Comments on: TMBG for kids?

Question: TMBG for kids?

ParisParamus — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 15:33:25 -0800

They Might Be Giants Music For a Nine Year-Old--Disk Suggestions, Please.

By: I Love Tacos

I Love Tacos — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 15:36:26 -0800

Flood

By: kuperman

kuperman — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 15:37:35 -0800

Flood is probably the best place to start - it's very catchy and accessible, and contains the songs that most people know.

By: luneray

luneray — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 15:38:20 -0800

The album NO! is meant for kids, and it's a great listen for adults too.

By: Staggering Jack

Staggering Jack — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 15:40:14 -0800

How about A User's Guide To They Might Be Giants? It's a best of album that has a lot of good stuff.

By: Saucy Intruder

Saucy Intruder — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 15:40:24 -0800

Hmm, I'm on board with Flood, but "Dead" might be too violently nihilistic for a nine-year-old.

By: jonmc

jonmc — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 15:40:51 -0800

seconding luneray. The song "Robot Parade," is nigh irrestible to both kids and adults.

By: keswick

keswick — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 15:41:39 -0800

"The Sun Is A Mass of Incandescent Gas" a gigantic nuclear furnace, where hydrogen is built into helium at a temperature of millions of degrees

By: Plutor

Plutor — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 15:49:27 -0800

Apollo 18. Fingertips alone is a modern kid's dream.

By: solid-one-love

solid-one-love — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 15:49:55 -0800

The song title is "Why Does the Sun Shine?", I think, and it's available as a CD EP. In any case, "No!" is the album to get.

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 15:54:10 -0800

"Minimum Wage" is a nice introduction to the realities of adult life.

From the kid stuff section of their online store:

Bed Bed Bed book and CD
Here Come the ABCs CD (and DVD)

Dial-a-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants is a 2-disc compilation.

By: snsranch

snsranch — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 16:16:51 -0800

1. Flood
2. No

I prefer "NO" but it's probably too sugary for a 9 year old.

By: artifarce

artifarce — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 16:18:09 -0800

ABCs, No!, and Bed Bed Bed are all a hit in our house. ABCs may or may not be too young for a 9-yr old. It reminds me of a weird Sesame St. in level. I love listening to No! myself.

Flood is catchy, but some songs may not be appropriate for a kid. If you're doing a mix, I recommend Particle Man, Birdhouse in Your Soul, Letterbox, Instanbul, Whistling in the Dark, We Want a Rock.

By: artifarce

artifarce — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 16:18:54 -0800

(Bed Bed Bed with the book and cd is only a 4 song set, one song of which is on No!)

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 16:19:46 -0800

Also, Giantkid, their site for kids.

By: adamwolf

adamwolf — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 16:30:53 -0800

I'm 19, and I listen to ABCs and No! while doing homework on a regular basis. I can see them begin "too babyish" for an introduction. After the kid is hooked, I can see the kid loving them too.

The Dial-A-Song Greatest Hits collection by Rhino might be a better idea. It has most of the "classics."

I picked my copy up at a performance of theirs at a Borders.

By: five fresh fish

five fresh fish — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 16:43:35 -0800

(might I suggest looking at The Arrogant Worms, too?)

By: brownpau

brownpau — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 17:40:04 -0800

Show them Experimental Film.

By: Decani

Decani — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 17:49:18 -0800

I reckon Flood or Lincoln would be great, since in my opinion they have the highest (catchy * funny)/(cutesy * repetitive) quotient of any TMBG albums.

By: spock

spock — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 18:01:39 -0800

Gotta have "Particle Man", man.

By: LarryC

LarryC — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 18:09:05 -0800

Bless you, Paris, for introducing your child to the concentrated goofy happiness that is They Might Be Giants. My six year old has loved the band for two years. Factory Showroom is a good choice, it has the ba-bup-ba-bup-bu-dup-dup of Exquisite Dead Guy, and the greatest song ever written about the 11th president, James K. Polk. And the TMBG website has a downloadable radio with three streaming channels of TMBG music.

Brownpau: thanks for that link!

By: Jimbob

Jimbob — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 18:42:03 -0800

Do you have to ask? What They Might Be Giant's isn't brilliant for kids? I'm serious, they love all or none of it.

By: pompomtom

pompomtom — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 18:49:44 -0800

Lincoln.

By: ParisParamus

ParisParamus — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 20:41:44 -0800

LarryC, FWIW, not my kid, but that of a friend. I'm still looking for Ms. SuperFantasticYummy--is there a TMBG song with that name?

By: the_bone

the_bone — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 21:43:35 -0800

I'm an elementary school music teacher... and I've had my kids sing TMBG songs (usually at the end of class, as a reward for getting through the curriculum material). Songs I've done with them have included "Particle Man," "Four of Two" (from No!), "Why Does the Sun Shine?," "Mammal" and a couple of the ABCs songs with my younger students (specifically "URNX" and "ZYX," the latter of which I used last year to help teach first graders about compound time).

As far as I know, "Ms. SuperFantasticYummy" is not a TMBG song.

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 21:46:33 -0800

I started listening to them when I was nine or ten, right from the debut. I'd have a kid start with Lincoln then go to Flood. I don't like the debut as much anymore, but it's also fine to start with. But let the kid kinda grow with the band. There's nothing there that's too dangerous, unless you're worried about the kid ending up posting on a web message board when he should be writing about Aristotle's conception of the citizen.
Um. I gotta go.

By: the_bone

the_bone — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 22:13:09 -0800

Amazon.com did an interview with TMBG about their approach to writing children's music that is really interesting... you can find it on the page for Here Come the ABCs.

By: Rev. Syung Myung Me

Rev. Syung Myung Me — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 23:58:11 -0800

If you don't want the children's records (though No is excellent even as an "adult record" or whatever; ABCs less so, but still pretty good -- though if you do get this -- get the DVD version; the CD version has all the same songs, but there are a bunch of songs that make NO SENSE without the visuals -- i.e. "Letter/Not A Letter", which without pictures just turns into kids shouting "LETTER!!! ......... NOT A LETTER!!!!! .......LETTER!!!!"), I'd probably recommend Lincoln; that one was one of my favorite albums growing up.

I'd probably recommend staying away from the first, self-titled for now, though; it's a little bit more weird/experimental/creepy (Flans has said that "Nothing's Gonna Change My Clothes" even disturbs him) and when I was young, I didn't like that record, though now, I love it. But I think if I had heard it when I was 9, I would have just been sort of.... confused and disturbed.

John Henry is another really good one -- it's my favorite -- not sure if it's necessarily good for a 9 year old, but, well, hey, I like it. But I'd probably go with Lincoln.

By: Rev. Syung Myung Me

Rev. Syung Myung Me — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 00:01:43 -0800

Also -- this is a complete longshot, but might "Ms. SuperFantasticYummy" be "John Lee Supertaster"? It's on No, and it's about a guy who is a Supertaster (i.e., has a way more developed sense of taste than normal folks).

Unfortunately, a google search came up empty for both "ms. superfantasticyummy" and "mr. super fantastic yummy".

By: mikeh

mikeh — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 08:51:22 -0800

I have yet to hear all the newer stuff, but the kids album sounds like a good place to start. John Linnell's State Songs might be good as well. As for "normal" albums, Flood was the starting point for tons of kids a little younger than me as a couple songs (Particle Man, Istanbul) were used in an episode of Tiny Toon Adventures. Other songs like Your Racist Friend didn't completely click for a few years. It's only in the last few years, after living out the song, that it really clicked.