tmbg.com

From This Might Be A Wiki

tmbg.com was They Might Be Giants' official promotional website, started in 1996 by Bo Orloff. It has undergone many iterations, and as of September 2009, the site simply redirects to theymightbegiants.com, but parts of the original site still remain live. The site has gone through many changes over time and information that has once been there is not being kept anymore, so seeing the site through the eyes of the Wayback Machine may be worth a look.

From October 1996 to mid-2001, the website revolved around the main design of a fire, over which the Johns' and William Allen White's heads, steaks, various other objects were roasted. This was designed by The Chopping Block and was one of their first jobs, with it being designed by Barbara Glauber, who also did the album cover for Factory Showroom, as well as other design work for the band prior to 1996.

After that website style, TMBG employed The Chopping Block once again to create the now well-known Flash site, wherein rows of moving objects on a clothesline-type rope could be hit to reach streaming audio and video, and contains the famous target and president layout. The layout was originally going to be used from the very beginning, but they went against it at the time to avoid controversy. This version of the website was designed by Thomas Romer, co-founder of The Chopping Block, with the presidents' heads being drawn by Jason "Jay" Hillyer.

For about a year from 2005 to late 2006, A Venue Songs-themed page was the main page for tmbg.com, although the "full" version of the website was still linked there. This page contained all of the videos from the Venue Songs DVD, and the Home Movies video for "Taste The Fame" as a bonus. The page still exists and is linked to on the new, temporary tmbg.com.

A new design was proposed sometime around 2006, and was to be based off of an interrogation room, with the background playing different videos and the design to be done by The Chopping Block once again. However, constant changes to the concept by the band, which resulted in entire sections of the website having to be rebuilt, as well as budgetary problems resulted in the redesign's cancellation. This design was eventually adapted into the cover for the Songs For Chop EP, released in 2016.

November 2006 - September 2009[edit]

On November 22, 2006, a new (temporary) design was implemented for TMBG.com, essentially replacing the Chopping Block's flash design that had been in place for the past five years. The new site begins with a news page that displays for five seconds, after which a large page of links is displayed. The site follows a stylistically simplistic theme of black silhouettes under white and purple text.

  • The last logo, designed by Barbara Glauber, before the site was made to redirect.

  • Site logo from November 2006 to August 2009

Flash Site - 2001-2006[edit]

The site from this era, featured the now-famous target and presidents design. The site allowed you to listen to the following songs on the website:

  1. Ana Ng
  2. Ballad Of T McSweeney (no longer available)
  3. Birdhouse In Your Soul
  4. Certain People
  5. Dinner Bell (no longer available)
  6. Doctor Worm
  7. Dont Lets Start
  8. The Edison Museum
  9. Exquisite Dead Guy
  10. Fingertips (Edits)
  11. Hotel Detective
  12. I Can Hear You
  13. Istanbul (Not)
  14. James K. Polk
  15. Kiss Me Son Of God
  16. Minimum Wage (no longer available)
  17. Number Three
  18. Particle Man
  19. Robot Parade (no longer available)
  20. S-E-X-X-Y
  21. Sleeping In The Flowers
  22. Space Suit
  23. Turn Around
  24. Wake Up Call (no longer available)
  25. Whistling In The Dark
  26. Why Does The Sun Shine?

The site also offered quickCam videos, which were small videos made for songs that couldn't be found elsewhere. This section featured:

  1. I Am Not Your Broom
  2. Dr. Worm
  3. A Tranquil Brow
  4. What Am I Doin
  5. Hovering Sombrero
  6. Your Moms Alright
  7. Tender Is The Mind
  8. Working Undercover

Gallery of different TMBG.com homepages[edit]

  • The original site - used as the homepage from 1996 to 2001

  • The flash site - used as the homepage from 2001 to 2005

  • The Venue Songs page - used as the homepage for a few months from late 2005 to early 2006

  • The tmbg.com portal - used as the homepage through most of 2006

  • The last design - November 2006 through September 2009

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