TMBG: influential?
Jerry R. Blevins
Reviewers spend lots of column inches naming the acts that have
*influenced* TMBG (Elvis Costello, etc.), but can TMBG now be seen as
*influential* themselves? Have they had any impact on other bands?
--Joe--
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MY SIG. SEZ:
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myke
Jerry R. Blevins (jrbl...@edcen.ehhs.cmich.edu) wrote:
: Reviewers spend lots of column inches naming the acts that have
: *influenced* TMBG (Elvis Costello, etc.), but can TMBG now be seen as
: *influential* themselves? Have they had any impact on other bands?
Too many. There are zillions of folks who run around thinking
that songs with titles like "rollerskate detectives" and
"disco chicken" are clever. Most of them, thankfully, never
get out of the basement. There are a few "serious" bands that
have listed them as influences. They influenced my stuff to
a degree, but I never went for the whole clever-wordplay
thing in my own stuff. XTC. Costello, and the Mekons are my own
personal favorites.
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Idiotnot
In article <4man4q$8...@daily-planet.execpc.com>, je...@earth.execpc.com
(myke) writes:
>Jerry R. Blevins (jrbl...@edcen.ehhs.cmich.edu) wrote:
>
>: Reviewers spend lots of column inches naming the acts that have
>: *influenced* TMBG (Elvis Costello, etc.), but can TMBG now be seen as
>: *influential* themselves? Have they had any impact on other bands?
>
> Too many. There are zillions of folks who run around thinking
> that songs with titles like "rollerskate detectives" and
> "disco chicken" are clever. Most of them, thankfully, never
> get out of the basement. There are a few "serious" bands that
> have listed them as influences. They influenced my stuff to
> a degree, but I never went for the whole clever-wordplay
> thing in my own stuff. XTC. Costello, and the Mekons are my own
> personal favorites.
Well, there always is the Presidents of the United States of America,
admitted fans....
Excuse me while I go vomit...
BlueDawg
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"It's really sad that entire families can be ripped apart by something
as simple as wild dogs."--Jack Handey
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Spencer Miller
In <4m92f8$8...@edcen.ehhs.cmich.edu> jrbl...@edcen.ehhs.cmich.edu
(Jerry R. Blevins) writes:
>
>Reviewers spend lots of column inches naming the acts that have
>*influenced* TMBG (Elvis Costello, etc.), but can TMBG now be seen as
>*influential* themselves? Have they had any impact on other bands?
>
>
My little unofficial band, Over The Edge! :)
blue canary
Dlsmay
Well, Frank Black has himself admitted to being influenced by TMBG and
lists FLOOD as one of his all-time favorite albums. He sez is opened his
ears to a wide variety of musicks besides rock. Now if he'd just steal a
few of their better hooks for his current work...
chuss,erik j
In article <4me8o0$l...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>,
Idiotnot <idio...@aol.com> wrote:
>In article <4man4q$8...@daily-planet.execpc.com>, je...@earth.execpc.com
>(myke) writes:
>
>Well, there always is the Presidents of the United States of America,
>admitted fans....
>Excuse me while I go vomit...
>BlueDawg
last years Seattle shows. The people on this group seemed to give
a pretty good insight into the "Presidents" and when their album
hit the music stores I had to pick it up. Funny, TMBG albums don't
show up on the charts and yet a band that opens for them climbs to
number 5.
--
***************************************************************************
* Erik Chuss | "Call the men of science, let them hear *
* Bellcore, Inc. | this song...Tell them Albert Einstein and"*
* Piscataway, NJ | Copernicus were wrong." *
* ej...@cc.bellcore.com | - They Might Be Giants *
***************************************************************************
Keith Willoughby
In article <4mhtn0$n...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, Dlsmay <dls...@aol.com>
writes
I read an interview with Frank Black in a UK magazine, where loads of
musicians listed the albums that influenced them the most. FB said
Flood. He said that They had given him a copy (what with them being
buddies an'all) and he left it in his car for a year without listening
to it. When he finally got round to listenening to it, he said it opened
his ears to other music (repeating what dlsmay said here!)
So it's (almost) official - TMBG split up the Pixies. Well, Them and the
fact that FB and kim Deal hated each other.
And lets not forget that Flans directed a video for FB.
--
Keith Willoughby, Swansea, Wales.
"Infamy. Infamy. They've all got it infamy."
Turnpike evaluation. For information, see http://www.turnpike.com/
Charles A. Lieberman
In article <4m92f8$8...@edcen.ehhs.cmich.edu> Jerry R. Blevins wrote:
>but can TMBG now be seen as
>*influential* themselves? Have they had any impact on other bands?
As has been discussed ad naseum, Weird Al Yankovic.
Charles A. Lieberman CLieb...@gnn.com Shit happens
My willy is food--Bush, "Little Things" 5040=7!
Write to ia...@aol.com and tell him how much you love his brownies!
Frank J. Perricone
>>but can TMBG now be seen as
>>*influential* themselves? Have they had any impact on other bands?
>
>As has been discussed ad naseum, Weird Al Yankovic.
How about The Bobs, an a capella band with a similarly "strange"
twist, a similarly huge variety of musical styles integrated into
their "instrumental a capella", similarly funny yet subversive yet
witty lyrics, etc.? The obvious connection would be their cover of
Particle Man, but no less significant would be things like their song
Rainbird, written from the perspective of a pop-up water sprinkler.
("You can mow and I will be all right, I've got a pop-up head"). I'm
sure the from-an-unexpected-perspective gimmick is a direct influence.
In fact, I found my way to my current obsession with TMBG after
someone played the original of Particle Man for me. (I first heard
the song as a second encore in a Bobs concert, then an album that came
out later.) Then after I got that person hooked on The Bobs, she
loaned me Flood and Apollo 18 because "if you like this, you'd
probably also like They Might Be Giants".
* Frank J. Perricone * hawt...@sover.net * Finger for my PGP public key *
Just because we're not all the same doesn't mean we have nothing in common
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We apologize for the wanton use of the phrase "Fuck the CDA!" in this sig.
Lorelei David
In article <3195c0fa....@news.sover.net>, hawt...@sover.net (Frank
J. Perricone) wrote:
> How about The Bobs, an a capella band with a similarly "strange"
> twist, a similarly huge variety of musical styles integrated into
> their "instrumental a capella", similarly funny yet subversive yet
> witty lyrics, etc.? The obvious connection would be their cover of
> Particle Man, but no less significant would be things like their song
> Rainbird, written from the perspective of a pop-up water sprinkler.
> ("You can mow and I will be all right, I've got a pop-up head"). I'm
> sure the from-an-unexpected-perspective gimmick is a direct influence.
I would have to disagree and say that if there is any influences happening
at all, it would be that the Bobs influence TMBG. The Bobs have been
around quite awhile (Their band members have changed quite a few times
since they began), and I'm sure they have been around longer than TMBG.
But that's just my two bits,
Lorelei
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Women's Sewing Circle & Terrorist Society
Frank J. Perricone
On Tue, 14 May 1996 17:42:09 +0100, lda...@cisco.com (Lorelei David)
wrote:
>> How about The Bobs, an a capella band with a similarly "strange"
>> twist, a similarly huge variety of musical styles integrated into
>I would have to disagree and say that if there is any influences happening
>at all, it would be that the Bobs influence TMBG. The Bobs have been
>around quite awhile (Their band members have changed quite a few times
>since they began), and I'm sure they have been around longer than TMBG.
There's only been one change in the lineup of The Bobs since their
beginning: Gunnar Bob Madsen left and Joe Bob Finetti filled his
place. And I suspect that it was Joe Bob who brought the TMBG
interest with him to the group. The first Bobs album was dated 1983,
the first TMBG album 1986, so it's not a big head start. And The Bobs
have never been as popular as TMBG.
Have The Bobs influenced TMBG? Perhaps... I can't say I'm familiar
enough with what inspires and influences TMBG to say. But the other
way around seems clear, because the influences seem to build up just
as Joe Bob's influence on the rest of the band builds. When Joe Bob
first arrived, he was just filling in for Gunnar -- in fact, there was
a whole tour in which Gunnar was on the album and Joe Bob on the
concerts. Gradually Joe Bob became more accepted and is now a strong
force on the band. I saw a concert which was one of the first times
they did Particle Man (as a somewhat unexpected second encore), and it
was clear that it was Joe Bob's contribution.
And the unusual-perspective thing they never did before their 1993
album "Shut Up And Sing". Well, they covered unusual subjects, and
they did some unusual *people*'s perspectives, but no *objects* like a
blue canary nightlight... or a pop-up sprinkler :)
GoodOmenz
well, takeing a slight detour from the music biz i know cartoonist mat
groening put them on his list of People I Blame.. and now that im writeing
here i feel obligated to say my (well, all of our) band Dead Rites
Activists- "inside every living person is a dead person waiting to get
out!" (not just a band but a cause.. hmm, u can see how much thought went
into this one huh?=) i've been takeing guitar for a grand total of 3
months now but we are geting better.. really..
trying to play a barchord with double jointed fingers ("um- are they
supposed to do that?")
liz
Justin Storch
> well, takeing a slight detour from the music biz i know cartoonist mat
> groening put them on his list of People I Blame.. and now that im writeing
On November 25 in the 1996 Life in Hell calander it says "Listen to They
Might Be Giants today."
Kilroy
Someone whose name I just erased said:
>On November 25 in the 1996 Life in Hell calander it says "Listen to They
>Might Be Giants today."
TMBG Day." It's a good excuse to coerce our friends into liking Them, and
didn't you always want your own holiday?
--Killer
-Kilroy the Exceptionally Short (yet feisty), young Internet goddess,
Dragon Lady, and "It" Girl for the '90's.
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/2441/index.htm
"Most real things are invisible."
--Plato