They Might Be Giants Poll: A Poll

[PaulTMA]

At least Flans has gone on record as being a Ween fan.  He posted the Push The Lil Daisies video in tribute to them when they initially split up and has played them since on his WJFF radio show.

[sutin]

TMBG are one of the least smug bands I can possibly think of, what a bizarre thing to take away.

Ween and TMBG have a lot of crossover fans. I've never met anyone who loves one and dislikes the other. As for Dean Ween not liking TMBG, was it not more that he didn't like being compared to them? I don't recall him ever flat out criticising their work.

[PaulTMA]

Two guys with a drum machine/backing tape, similar era, nerdy, all that.  I can get why Ween would not appreciate the comparison.

[PaulTMA]

Most of the music I've seen described as "too clever" etc, TMBG, Elvis Costello, Squeeze, XTC is many others' best ever so who cares innit.

[sutin]

'Too clever' being a criticism is weird as fuck to me. 'I don't like this music, it's too well-crafted'...

[PaulTMA]

People still give David Quantick money to write pish

[Rev+]

Love TMBG although I'm one of those stupid people who thinks Lincoln is the absolute peak and everything after Apollo 18 is a bit shakier (though still plenty of quality stuff).

That's my exact opinion too, so you have the keys to the correct opinions club.  The carpet's warped and spiders get in, but at least we know we're right.

[PaulTMA]

Just want an excuse to post this heart-pumpingly genius bit of 'clever' songwriting

[PaulTMA]

Indeed, how can anyone follow up a masterpiece like Lincoln

[Avril Lavigne]

they sound smug and too smart for their own good and it distracts me too much from any sense of fun or pathos they're trying to convey. It's really grating.

But enough about Cook'd and Bomb'd!

[PaulTMA]

I don't think anyone has ever conveyed heartbreak in a way such as this.  Love them

[sutin]

I don't think anyone has ever conveyed heartbreak in a way such as this.  Love them

Yes, an absolutely sublime and perfect heartbreak song. What a band.

[PaulTMA]

They are a band who I will always love from the bottom of my heart

[The Mollusk]

'Too clever' being a criticism is weird as fuck to me. 'I don't like this music, it's too well-crafted'...

That isn't what I said.

Two guys with a drum machine/backing tape, similar era, nerdy, all that.  I can get why Ween would not appreciate the comparison.

Ween isn't nerdy (and I'm not saying that because I don't like nerdy music or as sutin presumes "because it's too well-crafted" 🙄 I'm a big fan of The Shins, Estradasphere, Talking Heads and Ad Nauseam, but the difference is I think their music is good). Ween's sentimentality comes from being stoned, goofy, heart on sleeve despite being simultaneously grotesque. I've never once thought of them as nerds.

[billyandthecloneasaurus]

I sometimes love them and sometimes I find the wackiness too cringe to enjoy. 

I consider myself a fan, albeit quite a casual one.  My mate told me that years ago when he was at uni in Bristol, he went to his regular record store, and saw the proprietor pick up a TMBG vinyl, look at my mate and go "They might be shit, more like", and I pissed myself at the puerility of it.  I'm grinning now typing it out, poor They Might Be Giants.

[sutin]

I don't think Ween are nerdy either.

I love Ween and I love TMBG, let's all get along.

[sutin]

There's yer Flansburgh in a Boognish shirt.

Also, look at their wee faces. How could you not love them?

[Brundle-Fly]

I would have been intrigued to hear what Apollo 18 would have sounded like with Costello on production duties. I've always liked that album anyway. For the few times he's behind the desk, Elvis has recorded some classics: The Specials debut album, Free Nelson Mandela, Rum, Sodomy & The Lash - The Pogues and one of Squeeze's best albums, East Side Story. I reckon he'd have made a good fist of it.

 I saw the Johns on that very album's tour, superb gig. Christ, that was THIRTY years ago!

[Glebe]

I've always liked TMBG but I mostly only know their big songs to be honest. Certainly not au fait with their later stuff but somebody posted this banger on here recently:

[sutin]

I find it hard to get excited about new TMBG stuff but that's only because they churn out so much. You can still rely on them to deliver bangers almost every year.

[jfjnpxmy]

Every single thing TMBG have done for the last 20 years I have listened to, gone "Eh, shite" and then realized I love it upon a re-listen.

[Goldentony]

genuinely amazed to learn Barenaked Ladies are a real proper band beyond chinese chicken song and Big Bang Theory, had no idea they were that big. Honestly had them at Third Eye Blind at best and maybe something like one of those one off mental novelty 90s things like Asshole by Denis Leary or LADIES AND GENTLEMEN OF THE CLASS OF 19MOTHER FUCKIN'49 I AM THE MOTHERFUCKING SUN SCREEN

[sutin]

genuinely amazed to learn Barenaked Ladies are a real proper band beyond chinese chicken song and Big Bang Theory, had no idea they were that big. Honestly had them at Third Eye Blind at best and maybe something like one of those one off mental novelty 90s things like Asshole by Denis Leary or LADIES AND GENTLEMEN OF THE CLASS OF 19MOTHER FUCKIN'49 I AM THE MOTHERFUCKING SUN SCREEN

Me too, before I joined the TMBG FB groups. Bizarre.

[amateur]

TMBG are the best!

I love most of their silly/non silly stuff but prefer the stuff that straddles the middle.

Case in point, "Where Your Eyes Don't Go", which Terry Pratchett said was the scariest song he'd ever heard. It slaps but it's also zany.

I've always liked TMBG but I mostly only know their big songs to be honest. Certainly not au fait with their later stuff but somebody posted this banger on here recently:

That's a fucking banger, that one. See also "Push Back The Hands Of Time" from one of the 8,000 tracks they've released in the last ten years.

[sutin]

https://twitter.com/tmbg/status/1647816545643671552?s=20

[amateur]

A great bunch of Johns.

[lazyhour]

As always, the Johns can be relied upon to be awesome.