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My wife and I saw TMBG a couple of months ago. I'm a big fan, but she mostly just listens when it's my turn to control the radio. Over the course of the concert
by VyseofArcadia 2y ago
My wife and I saw TMBG a couple of months ago. I'm a big fan, but she mostly just listens when it's my turn to control the radio. Over the course of the concert, she kept shooting me these surprised and baffled looks. I asked her what was up with that afterwards.
"I thought those were weird songs you made up to sing to the cat! Who writes a song called Dr Worm?"
I can't imagine how surreal it must be to see a band play your spouse's silly cat songs in front of hundreds of cheering fans.
- throwaway5752 2y agoThey really are an amazing band that defies neat classification. https://tmbw.net/wiki/This_Might_Be_A_Wiki:Other_Bands_You_Might_Like_If_You_Like_TMBG https://tmbw.net/wiki/This_Might_Be_A_Wiki:Other_Bands_You_M... is quite the list.
- snarf21 2y agoThis is amazing! Such an imaginative band, not 1000 of the same crap we hear today.
- sophacles 2y agoIn 1990 I was 10. The music you heard most of the time was "1000 of the same crap we hear every day". I made a similar comment to my parents, about how music in the 60s and 70s was all so good, not like the crap today. They responded by telling me: "We were there, it was mostly crap". I've paid attention since that conversation, and come to the conclusion that: most music for most time periods is crap. Some of it is good enough to be remembered. Some of it is nostoligic to a time/place/scene and will be remembered. But most of it, is just crap clones of crap songs. The best music seems to come from relatively obscure/underground scenes and then grows outward from there. Sometimes the awareness cone may miss your own light cone for a while and you only learn about a song years later. That's ok, it happens to everyone. Sometimes you don't realize how good a song was because you didn't have some of the life experience or knowledge or perspective to see how great it was - that's ok too. Often you'll revist a song that just hit right for the moment and it turns out that you were wrong about it's greatness... it was awful after all (but you have a bit of guilty nostalgia about it anyway)... thats OK too. Point being there's always good music being made, and if you want to catch it fresh you gotta expand your exposure to more music from different genres/scenes/etc. I'm 100% certain that there is incredible new music being made somewhere, right now, as you read this.
- cantSpellSober 2y agoThe live experience is something to be seen, it's not just the two Jons playing Birdhouse in Your Soul. They have a very large band including a lot of wind instruments, and they really have fun with it. (Spoiler alert) they've taken to playing Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love in reverse, filming it live, then playing that recording in reverse for the audience (post-intermission).
- VyseofArcadia 2y agoThey did the Sapphire Bullets trick in the show I saw. It was pretty dang impressive. I love that they tour with a horn section now, and hearing new arrangements of old favorites that make use of the horn section was great. (And of course new favorites written with the horn section in mind from the get go were also great.) I also enjoyed that they introduced Birdhouse with "Please rise for the They Might Be Giants national anthem."
- tbyehl 2y ago> they really have fun with it. Isn't that, like, everything? The first time I saw them it was because they were here, it was affordable, and I dug that Malcom in the Middle song, so why not? The second time was just because they're fun. There will be a next time and it will again be just because they're fun. And I'm still not sure I could name another of their songs.
- timtas 2y agoI saw their Flood tour. Variety Playhouse Atlanta 1990. No band, just the two of them. Plus the metronome, and some prerecorded backup here and there.
- mrbluecoat 2y agoSo true. My kids didn't believe me when I said I didn't make up "The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas" song: https://youtube.com/watch?v=3JdWlSF195Y https://youtube.com/watch?v=3JdWlSF195Y
- Gormo 2y agoNeither did TMBG. It's a cover of a song from an album of educational music from the late '50s. And the melody is a variation of the traditional song "The Girl I Left Behind" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_I_Left_Behind https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_I_Left_Behind), which dates at least to the 17th century.
- gorfian_robot 2y agoI believe you mean a Miasma of Incandescent Plasma https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6q3s1MI6NE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6q3s1MI6NE
- schiffern 2y agoSee also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23e-SnQvCaA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23e-SnQvCaA
- devin 2y ago[Verse 1] They call me Doctor Worm Good morning, how are you? I'm Doctor Worm I'm interested in things I'm not a real doctor But I am a real worm, I am an actual worm I live like a worm [Verse 2] I like to play the drums I think I'm getting good But I can handle criticism I'll show you what I know And you can tell me if you think I'm getting better on the drums I'll leave the front unlocked 'cause I can't hear the doorbell
- JohnDeHope 2y ago> I'm interested in things This song, and this particular line, are a part of my religion.
- gopher_space 2y agoMy “career arc” is scamming people into paying me to learn, and I’m good at it.
- echelon 2y agoBest career arc. That's what work is supposed to be.
- zzzbra 2y agoI just had this experience with my girlfriend last week. she could not fathom this particle man I kept singing about was an actual song.
- ilamont 2y agoNext, introduce some lyrics by Primus or The Presidents of the United States of America.
- verdverm 2y agoFunny story, one of my advisors made me play Dr Worm after PhD defense presentation, because I was quite literally now Dr Worm
- nkozyra 2y agoDefinitely one of the most unique bands to (kind of) "make it" and have some staying power. My best friend and I saw them when we were 13. I don't know what TMBG concerts are like in the last 15-20 years, but there were maybe 100 people there. Great concert, my first, had a lot of fun. The two of us both stayed around to meet the Johns. Waited 30 or 45 minutes in the newly brightened room as the place cleared out and all the roadies packed up. Finally they emerged, with the two of us the only ones left. We asked for their autographs and they said "sorry, kids, if we gave you autographs we'd have to give everyone an autograph" and laughed out the door. We kind of instinctively looked around the room to indicate we _were_ everyone, but maybe that was the joke. To a 13 year old it didn't sour anything, but can't deny we weren't disappointed.
- dsr_ 2y ago> I don't know what TMBG concerts are like in the last 15-20 years, but there were maybe 100 people there. Like that, but bigger, and eventually with more people on stage. And every so often, giant puppet heads.
- deater 2y agoit's funny how songs with ridiculous lyrics seem unbelievable (especially across generations) can turn out to be real. My father, whose name was Michael, would always sing the chorus from "Playground in my Mind" and we were convinced he was making it up. Similarly if you ever get a chance you should read the Dave Barry book "Book of Bad Songs" where he relates singing "MacArthur Park" to his increasingly incredulous son.
- jcalabro 2y agoI had a similar experience with my girlfriend and Dr. Worm - genuinely one of my favorite songs of all time!