They Might Be Giants

          I was a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in 1992. I lived in North Scott Hall on the ninth floor and was enrolled in a special learning community aptly called the University Learning Community, or the “ULC.” It was a program for new students to adjust a little easier to the university than by just being thrown into the lion’s mouth, so to speak.

          ; Because of this, many of my floormates and I had classes together and we turned out hanging out together. In fact, I am still friends with several of my past floormates, even 15 years later!

          ; One such friend was Kris Linzmeyer, who somehow managed to be the one with a lot of kooky music. His collection spanned from Englebert Humperdinck and Roger Miller, to the Violent Femmes, the Dead Milkmen and They Might Be Giants.

       &nbs p;  One of the first albums which he exposed my young ears to was They Might Be Giants’ latest, Apollo 18. I was aghast at how much musical and lyrical genius was encompassed within the minds of just two guys, John Linell and John Flansburgh. Apollo 18 had songs about death(“Dig My Grave”), food(“Dinner Bell”), social alienation(If I Wasn’t Shy”), and blue things in the corner-no really, there’s a snippet of a song that goes: “What’s that Blue Thing/Doing Here?”

        ;    This snippet was the one found in the long, but highly enjoyable, Fingertips. Thirty-eight miniature songs, spanning from the mundane(“Please pass the milk, please/please pass the milk”) to the weird(“I found a new friend/underneath my pillow”), to the ironically touching(“I’m having a heart attack”).

          ; I dubbed the album onto a tape and brought it home to show my family one weekend. While they thought it was strange, I’m sure we could agree that it  had a lot more heart and imagination than the other music that was out there at the time. John and John have been recently making children’s albums, using their kookiness and lyrical genius to help children read and learn numbers, which is a wonderful accomplishment in itself.