When Jonathan Coulton scheduled his October 10th show at Chicago's Park West, he didn't know that fellow nerd-rockers They Might Be Giants were playing on the same day, at the same time, in the nearby Vic Theater. Not only that, the Giants were performing their hit 1990 album Flood in its entirety. In a tongue-in-cheek effort to make sure somebody showed up for his performace, Coulton, along with Paul and Storm, decided to perform their own take on Flood. Hightlights included absolutely no accordion ("that's a selling point"). In nine parts on YouTube. Audio recorded directly from the venue's soundboard.
posted by indyz on Nov 19, 2009 - 80 comments

...the lyrics to that last song were basically taken from an encyclopedia written in the 50s, and since the 50s, some remarkable things have happened...

In 1959, a number of songs about science were released on an album called Space Songs. One of these was later covered by the band They Might Be Giants: Why Does The Sun Shine? (The Sun Is A Mass of Incandescent Gas). Only one problem: it isn't--the song was based on an incorrect text from 1951. So they wrote an answer song to themselves: Why Does The Sun Really Shine? (The Sun Is a Miasma of Incandescent Plasma). Bonus link: see for yourself! (previously)
posted by Upton O'Good on Sep 6, 2009 - 35 comments

Tales of the Beanworld ("A most peculiar comic book experience") recently resumed publication after a long hiatus. It's a strange and abstract mix of Native American mythology and culture, with a strong ecological focus, into an wonderfully charming cosmology. While it certainly invites, uh, overthinking, it's also entertaining on a purely casual level.
A sample short Beanworld story is on the Dark Horse Comics Myspace page.
If you have questions about it, the BeanWeb just may have answers, along with illustrations from the comics. There is now a Beanworld Wiki to supplement it, and creator Larry Marder keeps a blog where he talks about things bean.

Okay, now that it's properly introduced... the real point of this post is to link to this awesome Beanworld Flash cartoon, animated by Fashionbuddha and with music by They Might Be Giants!
posted by JHarris on Dec 20, 2008 - 17 comments

Happy Bicentenemail. Strongbad answers his 200th email in this installment of the long-running Homestarrunner.com web site. Featuring a musical intro by They Might Be Giants.
posted by justkevin on Sep 23, 2008 - 43 comments

Ohmygodimonfire and other Logan Whitehurst and the Junior Science Club fan videos. (post contains:1)fire 2)Mario 3)Wikipedia biography 4)music page 5)downloadable discography 6)cat robots 7)battling noodles)
posted by pantsrobot on May 24, 2007 - 12 comments

Fingertips! They Might Be Giants get the Fanimutation treatment.
posted by Robot Johnny on Jul 19, 2005 - 30 comments

They Might Be Giants' latest music video, directed by Strong Sad and The Cheat.
posted by LinusMines on Jul 14, 2004 - 30 comments

Ladies and gentlemen, do not be alarmed. Please remain perfectly still. What you are about to see is real, the performers are not grinning scarecrows sent here to torture and manipulate you. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce the twin quasars of rock: They! Might! Be! Giants!
posted by kaibutsu on Jul 26, 2003 - 43 comments

James K. Polk has been made famous by They Might Be Giants, but what do we really know about the Napoleon of the Stump? You can check out a fact sheet or test your Polk IQ. If that's not enough you can always visit a museum devoted to Young Hickory. Or you can visit his memorial in Mecklenburg County, N.C. How about the man in his own words? Sure, we all know (pdf file) all the stuff he achieved from the recent song, but did you know that The Might Be Giants was not the first to put the 11th President in verse? Least you forget President Polk, link to Hall of Forgotten Presidents or remind your friends and loved ones with an e-card. It seems that there are those who will never forget him and will always give the first dark house president his props.
posted by Bag Man on Mar 2, 2003 - 16 comments

"I'm your only friend, I'm not your only friend, but I'm a little glowing friend, but really I'm not actually your friend but I am." or "Everything I needed to know I learned by listening to [insert band name here]."
posted by poopy on Feb 20, 2003 - 112 comments

I speak other languages real good. Contemporary Jack-of-All-Trades Jothanan "J.D." Feinberg has been involved in a variety of projects. As a musician, he was the original touring drummer for They Might Be Giants, and as a software programmer, he's employed by the brains behind the Netomat project, and has currently updated a couple projects which play around with AltaVista's Babelfish. [more]
posted by Smart Dalek on Aug 15, 2002 - 11 comments

They Might Be Giants have a new album for kids and I can't wait to foist it on mine.
posted by engelr on Jun 18, 2002 - 33 comments

Yes, Virginia, there was life before the Internet...
...but nobody's bothered to archive it yet. Thanks to those wacky .edu's, there's a fair amount of historical data out there, but if you're hoping the newspapers who charge for archive "reprints" will have material from the '40s, the '60s or even the '80s, you're still better off going to the library and flipping through microfiche (bet that's the first time THAT word's been used on MetaFilter). I hesitated blogging this story here until I saw how the Internet History Timeline caught some people by surprise... Yes, even we MetaFilterers are sitting on the shoulders of Giants (and a few of us are old enough to remember "They Might Be Giants" as a movie starring George C. Scott).
posted by wendell on Jul 24, 2000 - 8 comments