This Day In TMBG History/May

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1

Happy May Day! Celebrate with the Puppet Johns via YouTube.

2

2002 – Gigantic (A Tale Of Two Johns), the full-length documentary about They Might Be Giants, has its first screening in New York at the 59th Street East Cinema in Manhattan.

3

2005 – A User's Guide To They Might Be Giants: Melody, Fidelity, Quantity is released by Rhino on CD. The greatest hits compilation serves mostly as a condensed version of the two-disc Dial-A-Song set from three years earlier.

4

1979 – When I was Maggie Thatcher, It Was A Very Good Year for cat fights and being elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, a position Ms. Thatcher would continue to hold for 11 years, where she gained a reputation as either the best or absolute worst Prime Minister.

5

1988 – (She Was A) Hotel Detective, the second single from They Might Be Giants' first album, is released.

1992 – I Palindrome I, the second single from Apollo 18, is released.

6

1960 – John Flansburgh is born.

1992 – TMBG play their last UK show as a duo at London's Town & Country Club.

7

2002 – The first performance of People Are Wrong! takes place at Joe's Pub in New York City, through the Joseph Papp's Public Theater.

11

1998 – People magazine announces the winners of the 1998 50 Most Beautiful People in the World online poll. John Linnell places ninth.

12

1990 – They Might Be Giants play "Your Racist Friend", a single from Flood, on Late Night with David Letterman. Watch the performance via YouTube.

15

2007 – The Else, They Might Be Giants' twelfth studio album, is made available for download on iTunes, approximately two months ahead of the CD release.

2013 – The TMBG app is released for Android devices, following its initial iOS release in January.

16

2000 – Working Undercover For The Man, an MP3 EP, is released through eMusic, though, as in the case of Long Tall Weekend, there are some physical copies available. In addition to the title track, it features a number of previously unreleased recordings.

19

1984 – John Linnell purchases his first accordion (an F. H. Walters 1928 model) from "We Buy Guitars" on 48th street in Manhattan. The accordion would soon become a staple of They Might Be Giants' music.

1992 – They Might Be Giants play "I Palindrome I", a single from Apollo 18, on Late Night with David Letterman. Watch the performance via YouTube.

1998 – It's Fun To Steal, Mono Puff's second album, is released.

23

1788 – South Carolina becomes the 8th state. Nationally, it becomes one of the most poorly-rated states in terms of bicycle accidents. It will prompt the writing of the State Songs track "South Carolina".

24

1941 – Bob Dylan is born. Dylan is a prolific and influential musician, revered by both John Linnell and John Flansburgh. His song "Mr. Tambourine Man" has been covered by TMBG, and it inspired the song "Weep Day".

26

2003 – Gigantic (A Tale Of Two Johns) begins screening in a limited number of theaters.

27

2014 – The TMBG compilation album, Idlewild, is released.

30

Dan Hickey, the former TMBG drummer from 1997 to 2003, is born in 1957.