1990-05-14 Hits Magazine
Brooklyn Giants
By David Sprague, Hits Magazine, May 14, 1990
Archived from: https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Hits/90s/1990/Hits-1990-05-14.pdf#page=53
"To some folks, thoughts of Brooklyn conjure up images of Woody Allen. Others think of Rocky Balboa. Two images that might seem irreconcilable — except to the self-described 'geek farmers' cum underdog pop culture heroes who make up They Might Be Giants."
What went into the making of "Flood" that was different from your previous records?
John Flansburgh: This is our first influence-free record. Actually, it reminds me a lot of our first record, in that it's kind of an encyclopedia of what we do. "Lincoln" was more like a thesaurus.
Most obviously on "Istanbul," you seem to've absorbed a lot of pre-rock influences.
John Linnell: Yeah. It's a really great alternative for anyone who thinks the last 15 years have been a real rock nightmare. We've just gotten through this long period of '50s/'60s-mania, which was really crazy. At this point, it's not so much on the radio as on commercials — that'll be the final resting place for all that. It's really appealing to listen to stuff that existed at the same time, but in revisionist history, has been swept under the carpet.
Have you ever considered writing children's songs?
JF: I wouldn't want to exclude adults. Being adults ourselves, we know how unfair their lives can be. Adults are people, too, you know.
Songs like "Triangle Man" have that undertone, but there's more to it, right?
JL: Well, "Triangle Man" is the same character, in a way, as the guy who sings "Kiss Me, Song Of God." He's an abusive bully, a potential fascist dictator who, for some reason, is represented by a triangle.
Is there anything that couldn't go into a They Might Be Giants song?
JF: We don't want it to be an exploitive thing. (pauses) We think about not promoting, I dunno... sexiness.
You've been hit with the "wacky" label so much, one would expect you to be more dour at this point.
JL: We thought the last record was really dour, but no one else seemed to notice.
JF: The lyrical content of "Lincoln" was especially grim. Relentlessly. One person — who wrote a piece called "When Happy Songs Happen To Sad People" — picked up on that.
Does being pigeonholed as "fun" bother you?
JL: What's funny about our band is that although we're personally afraid to have fun, the overall feeling around us is FUN. It's an interesting phenomenon that people would actually call our bluff and have fun with our music.
Which you encourage, what with all the audience participation shtick in your live set.
JF: That has a lot to do with being based in New York. Like Frank says, "If you can make it there, you'll make it anywhere." New Yorkers are very, very reluctant to go along with anything like that. Now, in Germany, you just say, "Do this!" and they'll snap to it.
Any other bits of road etiquette that you've picked up?
JL: Stop complaining. Go to sleep.
What if Bruce Springsteen is in town the same night and he wants to come up and jam?
JF: We don't jam, and Bruce doesn't want to jam with us anyway. We have that on very good authority; his people have contacted us to tell us he doesn't want to jam with us. But Peter Tork came to one of our shows. That was really interesting, because you could see that his life was just one undifferentiated chain of people coming up to him and saying, "Hey, you're Peter Tork." Or, of course, "Didn't you used to be Peter Tork?"
Do you pay much attention to what people say to you, to messages left on Dial-A-Song, for instance?
JF: It's ridiculous how much attention we pay to what people say! If they say a new song is good, we think we're great — we've finally got it. We don't realize they might just be stupid people.
Finally, what's the biggest myth about They Might Be Giants?
JF: Are there any?
JL: We've read that we're nerds.
JF: And we all know that's a myth.
JL: The biggest myth, though, is that we're unusual. Or interesting. We're not.