They Might Be Giants

Formation (1981–1985)

John Flansburgh and John Linnell first met as teenagers growing up in Lincoln, Massachusetts. They began writing songs together while attending Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School but did not form a band at that time. The two attended separate colleges after high school and Linnell joined The Mundanes, a new wave group from Rhode Island. The two reunited in 1981 after moving to Brooklyn to the same apartment building on the same day to continue their career.

Music style

The group has been noted for its unique style of alternative music, typically using surreal, humorous lyrics, experimental styles, and unconventional instruments. Their music is often described as "quirky" by listeners. Shervin Lainez in an IMDb news article about the band said, "... They Might Be Giants [...] have been releasing music that's both snarky and sweet, morbid and whimsical, a little pop and a little avant garde."

Birdhouse in Your Soul

"Birdhouse in Your Soul" is a song by American alternative rock band They Might Be Giants. It was released in late 1989 through Elektra Records as the lead single from the album Flood, making the single the band's first release on a major label.

"Birdhouse in Your Soul" is the band's highest-charting single in both the United States and the United Kingdom, and is one of their best-known songs.

Background

"Birdhouse in Your Soul" was one of four songs on Flood produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley; these four songs alone exhausted two-thirds of the album's budget. The track was selected early for a release as a single. An early two-minute demo version of the song was made available by the band via its Dial-A-Song service a year before they signed with Elektra.

Lyrics

The melody to "Birdhouse in Your Soul" was written several years prior to its recording for Flood. John Linnell has stated that he "shoehorned" the song's lyrics into the existing melody. The lyrics are hyper-associative, rapidly connecting disparate topics such as Jason and the Argonauts and The Longines Symphonette. Elizabeth Sandifer and S. Alexander Reed have noted movement between lyrical themes is a recurring motif throughout Flood. However, Linnell has commented that he feels the lyrics ultimately sound like stand-in "dummy lyrics".

Music video

The music video for "Birdhouse in Your Soul" was directed by Adam Bernstein and filmed in New York County's Surrogate's Courthouse building in Manhattan in 1989. The video features Linnell and Flansburgh dancing and performing erratically amidst a group of dancers dressed in red plaid shirts. In the video, the dancers wear masks made from sunglasses affixed with an image of the eyes of William Allen White, whose face is used frequently in the band's visual material.

Reception and promotion

"Birdhouse in Your Soul" received positive attention from critics. In his review of Flood for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine called it one of the band's "finest singles". Reviewing the single alone, Stewart Mason elaborates that, compared to previous releases, the high production value highlights Linnell's and Flansburgh's "knack for dynamics and arrangement". Mason also speculates that the song's popularity stems from the modest depth of its lyric, which is somewhat oblique on the surface but ultimately "easy to figure out", giving the listener a sense of pride in their understanding. Chris Willman, writing for the Los Angeles Times, predicted the track would become a "college radio standard".

Boss of Me

"Boss of Me" is a song by American alternative rock band They Might Be Giants. It is best known as the opening theme for the television sitcom Malcolm in the Middle (2000–2006) and was released as a single from the show's soundtrack in January 2001.

The song entered the top 30 in Australia and the United Kingdom, while in the United States it peaked within the top 50 on two Radio & Records charts.

Background

When Flansburgh and Linnell were asked to write the theme song for Fox's new pilot about three boys, Flansburgh thought of the half-finished "Boss of Me" with its high energy level. The show's creator, Linwood Boomer, helped persuade his network colleagues to choose the song, and also contributed the lyric "Life is unfair".

Release

"Boss of Me" was released commercially in the United Kingdom, Australia and mainland Europe. Mainland Europe was given a separate release from the British release, which had different cover artwork and a different track listing. The single was marketed as the single from the soundtrack album, Music from Malcolm in the Middle, but the B-sides to all releases were tracks from They Might Be Giants albums, as opposed to being other tracks from the soundtrack album. "Reprehensible" comes from the band's 1999 internet-only album, Long Tall Weekend. "Mr. Xcitement" went on to be included on their album Mink Car, released two months after the single. "Boss of Me" charted in three countries, reaching number 21 in the UK, number 89 in the...

Music video

The "Boss of Me" music video was directed by Ted Crittenden. It is based on Malcolm in the Middle, and contains the characters and set from the show. It begins with Dewey going through a dumpster that says "TMBG Toys". He climbs out of the dumpster and rides his bike home while dragging the box full of toys. The band is performing inside the box. The box goes into Dewey's backyard where Malcolm is raking leaves, their father, Hal, is cooking on a barbecue grill, and Reese is using hedge clippers on a tree. Dewey opens the box, revealing toy versions of TMBG. But whenever there's a close-up in the box, it is the real band in miniature. A Hawaiian hula dancer toy joins TMBG as Dewey sways back and forth with her. Malcolm and Reese begin...