In 1989 this was released as a 'single' on 8 track tape format and distributed to radio stations as a promo. The box is decorated to make one believe it contains the song (The title and lyrics and a picture of the the Johns), but for humor's sake the tape does not play Purple Toupee but rather something else not done by TMBG.
In the Gamecube game Custom Robo, there is a character that wears a purple toupee which he found during the summer.
Al Stewart has a song called "Red Toupee." After performing it in a concert (18-Jul-99), he said, "That song was going to be part of a concept album about toupees. They Might Be Giants have a song called Purple Toupee, and we're just looking for another 10 songs and then we can release it."
The Nelories, who released a CD for the Hello CD Of The Month Club, released a song called Hell Toupee that was intended as a tribute to this song on their CD INDIE POP CAR BABY.
The music video for the song was filmed at Astroworld Park on Coney Island in Brooklyn.