Revision 4.31j (28 June 2008)
--
This document is a discography of:
They Might Be Giants
Copyright © 1993-2008 by John Relph.
The latest revision of this discography can be found at:
http://www.tmbg.org/band-info/discography/
The correct number for Dial-A-Song is still 718-387-6962.
Always just a regular call to Brooklyn. No extra charges.
You can also visit Dial-A-Song on the web:
http://www.dialasong.com/
Visit the official They Might Be Giants website:
http://www.tmbg.com/
Join the They Might Be Giants mailing list! Send a message to:
<majordomo@tmbg.org>
Check out the (unofficial) They Might Be Giants World Wide Web page,
featuring pictures, sound files, lyrics and more, at:
http://www.tmbg.org/
More information available at This Might Be A Wiki:
http://www.tmbw.net/
See also the Hello Recording Club discography at:
http://idiot-dog.com/music/hello/
Some information in this discography was taken from the following sources,
for which I thank the contributors:
The TMBG Online Information Bulletin
The Gosh Guys discography
The Dr. Demento database
Thanks to Timothy Neja for contributions above and beyond the call of duty.
Special thanks to: (in alphabetical order)
Gary Adkins, Kara Lynn Andersen, Jenny Ballmann, James Barnett,
Anthony Baxter, Ron Belmarch, Erik A. Berman, Leo Bicknell,
Kerry Biggs, Kevin Biolsi, Joe Blevins, Chris Bongaarts, Matt Brown,
Joel Browning, Scott Byron, Nicole Carlson, Jonathan Chaffer,
Mike Cheng, Liz Clayton, Benjamin L. Combee, Chris Combs,
Scott A. Dodson, Mort "DSQUD", Peter Edmonds, Michel van der Woude,
Mitch Friedman, Shigemasa Fujimoto, Bob Gajarsky, Tammy Garaffa,
David Garland, Erika Dawn Gernand, James Ghofulpo, Utz Grimminger,
Jeff Hansen, Vernon H Harmon, Cheryl A. Heinz, Phil Hetherington,
David Hodson, Naoyuki Isogai, Matthew James, Joe Keith, Neil Kelly,
Adam Kessel, Rob Knautz, Chris Kopenec, William Krick, Dwight Lee,
J. D. Mack, Dave Marley, Niel McCaffrey, Tom Meyer, Derek Miner,
Ryan Mooney, Benn. D. Neufeld, John Nicholas, Chris Nuccitelli,
José Manuel Soares Oliveira, Smokin' Bo Orloff,
Jun & Ritsuko Oshima, Daniel Rodrigues Parreira, Robert J. Plass,
Bryan José Polk Esq., Andy Purvis, Andrew Rafacz, Robert Reall,
Michael Rose, Sonia Sabnis, Scott Shelley, Neal Shoger, Ryan Staib,
Jon Steltenpohl, Paul Swan, Tedd Terry, Adam Tyner, Clare Waterson,
Mark Weinfeld, Andrew Weiskopf, Myke Weiskopf, Craig Whyte,
Brad Will, Bradley Wilson, Edward Wilt, Mike Wood, Steven Worek.
Plain-text discography available upon request.
I did not subscribe to TMBG Unlimited, so if you have more details on those releases, please let me know. I have not included information on podcasts; if you think this is a major oversight on my part, please let me know.
A working title for Mink Car was Unreliable Narrator.
Goodnoise (now known as EMusic.com) has released a number of They Might Be Giants albums and collections for digital download in MP3 format. Collect them all! EMusic has also put together a number of MP3 various artists collections featuring songs by They Might Be Giants. Utz Grimminger says, about one such collection:
I think I can bring some light into it. “Edison Museum (Wax Cylinder Recording)” and “James K. Polk (Wax Cylinder Recording)” of UnLtd 1 Mk. 1 and Mk. 2 were stored in a different folder called “Songs From The Crypt” ([different from the] Songs From The Crypt sections of later UnLtd editions). For a short time in Mid-2001, old editions of UnLtd were (by mistake?) offered as regular EMusic items, and if those two songs also appeared during that time, they would have shown up as the album Songs From The Crypt - this would have had the catalog number EMusic 22111 (like the original folder, with UnLtd 1 having the number 22110).
Insect Hospital was a working title for Severe Tire Damage.
Volume two of Miscellaneous T was to be titled Superfueled Freaksickle, and was going to contain more B-sides and rare tracks. It was never released.
Promotional videos have been produced for the following songs:
Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head
Don't Let's Start
(She Was a) Hotel Detective
Ana Ng
They'll Need a Crane
Purple Toupee
Birdhouse in Your Soul
Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
The Statue Got Me High
The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)
Snail Shell
Dr. Worm
Boss of Me
Experimental Film
The Long Grift
Shadow Government
I'm Impressed
The Mesopotamians
And, lest we forget, there's the entirety of Here Come the ABCs and Here Come the 123s.
John Flansburgh ran a recording club to release singles by various artists on a subscription-only basis. It was called the Hello CD of the Month Club, but has since gone out of business.
Bodyjar, an Aussie punk band, covered “Racist Friend” on their Strange Harvest EP (1997 AU Shagpile); the song also appears on their 1999 collection entitled Singles and Stuff (1999 AU Shagpile). Da Vinci's Notebook covered “Shoehorn With Teeth” on their album Bendy's Law (CD 1997? US DVN?). The Bruce Lee Band has covered “She's An Angel” on their album Bruce Lee Band. The Creams covered the song “Nothings Gonna Change My Clothes” on their album Pluto (LP? 1996 UK Cordelia ?) and reprise the cover on their live album Are You Real or Just Some Sort of Disgusting Fridge Magnet? (CD 1998 US ?). Hagfish has covered “Twisting” on their live album Caught Live (CD 2002 US Coldfront CF-018); the song was previously recorded and released on the Happiness promotional CD single (CD 1995 US London ?). The Bobs cover the song “Particle Man” on their album Cover The Songs Of... (CD 1994 US Rounder CD 9049 / EU Tradition & Moderne Musikproduktion T&M 003). Connie Champagne covers the song “Don't I Have The Right?” by They Might Be Giants on her album La Strada (CD 1991 US Heyday HEY022); the song has since been recorded by Mono Puff. The Gosh Guys cover the songs “Particle Man”, “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)”, and “Where Your Eyes Don't Go”, on their November 1990 album Chewy Frau; “Ant”, and “Ana Ng”, on their November 1990 album Wooden Grapes; “Particle Man” (a live version), on their June 1992 album Something Gritty In My Pudding; “We're The Replacements”, on their August 1992 Bible Studies EP.
The weekly program Wild Chicago on Public Television Station WTTW, Chicago, uses “We Want A Rock” in their closing credits. “Puppet Head” is played in John Hughes' film Tape Heads during a scene in a bar. “Everything Right is Wrong Again” is played in the film Ed and His Dead Mother over the closing credits. The song “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” is used repeatedly in Daniel Taplitz' film Black Magic (1991 MCA/Universal), but is not credited. “Don't Let's Start” was used in the movie Kicking and Screaming and was credited to TMBG, even though all that was heard was the bass and the drums through a wall in one scene.
They Might Be Giants did not collaborate on the Tiny Toons music videos.
A working title of Miscellaneous T was Millenium One.
They Might Be Giants were Musical Ambassadors for International Space Year, 1992.
John Flansburgh has directed the following promotional videos for other artists:
Frank Black: Los Angeles
Frank Black: Hang On To Your Ego
Soul Coughing: Soundtrack to Mary
Edwyn Collins: A Girl Like You
Ben Folds Five: Song for the Dumped
Recent changes to this document are indicated by green type.
num. numbered ltd. limited ed. edition
p/s picture sleeve std. standard s/s stock sleeve
s/l slimline j/b jewel box promo promotional
c/n catalog number g/f gatefold p/d picture disc
b/i back insert p/b paperboard w/s widescreen
Album: full album release, in one or more of the formats below:
LP 12" vinyl long-player (33 1/3 RPM)
CD Compact (digital) disc (std. j/b unless otherwise indicated)
CT (Mini-) Cassette tape
8T 8-track tape (obsolete)
RT Reel-to-reel tape
DC Digital Compact Cassette tape
MD MiniDisc (digital magneto-optical)
CR CD-R (CD Recordable or Read-Write)
SA Super Audio Compact Disc (SACD)
DA DVD Audio
DR DVD-R (DVD Recordable or Read-Write)
DD Digital Download (see Other Formats below)
Single: single or EP release, in one or more of the formats below:
7" 45 RPM vinyl
10" 45 RPM vinyl
12" 45 RPM vinyl
C3 CD-3, 3" (8 cm) CD single
C5 5" (12 cm) CD single (s/l j/b unless otherwise indicated)
CS (Mini-) Cassette single (p/b p/s unless otherwise indicated)
EP Extended play single or mini-album (vinyl, usually 33 1/3 RPM)
F7 7" flexi-disc, flexible vinyl single (usually one-sided)
Video: video release, in one or more of the formats below:
VHS VHS-format video tape
Beta Beta-format video tape
BRD Blu-ray Disc
HDD High-Definition DVD
DVD Digital Versatile (Video) Disc (including DVD-ROM)
VCD Video CD, popular in Asia (MPEG1)
CLV Video disc in Constant Linear Velocity format (8" or 12")
CAV Video disc in Constant Angular Velocity format (8" or 12")
LDS Laser Disc single (Japan)
VHD Video High Density, obsolete laser disc format (Japan)
NTSC Video format for U.S.A. and Japan
PAL Video format for the E.C. (except France) and Scandinavia
SECAM Video format for France
Other Formats:
ROM CD-ROM, computer-readable disc
MP3 Layer 3 MPEG encoded audio
WMA Windows Media Audio
Pub A publication: a book, songbook, pamphlet, magazine, etc.
Definitions:
Q1/Q2/Q3/Q4 Calendar quarters: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall.
Radio Show A release specially recorded for radio airplay.
Interview An interview transcription disc.
Collection A collection of tracks by this artist, usually previously
released on various albums and singles.
Compilation A compilation of tracks by various artists.
Soundtrack Soundtrack to a film or play released in Album format.
Box Set Box set of previously released and/or unreleased material.
Songbook Book of words and music.
Bootleg Unauthorized release of previously unreleased material
consisting of concert recordings, studio outtakes, and
radio or television broadcasts.
Pirate Unauthorized release of previously released material
without attempting to make the album look like an original.
Counterfeit Unauthorized copy of an officially released album.
Country codes are InterNIC domain names, except for the following:
AA Australasia AS Asia BX BeNeLux
EU Europe (EC/EEC) SC Scandinavia SO South America
WG West Germany (prior to August 1990) WW Worldwide
Please do not ask me where to find rare recordings, bootlegs, videos, or other releases listed in this discography. Please do not ask me where you can get scans of artwork for these releases. This discography is a list of releases that have been made available over time, not a list of my personal collection. Just because any given release is listed in this discography does not mean that I own that release, nor does it indicate that I am willing to trade, sell, or make tape copies of that or any other release. If you are looking for such recordings, try attending record shows, reading collector magazines, and hunting in used record shoppes.
While the existence of unauthorized recordings may be documented herein, I cannot advise on the legality of such recordings, nor can I advise where such recordings can be obtained.
All singles and EPs have a picture sleeve (p/s) unless otherwise noted. Unless otherwise noted, CDs come in a standard jewel-box and CD-singles come in a slim-line jewel-box. An “obi” is the paper strip (literally, the “sash”) that comes wrapped around most Japanese LPs and CDs.
Song authorship is denoted by names enclosed in braces, e.g., “{Blegvad/Moore}”. Where possible, the name of the lyricist appears first.
Information flagged with a question mark has not been verified (a guess, a rumour). If you have further information about these or other related releases or if you can supply missing artwork, please write me.
Many CD track times were found using my compact disc player and the time indicated on your CD player may vary slightly (± 1-3 seconds), due to the way different machines calculate track times.
Address all correspondence to:
John Relph <relph
at tmbg dot org>
This list was compiled and formatted by John Relph.
While information about particular releases is not copyright and may be used without permission, the compilation of this information in this discography in this format is copyright and may not be published in any form whatsoever without the permission of the author. Just ask.
This discography may be distributed electronically and otherwise if and only if the entire copyright notice and attributions are included.
|
can tell you about They Might Be Giants tour dates near you. |
|
can sell you MP3's of Giant's CD's that you can download right now! Every track you buy helps to support this site. |
