1999-12 ChickStars
They Might Be Giants' John Linnell
By Linda Laban, ChickStars, December 1999
Archived from: https://web.archive.org/web/20031219171103/http://www.tmbg.net/articles/chickstar1999.html
John Linnell is best known as the accordion playing half of the avant-garde pop group, They Might Be Giants, though he soon reveals himself to be so much more. The other half of Giants being his writing and performing partner of seventeen-odd years, John Flansburgh. Way back, when the '80s turned into the '90s, the two Johns jollied up the airwaves with such memorable, ultra-catchy pop songs as "Birdhouse in Your Soul" and "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)." But because TMBG do not enjoy the chart success and MTV coverage they once did, those outside the band's circle of friends and dedicated fans often wonder what they've been doing.
"They think we must have been on vacation, or on drugs or something," says John Linnell from his home in New York. Not so, take 1999 for instance: after the band's first ever live album Severe Tire Damage, and an MP3-only collection of previously unreleased archival material was issued–both resulting in nationwide tours, John L managed to release his solo debut, State Songs.
John played some shows at the end of November with the band he formed, The Statesmen. The very weekend before we spoke, however, he was still on tour with John F. promoting the TMBG MP3 release.
"It was a really good deal for us because we were given money to hand over stuff that we wouldn't have been putting out, and that we are still entitled to put out as a CD if we want to," he says. "It seemed like a pretty unbeatable offer." Though thrilled with this venture, Linnell is eager to point out that TMBG are not pioneering the MP3 revolution.
"You could be your own record company, but you can't sell records if nobody has heard of you, and the same is true of the Internet. You can't sell MP3s unless people have heard of you, and the only way to have people hear of you is to have an enormous promotion machine. A grass rootsy approach aside (The Blair Witch Project notwithstanding), it really is impossible to have a national or international profile without some enormous company behind you."
Not that he has an enormous company behind "State Songs" but rather the tried, tested, and respected Massachusetts indie label, Rounder Records' pop imprint, Zoë. Linnell is hoping to follow with a State Songs Part 2 and 3, as he would love to finish off this collection of 15 songs, and cover all 50 states. Though he is quick to point out, the states the songs are named after are mere starting points for his imagination. "A lot of them only have a tangential relationship with the state," says John.
"Basically what I tried to do, instead of saying Tennessee the land of whatever–which was my original impulse–was to write a series of pop songs with the names of states, the same way you have pop songs with the names of women. Ultimately the songs have to stand on their own qualities."
"They're not really good examples of state anthems," he continues, "they will never be adopted by the states; particularly Oregon, not because I say it's bad [he does!], but I mispronounce the name of the state. They are really bothered by that much more than having their state be called bad. You see the kind of problems I'm up against here?" he jokes.
He adds more seriously: "I would be touched and heartened if any state for any reason wanted to adopt one of these songs, but I'm not holding my breath."
For the record, John does not think Oregon is bad. " I hope people understand that I'm not telling the truth, they're works of fiction." And, he takes a little liberty with the liner notes too: "I started identifying the states' birds, then I got into some untruths.... That's what made it interesting for me, that I could say something that isn't true and have it written out as if it were true."
So does Oregon really lead the nation in its peppermint and blackberry production as the notes say? "Well, that's actually true," assures John.
John also chose to experiment a little with the record's sound, and, despite its limitations musically, some songs incorporate the American Band Organ (the thing that old fashioned fairground carousels would have in the middle, pumping out tunes): "It's very hard to have it play in tune," he says. "It does whatever it wants. I'm happy with the result, but it's not what I expected."
For now and after the solo tour, his attention must be turned to TMBG, and currently the duo is overloaded with film and TV composing. 1999 perhaps gave them their coup de grace in that line of work, when their especially composed song, "Dr. Evil" became the lead song for the Mike Myers' comedy sequel Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me. Originally though, the film's music coordinator rejected the song. "They said, 'that's not what we want, that's not what we asked for… we want a TMBG song,'" says John. The two Johns, however, did not see that working well for the movie.
"Instead we came up with something that we thought would be appropriate for the film. The music coordinator was disappointed, but somehow, at some point we got a tape to Mike Myers and he immediately liked it, and insisted that it be in the very beginning of the film."
Perhaps the most surprising of John's achievements is being voted the ninth most beautiful person in the world in a People Magazine on-line survey. "It really has to be taken with a grain of salt when you consider the winner of the poll was Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf," he says.
Linnell retorted to that victory with a witty article printed in the New York Times, where he described himself as a middle-aged accordion player. "Both true," he asserts. "I'm proud to be both," he adds. That and so much more.