Comments

  2. Cappy says

    This is FUN!
    Science is FUN!
    Therefore, this is SCIENCE.

    Huh, huh, Am I right?

    I had this album years ago, but lost it somewhere. Thanks for the memories.

  3. Richard Harris says

    Brighten my day!? There was the annoying noise, so I couldn’t understand the lyrics. It looked to me like the accompaniment oughta’ve been by Louis Armstrong.

    The whole thing made no sense … ahhhhh, was it something religious?

  4. RamblinDude says

    LOL! I have to agree, I don’t really get this one either. OTOH, the fifth video in the menu below it, “In the Dark”, has a guitar-playing squid!

  8. John Vreeland says

    Ana Ng and I are gettin’ old and we still haven’t walked in the glow of each other’s respective wisdom. Still a good tune, though.

  11. firemancarl says

    Sorry kids, but I like “Birdhouse in your soul” better. And since we dont have souls..watch the video!

  13. Dahan says

    Much enjoyed! I saw them live about three years ago. Fun show. Might have been in Istanbul, definitely not Constantinople though.

  14. QrazyQat says

    The Tonight Show version was great. At the time most rock/pop bands treated the band there as a hindrance of some sort, but TMBG really took to it and jumped at the opportunity to have Tommey Newsome write up some arrangements and get Doc wailing. The results were great.

  15. says

    That worked just as intended.

    Are there really people who don’t like TMBG? And even people who don’t know TMBG? And you people call yourself geeks.

  17. Sastra says

    And you people call yourself geeks.

    No, Sam Harris says we shouldn’t call ourselves geeks. In fact, we shouldn’t call ourselves anything. Just stay under the radar, and be really smart, and really annoying.

  18. Respectful Dissent says

    They’re still touring and going strong, and their live shows ROCK. You can buy and download shows at They Might Be Downloads. They just released a new album as well. Long live John and John!

  19. architeuthis72 says

    I’ve seen those guys several times in concert and they’re so much fun… and for the record, their song “Why does the sun shine” is one of my (and my 2 year old son’s) favorite songs ever.

    it’s one of those nerdgasm moments the first time you hear it.

  22. QrazyQat says

    They also give away free mp3s at times on their website. They’ll let you know in the newsletter if you sign up. Live performances, stuff like that.

  23. Ignignockt says

    I was fortunate enough to see them in Indianapolis Thursday and they were every bit as good as I remembered. Ironically,(or perhaps not) the opening band was named “Oppenheimer”.

  25. Moses says

    Safety dance being weird? How about “Pop goes the world” by Men Without Hats. I thought that was more demented than Safety Dance:

    Or “Hyperactive” by Thomas Dolby, especially the head shrinking part on the psychotherapists couch:

    And Peter Gabriel had his moments, like “Shock the Monkey:”
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oaSZxd9jOY though, frankly, he wasn’t that weird…

    Oh. Oh. “Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarten had some weird moments:

    Much of Bjork. And I’m a big fan of Weird Al, Stone Temple Pilots (a few weird ones), and there are more that are ruined by hideous music, but the KING of creepy, weird videos must be seen to be believed:

  27. Josh says

    These guys draw the line dividing laugh and scream really well: I’m not sure that any song from Lincoln would exactly “brighten [my] day,” though: the topics they write about are not especially joyous.

  28. autumn says

    As a parent, you can imagine my triple, no, quintuple-take, when I realized that TMBG are also doing themes for children’s cartoons, including not only the title music for Higgly Town Heros, but also an alphabet song with an animated Higgly-duo of themselves.

  30. Lulu says

    <3 <3 I don’t even have to play the video to know that’s “Ana Ng”, my favorite TMBG song. (And I’ve seen them a few times.)

  32. Richard Harris says

    For a site that attracts a high percentage of atheists, I’m amazed at the numbers here who’ve been infected by the culturally normative belief that this pop/rock noise is, in any sense, good, that is to say, that it is music, rather than noise.

    It seems to me to be analagous with the situation regarding religion, which most of us here do recognize as crap.

  33. Nathaniel says

    Man, how can you people disagree with my opinions about music, which are thoroughly objective and rational! You must secretly believe in God.

    (Snark aside, this video always makes me smile. Especially the dance during the chorus.)

  34. Janine says

    My three years old nephew recently had a Blue’s Clue DVD playing when I noticed that the band playing was TMBG. I said something about having played these guys on my radio show twenty years ago when in college. (Hi! We’re The Replacements!)

    An other time, he had Spongebob on. There was a song about a snail. I realized the person singing was Stew. (Look up the band,’The Negro Problem’.)

    I wonder how many other musicians I like who are doing kid’s songs. And, yes, I know about The Wee Hairy Beasties. I am a fan of the various offshoots of The Mekons and of Kelly Hogan.

    http://www.bloodshotrecords.com/artists/weehairybeasties

  35. Janine says

    There is something really funny about a poster going by the name of Richard Harris complaining about “crap” music.

    Someone left the cake out in the rain.
    And I don’t think that I can take it.
    Because it took so long to bake it.
    And I will never have that recipe again.
    Oh no!

  37. Carlie says

    Shouldn’t that be:

    Someone shut the fence off in the rain
    And it might sound kind of eerie
    but it proves my chaos theory
    and I don’t think I’ll be coming back again.
    Oh no!

  38. zuckerfrosch says

    Big TMBG fan, though I’m surprised you didn’t pick a song off of Apollo 18, since the album cover has a giant squid fighting a whale in space (and maybe even winning?)

  39. Justin Moretti says

    This video was great… but what are the numbered buildings in the background? I was always half expecting hydraulic arms to extend and assemble some super-aircraft Thunderbirds style, or the obligatory yellow ramjet-bedecked search-and-rescue aircraft to be spat out.

    Speaking of Thunderbirds, I bought a book on the weekend detailing unfulfilled projects in the British aerospace industry since WW2 – much of the concept/design art looked like it was given to Gerry Anderson to play with when HM Govt. decided not to build it any more.

    If you really want TMBG mindfuckery, try “The Statue Got Me High”. For added effect, play it while watching the tunnels-of-light sequence at the end of 2001.

  41. Nurse Ingrid says

    So many great TMBG moments to choose from…but I have to go with “Dead” as one of my favorite existential anthems:

    “Did a large procession wave their torches
    as my head fell in the basket
    or was anybody dancing on the casket?
    Now it’s over, I’m dead
    and I haven’t done anything that I want
    Or I’m still alive
    and there’s nothing I want to do.”

    Honorable mention, for all you bio/science geeks out there, must go to “Mammal.” You’ve got to love a pop song that includes the lines,

    “So the warm blood flows
    with the red blood cells
    lacking nuclei
    through the large four-chambered heart
    Maintaining the very high metabolism rate they have
    Mammal, mammal…”

    Does anyone know if John or John has ever mentioned any religious beliefs, or lack thereof? They strike me as likely nonbelievers, but I have not seen any evidence either way…