Today's featured artist is a Giant to me, no question. John Linnell is the skinny, slightly quieter half of They Might Be Giants, the band that plays those songs that seem silly enough for kids, all the while planting little intellectual C4 charges that go off in our mind as we grow up and study all those things we're supposed to learn in school, college, and real life.
I didn't have a favorite John (Flansburgh is the other one) until they took a group hiatus and put out their solo stuff. Flansburgh actually put together a band named Mono Puff, while Linnell released "State Songs" as his solo project. He only managed 18 of the 50 states, but I've got a couple of favorites, while I can't name any Mono Puff songs. (I still need some Flans action for a proper TMBG song; he brings the savoir faire...)
Fortunately, they resumed business as TMBG, eschewing radio charts for multimedia success with all ages. (They learned a lot from Malcolm in the Middle.) Not sure if State Songs will ever be completed (They Might Have covered that with their Deranged Millionaire series.) For today's blog, I've chosen a bootleg recording from an in-store "State Songs" performance:
Saturday, June 12, 2010
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