Music of the Day, 30 July 2023

30 years on and still relevant

Thirty-some years ago, a friend introduced me to They Might Be Giants (TMBG) via their brand-new album Flood. We listened to the cassette tape on repeat driving to and from the Florida coast, and I remember being impressed with the varied music and lyrics. Their alternative, punk-adjacent rock was a refreshing change from the rock and metal I usually listened to, and the often literate, wry lyrics caught my attention.

As my kids became fans at young ages, we have a decent collection of the band’s albums that’s skewed to their oldest releases. Like me, they were drawn equally to the cerebral (“Mammal”; “Why Does the Sun Shine”; “I Should Be Allowed to Think”) and silly (“Turn Around”; “Particle Man”; “Older”). For a former band nerd like me, a big part of the fun with TMBG was hearing instruments more often encountered in symphonic and concert bands—as an example, the bassoon is featured in “Older.”

An online buddy’s recent post on the freelance economy reminded me of one of TMBG’s most succinct and pointed songs, “Minimum Wage,” which is from Flood.

It is not a credit to this country’s leaders that the song hits just as hard (pun intended) today.