Difference between revisions of "Apollo 18"

Revision as of 15:25, 18 May 2010

	Apollo 18 Studio album by They Might Be Giants
	First released	March 20, 1992 Release details / collectors: Show | Hide	Tracks	18	Last album	Flood
	Label	Elektra <61257>	Length	43:00	Next album	John Henry

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See Discography Abbreviations for definition of various terms.

Apollo 18 is They Might Be Giants' fourth studio album, released in 1992. It was the band's second release with the major label Elektra Records.

Purchase

Seller	Format	Price	Link
iTunes	AAC	$	N/A
TMBG Merch Store			N/A

Description

Background

An Elektra poster promoting the album.

For the band's follow-up to the successful Flood, Elektra approached Elvis Costello to produce the album. However, TMBG feared self-consciousness in the face of such an admired musician and produced it themselves as originally planned. This caused a rift between Elektra and the band that took a while to heal. (Flansburgh, Linnell, and Susan Drew from Elektra discuss this subject at length in bonus footage included on the Gigantic DVD).

Sales And Singles

A chart showing the historical performance of Apollo 18 on the Billboard 200.

Apollo 18 debuted on the Billboard 200 album chart the week of April 11, 1992; spent 6 weeks on the chart, peaking at number 99. The album generated three singles: The Statue Got Me High, I Palindrome I, and The Guitar. The Statue Got Me High spent 8 weeks on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks Chart, but only peaked at #24.

Fingertips

Apollo 18 is an unusual album, mainly due to the "Fingertips" tracks -- 21 short songs, the longest of which is just over one minute long, but most average close to 10 seconds. The liner notes state that "The indexing of this disc is designed to complement the Shuffle Mode of modern CD players." This implies that the CD was meant to be listened to on Shuffle, so the Fingertips songs would be inserted throughout the CD as you listen to it. In the US, Fingertips was cut up into separate tracks. However, even though the track listing is still numbered to 38, the EU version is one continuous track (due to a mastering error at WEA). To this day, new copies are still all one track.

UK magazine ad promoting the album

Sticker promoting the Don't Tread On The Cut-Up Snake World Tour

Back of a promotional flat

Track listing

#	Title	Length	Lyrics	Guitar Tab
1	Dig My Grave	1:08
2	I Palindrome I	2:22
3	She's Actual Size	2:05
4	My Evil Twin	2:37
5	Mammal	2:14
6	The Statue Got Me High	3:06
7	Spider	0:50		N/A
8	The Guitar	3:49
9	Dinner Bell	2:11
10	Narrow Your Eyes	2:46
11	Hall Of Heads	2:53
12	Which Describes How You're Feeling	1:13
13	See The Constellation	3:27
14	If I Wasn't Shy	1:43
15	Turn Around	2:53
16	Hypnotist Of Ladies	1:42
17	Everything Is Catching On Fire	0:12
18	Fingertips (Banjo)	0:06
19	I Hear The Wind Blow	0:10
20	Hey Now Everybody	0:05
21	Who's That Standing Out The Window?	0:06
22	I've Found A New Friend Underneath My Pillow	0:07
23	Come On And Wreck My Car	0:12
24	Aren't You The Guy Who Hit Me In The Eye?	0:06
25	Please Pass The Milk	0:08
26	Leave Me Alone	0:05
27	Who's Knocking On The Wall?	0:04
28	All Alone, All By Myself	0:05
29	What's That Blue Thing Doing Here?	0:08
30	Something Grabbed Ahold Of My Hand	0:12
31	I Don't Understand You	0:27
32	I Heard A Sound	0:04
33	Mysterious Whisper	0:28
34	The Day That Love Came To Play	0:08
35	I'm Having A Heart Attack	0:23
36	Fingertips (Whispered)	0:10
37	I Walk Along Darkened Corridors	1:01
38	Space Suit	1:36

Trivia/Info

• This was released on vinyl in Europe, and was the last TMBG album released on vinyl until The Else in 2007.
• The liner notes also indicate design by Rolf Conant.
• The Dial-A-Song number in the booklet is incorrect, stating the number as 718-963-6962. TMBG pointed this out to the audience at shows around this time. (The incorrect number was apparently for a warehouse.)
• TMBG was selected by NASA as Musical Ambassadors for International_Space_Year, as stated on the back cover of the album.

Information Bulletins

The TMBG Online Information Bulletin run by Bo Orloff sent out five updates on the subject of this album:

• Bulletin 1.0 / February 1992 - track listing and release schedule
• Bulletin 1.1 / February 1992 - press release
• Bulletin 1.2 / February 1992 - band bio
• Bulletin 2.1 / May 1992 - live band tour launch
• Bulletin 3.30.93 / March 30, 1993 - Spring 93 Mini-Tour

Image Gallery

Vinyl

CD