also found success in children's music with several educational albums, and in theme music for television programs and films.
TMBG have released 23 studio albums. Flood has been certified platinum, while their children's music albums Here Come the ABCs, Here Come the 123s, and Here Comes Science have all been certified gold. The duo has been nominated for four Grammy Awards, winning two. Flansburgh and Linnell won for writing the theme to Malcolm in the Middle and They Might Be Giants won for Here Come the 123s . Linnell and Flansburgh were also nominated for a Tony Award for Best Original Score Written for the Theatre along with other composers of the show for SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical. In total, the group has sold over 4 million records.
John Linnell and Flansburgh first met as teenagers growing up in Lincoln, Massachusetts. They began writing songs together while attending Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School but did not form a band at that time. The two attended separate colleges after high school and Linnell joined The Mundanes, a new wave group from Rhode Island. The two reunited in 1981 after moving to Brooklyn to continue their career.
At their first concert, They Might Be Giants were introduced as and performed under the name El Grupo De Rock and Roll , because the show was a Sandinista rally in Central Park, and a majority of the audience members spoke Spanish. They had previously chosen a name that, according to John Flansburgh, was "so bad that John and I have made a vow that we will never tell anyone, even our children." Soon discarding this name, the band assumed the name of the 1971 film They Might Be Giants , which is in turn taken from a Don Quixote passage about how Quixote mistook windmills for evil giants. According to Dave Wilson, in his book Rock Formations, the name They Might Be Giants had been used and subsequently discarded by a friend of the band who had a ventriloquism act. The name was then adopted by the band, who had been searching for a more suitable name.
A common misconception is that the name of the band is a reference to themselves and an allusion to future success. In an interview, John Flansburgh said that the words "they might be giants" are just a very outward-looking forward thing which they liked. He clarified this in the documentary movie Gigantic by explaining that the name refers to the outside world of possibilities that they saw as a fledgling band. In an earlier radio interview, John Linnell described the phrase as "something very paranoid sounding".
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