TMBG for kids?

September 28, 2005 3:33 PM

They Might Be Giants Music For a Nine Year-Old--Disk Suggestions, Please.
posted by ParisParamus to Media & Arts (27 answers total)

Flood
posted by I Love Tacos at 3:36 PM on September 28, 2005

Flood is probably the best place to start - it's very catchy and accessible, and contains the songs that most people know.
posted by kuperman at 3:37 PM on September 28, 2005

The album NO! is meant for kids, and it's a great listen for adults too.
posted by luneray at 3:38 PM on September 28, 2005

How about A User's Guide To They Might Be Giants? It's a best of album that has a lot of good stuff.
posted by Staggering Jack at 3:40 PM on September 28, 2005

Hmm, I'm on board with Flood, but "Dead" might be too violently nihilistic for a nine-year-old.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 3:40 PM on September 28, 2005

seconding luneray. The song "Robot Parade," is nigh irrestible to both kids and adults.
posted by jonmc at 3:40 PM on September 28, 2005

"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
posted by keswick at 3:41 PM on September 28, 2005

Apollo 18. Fingertips alone is a modern kid's dream.
posted by Plutor at 3:49 PM on September 28, 2005

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.
posted by solid-one-love at 3:49 PM on September 28, 2005

"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.
posted by kirkaracha at 3:54 PM on September 28, 2005

1. Flood
2. No

I prefer "NO" but it's probably too sugary for a 9 year old.
posted by snsranch at 4:16 PM on September 28, 2005

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.
posted by artifarce at 4:18 PM on September 28, 2005

(Bed Bed Bed with the book and cd is only a 4 song set, one song of which is on No!)
posted by artifarce at 4:18 PM on September 28, 2005

Also, Giantkid, their site for kids.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:19 PM on September 28, 2005

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.
posted by adamwolf at 4:30 PM on September 28, 2005

(might I suggest looking at The Arrogant Worms, too?)
posted by five fresh fish at 4:43 PM on September 28, 2005

Show them Experimental Film.
posted by brownpau at 5:40 PM on September 28, 2005

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.
posted by Decani at 5:49 PM on September 28, 2005

Gotta have "Particle Man", man.
posted by spock at 6:01 PM on September 28, 2005

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!
posted by LarryC at 6:09 PM on September 28, 2005

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.
posted by Jimbob at 6:42 PM on September 28, 2005

Lincoln.
posted by pompomtom at 6:49 PM on September 28, 2005

Response by poster: 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?
posted by ParisParamus at 8:41 PM on September 28, 2005

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.
posted by klangklangston at 9:46 PM on September 28, 2005

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.
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 11:58 PM on September 28, 2005

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".
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 12:01 AM on September 29, 2005

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.
posted by mikeh at 8:51 AM on September 29, 2005