They Might Be Giants class photo ... circa 2008
They might wear glasses. They might be wearing the same clothes they wore to a Mac users group meeting today. And they might dress up as a tree stump and wolverine in a leisure suit for album covers.
But don't make the mistake of thinking They Might Be Giants might also be geeks.
"We never really identified with that characterization. We don't feel [like geeks]. I don't even know what that is exactly," Giants co-founder John Linnell said. "I feel like culture has changed a lot since we started. It seems really mainstream now to know something about technology."
Linnell -- the wolverine in that photo, I'm guessing? -- is this week's guest on our Stuck in the 80s podcast as the band slowly heads south for their March 11 show at St. Petersburg's Jannus Landing. Here are some highlights from our interview.
On the public's reaction when they first started playing live: "Originally when we started out, we were playing in the safety of the Lower East Side in New York. We started out playing for friends of ours. Mostly we were performing in clubs and rooms that hosted performance art so we were often the most normal thing that was happening. We fit right in."
On why they rework their classics during live shows: "I think we just forget how they go. We try to make it interesting each time, but we're really just trying to do a good show. We're not really making a statement about rejecting an old arrangement."
On their move into children's music: "We just felt it'd be fun. It seemed like a break from stuff that was more high pressure. What we didn't expect was that the kid's record was going to be a big seller. Suddenly, it seemed like it was a career move. We weren't thinking rock critics were ever going to hear it or talk about it. So maybe that was part of what was good about it."
On winning a Grammy in 2001 for the theme song to Malcolm in the Middle: "It was very weird. I think we felt like we were imposters. We'd always made fun of the Grammys. The whole thing was very dream-like. And we pretty much stopped making fun of the Grammys after that, I'm embarrased to say. It kind of shut us up, which was maybe the point. They give you one so you'll stop mocking them."
Click here to listen to this week's show. Or just click here to download all our shows for free on iTunes.
Relive the music, movies and culture of the greatest decade ever with Times online editor Steve Spears. A teen during the decade, Steve is obsessed with everything from Duran Duran to Journey, John Hughes to John Cusack, and parachute pants to Reaganomics.
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Geek rock? Nah. (And this Mac user is totally ignoring that crack about wearing the same clothes... you've obviously never seen my closet.)
Intelligent rock? Totally. The pop culture references I'm catching while listening to my new collection of TMBG tunes is killing me. So great.
Again, a terrific interview/podcast. I thank you, iTunes thanks you and Amazon thanks you. We all benefitted from it.
Posted by: jane | March 04, 2008 at 04:27 PM
Great interview Steve. Though you already know how I feel about Ms Hayes.
Posted by: Douglas Arthur | March 04, 2008 at 07:37 PM
The TMBG song "Don't Let's Start' .... I'm positive I heard a cover of this somewhere by a female singer (not the cover by Common Rotation); can't find it anywhere, any ideas ?
Posted by: Mike F | March 06, 2008 at 06:43 AM
Just got done listening to the interview with TMBG's Jon Linell. I too am a big fan, though not as into TMBG as Steve. Steve did a great job with his part of the itnerview, and he certainly did his homework. I gotta comment on Stephanie's part of the interview. It seems she hit a nerve with John with her "how do you feel about being a geek" question. I don't know where she thought she was going with that question, and I'm not sure she did either, but John obviously didn't know what to say. I'm ranking that up there with Sean's "stupid question" he posed to Huey Lewis.
Posted by: Sweet Lou | March 06, 2008 at 08:07 PM
These guys are awesome and alwayts have been, birdhouse plays everytime my phone rings :)
Posted by: Jennd | March 06, 2008 at 08:53 PM
Hey Lou! Wanted to respond about the "geek" question. It's not unusual for TMBG to be referred to as "geek rock." Amazon.com even uses it as one of the tags to find their music. Multiple journalists have called them things like "Godfathers of geek rock," etc... So I thought it was a fair question - are you geeks? I didn't think he'd react so brusquely, but that happens. And to be honest, my main goal was to have a little fun with him, because, after all, the pddcast is supposed to be a fun thing to listen to. But at least he gave us something to talk about!
Posted by: Stephanie Hayes | March 08, 2008 at 11:29 AM