When I was finishing the editing on Gigantic, we wrote a short synopsis about the movie and said something about how They Might Be Giants were one of the most influential bands of the end of the 20th century. Immediately upon public consumption of our synopsis, that phrase "one of the most influential" was taken to task, both by fans ("I mean I love 'em but come on. Influential?") to music critics (insert your own put-down here and be sure to use quirky, goofy and nerdy).
So what do they know?
Seems that last month (I must have missed it), the bible of alternative and college music - CMJ posted its list of the 25 Most Influential Artists of the past 25 Years.
Guess who made the list. At #9.
Sure, they had to use the words "quirky" and "geeky", but they also note that TMBG are "unbelievably punk". Better yet is the company they keep in the top 10:
1. REM
2. NIRVANA
3. SONIC YOUTH
4. PIXIES
5. PUBLIC ENEMY
6. PAVEMENT
7. THE SMITHS
8. VIOLENT FEMMES
9. THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS
10. SLAYER
And if further proof was necessary that Gigantic, filmed in 2001 and leased theatrically and on DVD in 2003 is hopelessly out-of-date, They Might Be Giants has just released Venue Songs, a CD/DVD 2-disc collection highlighting their eponymous Venue Songs project (wherein they wrote a song for every venue that they played on a 2004 tour.
With Venue Songs, TMBG has now released 2 DVDs, 4 CDs, a children's book/CD and written music for at least 3 film and television projects just since Gigantic premiered at SXSW three and a half years ago.
Take that Slayer.
You know, I kinda dug TMBG's first album but always thought their music was sort of stupid. When I saw your movie (rather, saw the first half before shutting it off) TMBG turned from stupid to boring. You managed to make a mildly interesting band seem like fetted pieces of shit. Get a job.
Posted by: John | November 28, 2005 at 12:49 PM