User:Sadsack07/This Might Be A Zine

Welcome to This Might Be A Zine, where you can get caught up on all the latest TMBG news and things, hosted on this very website, TMBW!

This Might Be A Zine #1: April 2025

TMBG Shows in 2025

Due to a recent illness in the band, They Might Be Giants have postponed several March shows to October and November.

The first show of 2025 was performed on February 27 and featured the live debut of "Stuff Is Way" (watch here), along with the first performance of "You Probably Get That A Lot" since 2012 (watch here), the first performance of "I'm Impressed" since 2015 (watch here), the first performance of "Wearing A Raincoat" since 2020 (watch here), and the first performance of "We Live In A Dump" since 2022 (watch here).

The band was also on the JoCo Cruise 2025 last month. They played two shows (you can watch one of them here) and were interviewed on stage by comedian Paul F. Tompkins and audience members at a Q&A event (you can watch that here).

The Spine Surfs Alone compilation on CD

The Spine Surfs Alone: Rarities 1998-2005 CD cover

The Spine Surfs Alone: Rarities 1998-2005 is now on CD as of March 20! The disc features the same track listing as the vinyl, including "T-Shirt (Instrumental)".

You can purchase the CD here.

14-song demo tape from 1982?

1982 ad

A classified ad from a January 1982 issue of the magazine In These Times was found on February 22 on the TMBW Discord, which advertises a 14-song demo tape from "Flansbobota." My questions are, what does "I knew Glen Miller - we were in the same plane" mean? What is "Flansbobota?" And what are any of these 14 songs?

A few days later, Flansburgh confirmed the existence of the tape on Tumblr:^[1]

I’m sure it was me. Not sure why exactly, but I suspect someone said it was free to advertise and, hey, $4 was two meals for me in 1982, so I just put something in the paper. Probably some iteration of a demo.

ADDENDUM: while I am pretty dyslexic and was in special spelling class my entire childhood, and evidently have been spelling stelluB wrong for years, I know it wasn’t me who misspelled Glenn Miller–That was damaged in transit. I had Glenn Miller records when I was 10 and, well, it just looks so WRONG.

As for the Flansbobota–there is this dadaist poem… oh it’s a long story.

"I took off the intellectuals, I put on There May Be Giants"

1984 Village Voice bulletin board

On March 3, the newspaper page that Gloria talks about in "Untitled" was also found on the TMBW Discord. From the May 29, 1984 edition of The Village Voice, this seems to be the exact page that Gloria found Dial-A-Song in, and features:

• the Kiss Clinic
• the intellectuals who meet with other intellectuals
• Dial-A-Stripper
• Dial-A-Balloon
• and They Might Be Giants' Dial-A-Machine.

High-quality version of "Who's Gonna Guess The Dead Guy?"

"Who's Gonna Guess The Dead Guy?"

On March 23, the official YouTube channel for "The Preston & Steve Show" uploaded a a high-quality version of "Who's Gonna Guess The Dead Guy?", the original song that turned into "Boss Of Me"! Unfortunately, this version does not include the pre-chorus that contains the lyrics "Marilyn, Preston, and Steve want to know, so why don't you call them?"

Glean 10th Anniversary

The 21st of this month marks the 10th anniversary of They Might Be Giants' seventeenth studio album and first Dial-A-Song 2015 album, Glean! Here's what people have to say:

CapitalQ:

Glean still feels like a pretty new TMBG album to me, so it's wild to think about it turning 10 already. My initial reception of it as an album wasn't the strongest, probably because I was familiar with most of its songs already through the first few months of 2015 Dial-A-Song, which seems similar to how TMBG fans with eMusic in 2001 felt when Mink Car dropped. While Glean has become a running gag in some corners of the community for reasons not entirely clear, it has some undeniably great deep cuts ("I'm a Coward", "Aaa" and "Madam" are among my favorites) and tracks that have been played hundreds of times in the live show and seem to be permanent fixtures (like "Operation" and "Underwater Woman"). Though I don't see it as one of the most cohesive 2010s TMBG albums, there's a ton I enjoy on Glean.

Yomoneyboat:

As a 32 year old, it's hard to think of any 10 year stretch that was more personally transformative for me than the 10 years since Glean came out. I still remember walking around my college campus in my senior year with Erase on repeat after the first DAS release, and as I listen to it this morning to put myself in the frame of mind to answer the question, it's almost surreal to think that in the 10 years since I heard it for the first time, I've graduated from college, become a real working professional, got married, and had a kid... and throughout that entire time, TMBG has been a constant source of comfort, inspiration, and delight. As hard as it is to believe that it's already been 10 years, I know the next 10 are going to fly by even faster, and I know I'll still be listening to TMBG - and sharing them with my daughter, too.

Valerie:

10 years pretty crazy. It mostly makes me reflect on the passage of time in my own life which I'm not sure would be too interesting to read about, hah. I think Glean was the last CD I ever played in my car stereo before switching to only bluetooth. Everything from Nanobots through I Like Fun/MMR/Escape team blends together in my head a little because they came out during a time I wasn't as actively deeply involved in the fandom as I had been previously (and am again, now). But I have a lot of memories of Glean on repeat in the car, since it would automatically start to play every time I drove anywhere. Erase is such a banger of an opener. It has some of my less favorite TMBG tracks (Madam, End of the Rope, Hate The Villanelle) but overall I think of it as a super boisterous and pretty joyful album!

SunshineMar:

YAY EXCITING I LOVE GLEAN

Luke Hennisch:

It blows my mind that Glean is turning 10 very soon. Wild to think that 2015 as a whole was 10 years ago! I remember when it was releasing, eagerly awaiting to listen to it (albeit every song was already on DAS). Still one of my favorite TMBG records of the 2010s.

FloridaFlamingoGirl:

It's impressive how much music they've put out in the past decade. I think Glean holds up as an album that has a fresh, crisp pop music sound, especially with "Erase" and "Unpronounceable" which strike me as two of Linnell's best songs.

Paul Sahre:

(I'm) surprised. It's been 10 years? Seems like less.

David Cowles:

To answer (the) question about how I feel about Glean turning 10 years old next month is: Old.

John Flansburgh:

Feelin' good!

Inside creating the Glean cover with Paul Sahre

Glean cover

Sahre:

As is typical for TMBG, the album art needs to create a vibe that is separate from the music and the title of the album. The thing is to avoid (if possible) something too 'on the nose.'

So Glean ended up doing a micro/macro inside/outside thing on the front and back cover. No type on the front cover, label sized due cuts on the front and back, with an inner sleeve that is reversible depending on how you put the sleeve back in the album cover.

Tidly wink/stars anatomy/trees

What does it all mean? That's up to you.

Community's Top 10 Songs of the 2010s

Below is a list put together by the TMBG subreddit of the best songs from the 2010s.

1. By The Time You Get This
2. The Lady And The Tiger
3. Canajoharie
4. You Probably Get That A Lot
5. The Darlings Of Lumberland
6. Old Pine Box
7. Let's Get This Over With
8. I Like Fun
9. Mrs. Bluebeard
10. Push Back The Hands

That's the end!

See you next time!

Have a great rest of your April, and thanks for reading This Might Be A Zine! Tune in next month for more neat TMBG-related things!