About This Quiz
Beloved by kids and nerds alike, They Might Be Giants has been making wacky music since 1982. But even if you're not a total TMBG freak, you might know the answers to some of these questions. Take a shot -- you could learn something!Band founders John Linnell and John Flansburgh were friends in high school in Lincoln, Mass., but they didn't officially get together as a band until they were living in NYC.
The band's moniker is from a 1971 movie of the same name -- which, in turn, comes from a line in "Don Quixote." The movie is about a man who thinks he's Sherlock Holmes.
TMBG's self-titled debut was released in 1986 and earned them a fairly immediate cult following.
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"Birdhouse in Your Soul" got to No. 3 on the Modern Rock charts in 1990.
Dial-A-Song was a huge hit with TMBG fans and cemented their cult following.
"Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch, who watches over you."
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"Boss of Me" was the "Malcolm in the Middle" theme song.
"Mink Car," TMBG's eighth studio album, was released on that fateful day.
"No!" was released in 2002.
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TMGB wrote 14 original songs for a Dunkin' Donuts ad campaign.
John Flansburgh admitted in a 2008 interview that the powers-that-be behind "Coraline" had decided that TMGB wasn't creepy enough.
TMBG released "Here Comes Science" in 2009. It includes the songs "I am a Paleontologist" and "The Bloodmobile."
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It's Louis T. Linnell and Brigadier General Ralph Hospital, the Johns' grandfathers, on the cover of the 1988 album.
Linnell has a son (Henry), but Flansburgh doesn't have kids.
"All alone at the '64 World's Fair / Eighty dolls yelling 'Small girl after all'"
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"From Nashville came a dark horse riding up / He was James K. Polk, Napoleon of the Stump"
"Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns)" is packed with interviews, videos and chats with celebrity TMBG fans.
TMBG have scored two Grammys -- in 2002, the got one for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or other Visual Media ("Boss of Me") and in 2009, they got one for Best Musical Album for Children ("Here Come the 123s").
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"The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart is a big TMBG fan, and the Johns were glad to write the music for the show.
Interesting. We can only assume from the name-dropping of Rourke, Busey and Young that TMBG finds inspiration in eccentric, troubled, law-breaking actors.