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John Flansburgh - Hartford Advocate, 1994, speaking of his relationship with Linnell |
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First thing first in They history, John Linnell was born on June 12th, 1959 (6/12/59), one year before his future partner in crime. John Flansburgh was brought into this world on May 6th, 1960 (5/6/60) and grew up in Lincoln, Massachusetts. Even though they were high school friends, Linnell actually isn't from Lincoln, moving from New York early on. They worked on the school newspaper together, where Linnell was the editor of "the only high school newspaper without a sports section". Because of the fact that they were a year apart, they never really socialized together until then. It helped that Flans was attracted to wise maturity Linnell had on obscure pop bands, and would call him up all the time. "So, Linnel..." Yes, they called each other by there last names even back then. Sadly though, after high school, they went their seperate ways. Flansburgh went to an art college in New York and Linnell left for the Providence, Rhode Island area to play in a group called the Mundanes. Eventually, Linnell moved to Brooklyn to pursue larger opportunities, and this is where Flans and Linnell met back up in 1981. Coincidence or fate? You decide. Their mutual want to make music led them to form their own band and in the summer of 1982, the had their first preformance together. It was at a Sandinista rally in Central Park where they were introduced as "El Grupo de Rock 'n' Roll". Six months later they performed their second show under the name "They Might Be Giants" at a club called Dr. B's in Soho, where Linnell played a Farfisa organ and Flansburgh played electric guitar, using a taped rhythm track as backup. Despite a heavy snowstorm, 23 of their friends showed up and the show was a big success. After that, They Might Be Giants preformed about once a month in the Manhattan area, with both Johns having jobs during the day and rehearsing at nights in their shared apartment. Around the mid 80s, when they were finally able to get a decent drum machine, they created the infamous Dail-A-Song, where they played their songs on Flansburgh's answering machine for anyone to listen to. But, disaster struck! ::cue shocked gasps:: Flansburgh's new apartment was victim of burglary, wiping it clean. And at the same time, Linnell broke his wrist (No!) in a bike accident. Because of these happenings, They Might Be Giants weren't able to preform live for several months. But they prevailed, and by 1985, they were preforming weekly sold out shows at the East Village. Also in 1985, a reviewer for People Magazine discovered our dynamic duo, and this really got things going. Soon after that, they had a contract with Bar/None Records and were able to release their first album! By 1990,
they had outgrown Bar/None, and moved to Elektra Records, recording their classic album, Flood. After the release of Apollo 18 in 1992, John and John decided to gather a full band to tour with, liked the sound, and kept it,
recording their album John Henry with the full band sound. In 1997, They had a break up with Elektra and moved over to Restless, where they are today. They newest release is Mink Car, and we hope for a whole lot more to come. |