The following is a discography of They Might Be Giants (TMBG), an American alternative rock band comprising several artists including John Flansburgh, John Linnell, Marty Beller, Dan Miller, and Danny Weinkauf. The band's first release was the November 4, 1986 eponymously titled They Might Be Giants, but TMBG did not gain commercial success until their March 1990 single "Birdhouse in Your Soul" from the album Flood. "Birdhouse in Your Soul" reached #3 on the United States Modern Rock Tracks chart and #6 on the UK Singles Chart and remains their highest-charting single in both countries. Over the next two decades, They Might Be Giants released studio albums on a near-biennial fashion and currently have a total of 23 studio albums along with 11 live albums, 12 compilation albums, 15 extended plays and 30 singles.
| They Might Be Giants discography | |
|---|---|
| Studio albums | 23 |
| EPs | 15 |
| Live albums | 11 |
| Compilation albums | 12 |
| Singles | 30 |
| Video albums | 7 |
Albums
editStudio albums
edit| Year | Title | Chart peaks | Certifications (sales thresholds) |
Notes | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [1] |
US Alt [2] |
US Kids [3] |
US Indie [4] |
US Rock [5] |
AUS [6][7] |
UK [8] | ||||
| 1986 | They Might Be Giants | — | — | — | — | — | 159 | — |
| |
| 1988 | Lincoln
|
89 | — | — | — | — | 116 | — | ||
| 1990 | Flood
|
75 | — | — | — | — | 99 | 14 |
| |
| 1992 | Apollo 18
|
99 | — | — | — | — | 59 | — | ||
| 1994 | John Henry
|
61 | — | — | — | — | 132 | — |
| |
| 1996 | Factory Showroom
|
89 | — | — | — | — | 116 | — | ||
| 1999 | Long Tall Weekend
|
— | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| |
| 2001 | Mink Car
|
134 | — | — | — | — | 102 | — | ||
| 2002 | No!
|
— | — | 1 | — | — | — | — |
| |
| 2004 | The Spine
|
130 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2005 | Here Come the ABCs
|
— | — | 6 | — | — | — | — |
| |
| 2007 | The Else
|
118 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| |
| 2008 | Here Come the 123s
|
172 | — | 9 | — | — | — | — |
| |
| 2009 | Here Comes Science
|
91 | 23 | 4 | — | 34 | — | — |
| |
| 2011 | Join Us
|
32 | 8 | — | 8 | 8 | — | — |
| |
| 2013 | Nanobots
|
57 | 13 | — | 10 | 19 | — | — | ||
| 2015 | Glean
|
67 | 6 | — | 5 | 7 | — | — |
| |
Why?
|
181 | 12 | — | 6 | 15 | — | — |
| ||
| 2016 | Phone Power
|
122 | 8 | — | 11 | 14 | — | — |
| |
| 2018 | I Like Fun
|
108 | 8 | — | 3 | 17 | — | — |
| |
My Murdered Remains
|
—[A] | — | — | 9 | — | — | — |
| ||
The Escape Team
|
—[B] | — | — | 10 | — | — | — |
| ||
| 2021 | Book
|
88 | 7 | — | 14 | 10 | — | — | ||
Live albums
edit| Year | Title | Chart peaks | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [1] |
AUS[7] | |||
| 1994 | Live!! New York City 10/14/94
|
— | — |
|
| 1998 | Severe Tire Damage
|
186 | 108 |
|
| 1999 | Live
|
— | — |
|
| 2004 | The Spine Hits the Road
|
— | — |
|
Almanac
|
— | — |
| |
Venue Songs
|
— | — |
| |
| 2012 | At Large
|
— | — |
|
| 2014 | First Album Live!
|
— | — |
|
| 2015 | Flood Live in Australia
|
— | — |
|
| 2016 | Live in Brooklyn
|
— | — |
|
| 2018 | TMBG Live 2018
|
— | — |
|
| 2024 | Beast of Horns
|
— | — |
|
Compilation albums
edit| Year | Title | Chart peaks | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Current [11] |
US Indie [4] | |||
| 1989 | Don't Let's Start
|
— | — |
|
| 1991 | Miscellaneous T | — | — |
|
| 1997 | Then: The Earlier Years
|
— | — |
|
| 1999 | Best of the Early Years
|
— | — |
|
| 2002 | They Got Lost
|
— | — |
|
Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants
|
— | — |
| |
| 2005 | A User's Guide to They Might Be Giants
|
— | — |
|
Venue Songs DVD/CD
|
— | — |
| |
| 2011 | Album Raises New and Troubling Questions
|
— | — |
|
| 2014 | Idlewild
|
— | — |
|
| 2018 | John Henry Demos
|
91 | 12 |
|
| 2020 | Modern
|
— | — |
|
EPs
edit| Year | Title | Chart peaks |
|---|---|---|
| US Indie [4] | ||
| 1993 | Why Does the Sun Shine? (The Sun Is a Mass of Incandescent Gas)
|
— |
| 1994 | Back to Skull
|
— |
| 2000 | Working Undercover for the Man
|
— |
| 2001 | They Might Be Giants In...Holidayland
|
— |
| 2003 | Bed, Bed, Bed
|
— |
| 2004 | Indestructible Object
|
36 |
The Spine Surfs Alone
|
— | |
| 2011 | Other Thing Brass Band
|
— |
Cave Fish/Tesla
|
— | |
| 2012 | Four Covers
|
— |
Reptiles/Head in a Suitcase
|
— | |
| 2013 | Nanobots EP
|
— |
For Kids
|
— | |
| 2016 | Songs for Chop
|
— |
| 2021 | Pamphlet EP
|
— |
Singles
edit| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Alt. [13] |
AUS [6] |
NLD [14] |
UK [15] | ||||
| "Don't Let's Start" | 1987 | — | 94 | — | — | They Might Be Giants | |
| "(She Was A) Hotel Detective" | 1988 | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Ana Ng" | 11 | 154 | — | — | Lincoln | ||
| "They'll Need a Crane" | 1989 | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Purple Toupee" | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Birdhouse in Your Soul" | 1990 | 3 | 125 | — | 6 |
|
Flood |
| "Twisting" | 22 | — | — | — | |||
| "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" | — | — | — | 61 | |||
| "The Statue Got Me High" | 1992 | 24 | 155 | — | 92 | Apollo 18 | |
| "The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)" | — | — | — | — | |||
| "I Palindrome I" | — | — | — | — | |||
| "O Tannenbaum" | 1993 | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | |
| "Snail Shell" | 1994 | 19 | — | — | — | John Henry | |
| "S-E-X-X-Y" | 1996 | — | — | — | — | Factory Showroom | |
| "Doctor Worm" | 1998 | — | — | — | — | Severe Tire Damage | |
| "Boss of Me" | 2001 | — | 29 | 89 | 21 | Music from Malcolm in the Middle | |
| "Man, It's So Loud in Here" | — | 86 | — | — | Mink Car | ||
| "Experimental Film" | 2005 | — | — | — | — | The Spine | |
| "T-Shirt" | 2005 | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | |
| "I'm Impressed" | 2007 | — | — | — | — | The Else | |
| "Can't Keep Johnny Down" | 2011 | — | — | — | — | Join Us | |
| "Never Knew Love" | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Cloisonné" | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Old Pine Box" | — | — | — | — | |||
| "You're on Fire" | 2013 | — | — | — | — | Nanobots | |
| "Erase" | 2015 | — | — | — | — | Glean | |
| "I Left My Body" | 2017 | — | — | — | — | I Like Fun | |
| "The Communists Have the Music" | 2018 | — | — | — | — | My Murdered Remains | |
| "I Lost Thursday" | 2021 | — | — | — | — | Book | |
| "Super Cool" | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Who Are the Electors?" | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | ||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||||
Contributions and other releases
edit- "Particle Man" & "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" for Tiny Toons in the MTV spoof episode
- "One More Parade" for Rubaiyat: Elektra's 40th Anniversary Tribute CD (1990)
- "SenSurround" for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie Soundtrack (1995)
- "25 O' Clock" for Testimonial Dinner: The Songs of XTC Tribute CD (1995)
- "Spiraling Shape" for Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy Soundtrack (1996)
- "Dr. Evil" for Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me Soundtrack (1999)
- "Boss of Me" and "Older" for Music from Malcolm in the Middle (2000)
- "I've Got A Fang" (Demo) for This Is Next Year: A Brooklyn-Based Compilation (2001)
- CD soundtrack to McSweeney's Quarterly, issue 6 (2001) (Contributions, and arrangement of music by others)
- "Courage the Cowardly Dog" for Cartoon Network promo (2001)
- "Darlin' Allison" for Gordon Gano's Hitting the Ground album (2002)
- "So to Be One of Us" & "Now That You're One of Us" for Return to Never Land Soundtrack (2002)
- "The Long Grift" for Wig in a Box (2003)
- "Savoy Truffle" for Songs from the Material World (2003)
- "Baroque Hoedown" for DisneyMania 2 (2004) and Moog Soundtrack (2004)
- "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" for Future Soundtrack for America (2004)
- "Ana Ng" for Left of the Dial: Dispatches from the '80s Underground Compilation (2004)
- "Through Being Cool" for Sky High Soundtrack (2005)
- "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Theme Song" & "Hot Dog!" for Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Soundtrack (2006) - RIAA: Gold[9]
- "Happy Doesn't Have to Have an Ending" for Happily N'Ever After Soundtrack (2007)
- "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" for the Meet the Robinsons soundtrack (2007)
- "Havalina" for Dig For Fire: A Tribute To Pixies (2007)
- "Other Father's Song" for the film Coraline (2009)
- "Choo Choo Express" for the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse DVD Choo Choo Express (2008)
- "200 sbemails" for Strong Bad Emails Homestar Runner Email Thunder episode (2008)
- "You Are Old, Father William" for Almost Alice (2010)
- "I'm Not a Loser" for SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical (2016)
- "3rd Amendment" for 27: The Most Perfect Album (2018)[16]
- "Pour Poor Me More Please" for Central Park (TV series) (2021)
Videography
edit| Year | Title | Certifications (sales thresholds) |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Direct from Brooklyn | |
| 2003 | Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns)
|
|
| 2005 | Here Come the ABCs
|
|
Venue Songs DVD/CD
|
||
| 2008 | Here Come the 123s
|
|
| 2009 | Here Comes Science
|
|
| 2012 | Them Ain't Big Eye Ants
|
|
| 2015 | Live in Berlin[17]
|
Music videos
editThe band has released 25 main music videos for songs from their rock albums.[18] All of their children's albums have also included video content or run alongside DVD releases. The band also has videos for each of the Dial-A-Song tracks from 2015 and 2018 on their main YouTube channel, ParticleMen.
Direct from Brooklyn
editIn 1999, They Might Be Giants released Direct from Brooklyn, a VHS compilation of their music videos from 1986 up to that point. It was reissued on DVD in 2003. The following music videos were included:
- "Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head" (1986)
- "Don't Let's Start" (1986)
- "(She Was a) Hotel Detective" (1986)
- "Ana Ng" (1988)
- "Purple Toupee" (1988)
- "They'll Need a Crane" (1988)
- "Birdhouse in Your Soul" (1990)
- "Istanbul" (animated) (1990)
- "The Statue Got Me High" (1992)
- "The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)" (1992)
- "Snail Shell" (1994)
- "Doctor Worm" (1998)
Other videos
edit- "Rabid Child" (unreleased, filmed in 1986)
- "Boss of Me" (2001)
- "Experimental Film" (animated) (2004)
- "Bastard Wants to Hit Me" (animated) (2004)
- "Here in Higglytown" (animated) (2004)
- "With The Dark" (animated) (2007)
- "The Shadow Government" (animated) (2007)
- "I'm Impressed" (animated) (2007)
- "The Mesopotamians" (animated) (2007)
- "Can't Keep Johnny Down" (2011)
- "Cloisonné" (2011)
- "In Fact" (2011)
- "You Probably Get That a Lot" (2011)
- "Spoiler Alert" (2011)
- "Marty Beller Mask" (2011)
- "When Will You Die" (2012)
- "Icky" (animated) (2013)
- "Nanobots" (animated) (2013)
- "Insect Hospital" (animated) (2013)
- "Black Ops" (2013)
- "You're on Fire" (2013)
- "Am I Awake?" (2014)
Notes
edit- ^ My Murdered Remains did not enter the Billboard 200 but peaked at number 68 on the Top Current Albums chart.[11]
- ^ The Escape Team did not enter the Billboard 200 but peaked at number 71 on the Top Current Albums chart.[11]
References
edit- ^ a b "They Might Be Giants Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
- ^ "They Might Be Giants Chart History: Alternative Albums". Billboard. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
- ^ "They Might Be Giants Chart History: Kid Albums". Billboard. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
- ^ a b c "They Might Be Giants Chart History: Independent Albums". Billboard. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
- ^ "They Might Be Giants Chart History: Top Rock Albums". Billboard. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
- ^ a b Australian (ARIA Charts) peaks:
- Top 50 peaks: "Discography They Might Be Giants". australiancharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2013-10-30.
- Top 100 peaks between January 1990 and December 2010: Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 277.
- "Man, It's So Loud In Here": "arianet The ARIA Report! Week Commencing: 10th December 2001 Issue No: 615" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association Ltd. Archived from the original on 2002-02-21. Retrieved 2015-10-03.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ""The Statue Got Me High" : "Bubbling Down Under Week Commencing March 23, 1992". Bubbling Down Under. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
- "Ana Ng" : "Bubbling Down Under Week Commencing 10 April 1989". Bubbling Down Under.
- "Don't Let's Start" and "Birdhouse In Your Soul": "Response from ARIA re: chart inquiry, received 2015-07-15". Imgur. Archived from the original on 2015-07-16. Retrieved 2015-10-03.
- ^ a b "They Might Be Giants ARIA Chart history (albums) 1988 to 2024". ARIA. Retrieved July 28, 2024 – via Imgur.com. N.B. The High Point number in the NAT column represents the release's peak on the national chart.
- ^ "They Might Be Giants | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e "American certifications – They Might Be Giants". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved November 27, 2023.
- ^ a b "British certifications – They Might Be Giants". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved November 27, 2023. Type They Might Be Giants in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
- ^ a b c "They Might Be Giants Chart History (Top Current Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
- ^ "A free present for you!". Archived from the original on 2015-02-25. Retrieved 2015-02-25.
- ^ "They Might Be Giants – Chart History: Alternative Songs". Billboard. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
- ^ "Discografie They Might Be Giants". dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
- ^ "They Might Be Giants". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
- ^ "27: The Most Perfect Album". WNYC Studios.
- ^ "Live In Berlin - TMBW: The They Might Be Giants Knowledge Base". tmbw.net.
- ^ "TMBG Facts". tmbg.com. Archived from the original on June 2, 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2007.
