They Might Be Giants Have Been Well Documented Throughout History

1981-1985: The Early Days

   John Linnell and John Flansburgh met in junior high in Lincoln, Massachusetts.  They became friends in high school working on the school paper.  In 1981 they both moved to Brooklyn, where they   occasionally made tapes of songs and song-like material.  Their first performance was at a Sandinista  rally in Central Park in the summer of 1982, where they were introduced as "El Grupo de Rock n' Roll".  Six months later they performed their second  show under the name "They Might Be Giants" at a showcase club in Soho called Dr. B's.  From then on they performed in various clubs throughout Brooklyn.  They gained a reputation as crazy and artistic performers.   In early 1985 they made a floppy disc record with the songs Everything Right Is Wrong Again and You'll Miss Me, and passed it out at their shows.   Later that year the Johns made a 23 song demo tape  which contained Hell Hotel, When It Rains It Snows, Cowtown, The Biggest One, Youth Culture Killed My Dog, The Day, Nothing is Going To Change My Clothes, They Might Be Giants and more.  This demo tape was sold for $6.00 at their shows and a place called Finyl Vinyl.  A music reviewer from People magazine, who was interested in the growing club scene in New York, got a hold of the tape and wrote about it.  The article got the attention of record labels. 

1986-1996: The Middle Years

In 1986, TMBG signed with Bar None Records a subsidiary of Restless Records.  Late in 1986 they released their first album They Might Be Giants.  They made three videos (for Don't Let's Start, Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head, and Hotel Detective) that got some play on MTV.  In 1988, they released their second album Lincoln.  Videos were made for Ana Ng, They'll Need A Crane, and Purple Toupee.   TMBG continued to tour accompanied only be drum machines and prerecorded tapes.  In 1990, TMBG signed with Electra and released the ever popular Flood album.  For MTV satisfaction, videos were made for Birdhouse in Your Soul and Instanbul (Not Constantinople).  This was TMBG's best selling album to date; selling over 2 million copies.  In 1991, Miscellaneous T, a compilation of B-sides and remixes, was released by Restless Records.  In 1992, they released their 4th album Apollo 18.  TMBG made videos The Guitar and The Statue Got Me High.  In 1994, TMBG released John Henry which introduced a new live band sound.  They were accompanied by Brian Doherty on drums, Tony Maimone on bass, and Kurt Hoffman on horns. A video was made for Snail Shell.  In 1996, TMBG released Factory Showroom, their last album with Electra.  This time they were accompanied by Brian Doherty on drums, Graham Maby on bass, and Eric Schermerhorn on lead guitar.  No videos were made from this album.  Later that year, John Flansburgh teamed up with drummer Steve Calhoon and bassist Hal Cragin to form Mono Puff.  With this new band, Flans released the album Unsupervised.

1997-2001: The Rebirth

In 1997, They Might Be Giants released Then: The Early Years, a double disk that contained the material from their first two albums, their B-sides, remixes, and never before released songs.  TMBG also contributed the song Sensurround for the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Movie soundtrack.  In 1998, Flansburgh and Mono Puff released their second album It's Fun to Steal.  Later that year, TMBG released a live album, Severe Tire Damage.  This album also contained a new studio recording, Dr. Worm.  A video which was directed by John Flansburgh was made for Dr. Worm.  In 1999, TMBG contributed the The Beer Song for South Park.  Also that year they contributed the song Dr. Evil for the Austin Powers: The Spy that Shagged Me movie.  Later that year John Linnell released his solo album, State Songs.  In early 2000, TMBG released their MP3 album Long Tall Weekend on EMusic.com.  They also provided the theme song and music for the sitcoms Malcom in the Middle on Fox, Brave New World on ABC, and The Daily Show on Comedy Central.  In 2001, TMBG's songs Boss of Me and Older were released on the Malcom in the Middle soundtrack.  They also provided the theme song for the Fox Family Channel show The Oblong's.  They Might Be Giants also created a soundtrack for the literary journal McSweeney's.  TMBG alos teamed up with emusic to bring TMBG Unlimited to the masses. This is where new MP3's and other stuff are offered to members every month. In Septmeber, their 7th full length album will be released on Restless Records, Mink Car.  Later this year, their children's interactive CD album called No will be released on Sony Records.