They Might Be Giants, often abbreviated as TMBG, is an American alternative rock band formed in Brooklyn in 1982 by vocalist and guitarist John Flansburgh and vocalist and multi-instrumentalist John Linnell. During the band's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as a musical duo, often accompanied by a tape machine or a drum machine. In 1992, They Might Be Giants expanded to include a backing band. The group's current backing band consists of Danny Weinkauf, Dan Miller, and Marty Beller, and their horn section consists of Dan Levine, Stan Harrison, and Mark Pender.
Over their career, they have found success on the modern rock and college radio charts. The band is known for its satirical outlook in many of their songs’ lyrics. They have also found success in children's music with several educational albums and in theme music for television programs and films.
They Might Be Giants has released 24 studio albums, starting with their self-titled debut album, They Might Be Giants, which was released in 1986. Their latest album is The World Is to Dig, which was released in 2026. The band's third album Flood is certified platinum, while their children's music albums Here Come the ABCs, Here Come the 123s, and Here Comes Science have all been certified gold. The band has been nominated for four Grammy Awards, winning two. They Might Be Giants won Best Film or Television Theme for the song "Boss of Me", the theme to Malcolm in the Middle. They Might Be Giants won Best Children's Album for Here Come the 123s. Flansburgh and Linnell were also nominated for a Tony Award for Best Original Score for SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical, alongside several other musicians, for their contribution of the song "I'm Not a Loser".
History 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.
At their first concert, They Might Be Giants were introduced as and performed under the name El Grupo De Rock and Roll (Spanish for "the Rock and Roll Band") because the show was a Sandinista rally in Central Park and a majority of the audience members spoke Spanish. They had previously chosen a name that, according to John Flansburgh, was "so bad that John [Linnell] and I have made a vow that we will never tell anyone, even our children." Soon discarding this name,Brian Butterick, Susan Martin, Kestutis Nakas (eds.) "We Started a Nightclub": The Birth of the Pyramid Cocktail Lounge as Told by Those Who Lived It, Damiani Books, p.152 the band assumed the name of the 1971 film They Might Be Giants (starring George C. Scott and Joanne Woodward), which is in turn taken from a Don Quixote passage about how Quixote mistook windmills for evil giants. According to Dave Wilson, in his book Rock Formations, the name They Might Be Giants had been used and subsequently discarded by a friend of the band who had a ventriloquism act. The name was then adopted by the band, who had been searching for a more suitable name.
A common misconception is that the name of the band is a reference to themselves and an allusion to future success. In an interview, John Flansburgh said that the words "they might be giants" are just a very outward-looking forward thing which they liked. He explained that the name refers to the outside world of possibilities that they saw as a fledgling band. In a radio interview, John Linnell described the phrase as "something very paranoid sounding".
The duo began performing their own music in and around New York City at the East Village Pyramid ClubBrian Butterick, Susan Martin, Kestutis Nakas (eds.) "We Started a Nightclub": The Birth of the Pyramid Cocktail Lounge as Told by Those Who Lived It, Damiani Books, p.301 with Flansburgh on guitar, Linnell on accordion and saxophone, and accompanied by a drum machine or prerecorded backing track on audio cassette. Their atypical instrumentation, along with their songs which featured unusual subject matter and clever wordplay, soon attracted a strong local following.Brian Butterick, Susan Martin, Kestutis Nakas (eds.) "We Started a Nightclub": The Birth of the Pyramid Cocktail Lounge as Told by Those Who Lived It, Damiani Books, p.212
From 1984 to 1987, They Might Be Giants were the house band at the Pyramid Club and Darinka, a Lower East Side performance art club. They played on the stage there one weekend a month and by the end of their three-year stint, their performances were selling out. In 1985, TMBG released their 7" flexi-disc, dubbed "Wiggle Diskette" at Darinka. The disc included two demos of songs.
In 1983, Linnell broke his wrist in a biking accident and Flansburgh's apartment was burgled, stopping them from performing for a time. During this hiatus, they began recording their songs onto an answering machine and then advertising the phone number in local newspapers such as The Village Voice, using the moniker "Dial-A-Song".
They Might Be Giants released a demo cassette in 1985, which earned them a review in People magazine. Authored by Michael Small, the review caught the attention of Bar/None Records, who signed them to a recording deal.
From the 1980s until 1998, Dial-A-Song consisted of an answering machine with a tape of the band playing various songs. The machine played one track at a time, ranging from demos and uncompleted work to mock advertisements the band had created. It was often difficult to access due to the popularity of the service and the dubious quality of the machines used. About this, one of Dial-A-Song's many slogans over the years was the tongue-in-cheek "Always Busy, Often Broken". The number was a local Brooklyn number and was charged accordingly. The band advertised it with the line: "Free when you call from work".
Earlier years (1986–1989) Following the deal with Bar/None Records, the duo released their self-titled debut album in 1986, which became a college radio hit. The album sold 10,000 copies in its first year. The music video for "Don't Let's Start", filmed in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park and directed by Adam Bernstein, became a MTV hit in 1987.
In 1988, they released their second album, Lincoln. It featured the song "Ana Ng" which reached No. 11 on the U.S. Modern Rock chart."[ They Might Be Giants]", Artist Chart History, Billboard. Retrieved November 12, 2025. In 1990, Throttle magazine interviewed They Might Be Giants and clarified the meaning of the song "Ana Ng": John Flansburgh said, "Ng is a Vietnamese name. The song is about someone who's thinking about a person on the exact opposite side of the world. John looked at a globe and figured out that if Ana Ng is in Vietnam and the person is on the other side of the world, then it must be written by someone in Peru".Derek Thomas, Throttle, August 1990
Move to Elektra (1990–1992)
In 1990, They Might Be Giants released their third album Flood, through Elektra Records. Flood earned them a platinum album, largely from the success of "Birdhouse in Your Soul" which reached number three on the U.S. Modern Rock chart, as well as the cover of "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" song originally recorded by the Four Lads.
Further interest in the band was generated when cartoon music videos for "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" and "Particle Man" were created by Warner Bros. Animation for Tiny Toon Adventures.
In 1991, Bar/None Records released the B-sides compilation Miscellaneous T. In early 1992, They Might Be Giants released their fourth album Apollo 18. The heavy space theme coincided with TMBG being named Musical Ambassadors for International Space Year.Jackson, Joab (May 1992). "How They Might Be Giants Became the House Band for NASA". New Route. Singles from the album included "The Statue Got Me High", "I Palindrome I", and "The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)". Apollo 18 was one of the first albums to take advantage of the CD player's shuffle feature. The song "Fingertips" comprised 21 separate tracks that add up to 4:35 with the longest one being 61 seconds.Flansburgh, John and John Linnell (1992). Interview by Jay Leno. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
Recruiting a band (1993–1998) Following Apollo 18, for live shows, Flansburgh and Linnell decided to move away from recorded backing tracks and recruited a supporting band: Kurt Hoffman of The Ordinaires on reeds and keyboards, longtime Pere Ubu bassist Tony Maimone, and drummer Jonathan Feinberg.
In 1993, Brian Doherty joined the band on drums. The band's fifth album, John Henry, was released in 1994. Influenced by their more conventional lineup, this album marked a departure from their previous releases with more of a guitar-heavy sound not dissimilar to the grunge music of the time. It was released to mixed reviews amongst fans and critics alike. Dan Levine (trumpet) also joined the band and in 1995, bassist Graham Maby joined the band.
Following John Henry, TMBG's sixth album, Factory Showroom, was released in 1996. It also is the last album they released through Elektra and their first album produced by Pat Dillett who has co-produced every album with them since then. In 1995, 1996, and 1997, Maimone, Doherty, and Maby left the band respectively. In that year, Eric Schermerhorn (guitar) joined and left the band and Dan Hickey (drums) and Hal Cragin (bass) joined TMBG.
In 1998, they released a mostly live album Severe Tire Damage from which came the single "Doctor Worm", a studio recording.
In 1998, Danny Weinkauf (bass)Condran, Ed (12 February 2012). "Bigger Isn't Better for Pop-Rock Duo". The Tampa Tribune. and Dan Miller (guitar) were recruited for their recording and touring band. Both had been members of the bands Lincoln and Candy Butchers which were previous opening acts for TMBG. Weinkauf and Miller continue to work with the band to the present day.
Beyond Elektra and move to Restless Records (1999–2003) In 1999, they released their seventh album Long Tall Weekend, their first studio album since their departure from the major label Elektra. It made They Might Be Giants the first major-label recording artist to release an entire album exclusively in MP3 format.
Also in 1999, the band contributed the song "Dr. Evil" to the motion picture Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. Over their career, the band has performed on numerous movie and television soundtracks, including The Oblongs, the ABC News miniseries Brave New World and Ed and His Dead Mother. They also performed the theme music "Dog on Fire", composed by Bob Mould, for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
Contributing the single "Boss of Me" as the theme song to the hit television series Malcolm in the Middle, as well as to the show's compilation CD, brought a new audience to the band. Not only did the band contribute the theme, but songs from all of the band's previous albums were used on the show. "Boss of Me" became TMBG's second top-40 hit in the UK which they performed on long-running UK television program Top of the Pops and, in 2002, won TMBG a Grammy Award.
In 2001, the band also worked on a project for McSweeney's, a publishing company and literary journal, an album titled They Might Be Giants vs. McSweeney's. The disk appears in issue No. 6 of Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern.
On September 11, 2001, they released their eighth album Mink Car on Restless Records. It was their first full album release of new studio material since 1996 and their first since parting ways with Elektra.