I Like Fun

Though it felt like forever, I think I only had to ride the bus to school through the country for two or three years. The reason that it felt like forever was that my bus ride to school was every bit of 90 minutes or more. The only thing that kept us sane on all those back country roads was our walkmen. 

That cheap peace of tech was one of my most prized possessions for those bus years. To make it through school life you had to have one of those and you had to join Columbia House (12 tapes for a penny! what a steal!). I ended up with some much less than stellar cassettes through that service. Lucky for me, I was also able to use it to acquire some gems that I still enjoy today.

The album that made me think about all these hours spent on a school bus was called Flood. Chances are you've heard something from it even if you don't know it straightaway. You may have enjoyed Tiny Toons, and if so it's entirely possible you heard the song "Triangle Man" and "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)", or that you went to FSU with me and are familiar with the drinking game that involves that song. It's also possible that you were cool enough to seek out and call the original Dial-A-Song. 

If none of those things applied, then you have no idea that this week's band is They Might Be Giants. They're just two guys named John (Flansburgh and Linnell) that both moved to Brooklyn in 1981 and started playing music. Their twentieth studio album was released last week, and it's aptly titled I Like Fun. 

If there's been one pretty constant thread through the many years of TMBG, it's fun. Their songs are quirky and very tongue in cheek, which is perfect for their original duo instrumentation: guitar and accordion/saxophone. They've done space themed albums, TV theme songs, tracks for movie soundtracks, as well as kid friendly music and a children's book. 

So you probably think you're going to get some strange have kiddy music/half polka-esque stuff that might be great on Dr. Demento. What you would actually be getting is the very mature music of two nerds that have been doing this for heading toward forty years. The Johns have a full backing band these days, so gone are the days of duo music. They have also always been early embracers of technology and the internet, and honestly I Like Fun sounds like that - cool dads wrote a rock record that's both new for their kids but still old school for their Walkman toting friends.

The songs are generally short, they're often upbeat and poppy, and sometimes TMBG uses that to hide some dark themes (like losing limbs or leaving your body behind in a no parking zone). I Like Fun also isn't anything new from a band like this that have been working for so long, but it's greatest strength is that after all these years, the same nerdy fun songs are as good as they've always been.

Recommended tracks: "I Left My Body," "Push Back The Hands," "The Bright Side," "When the Light Comes On," "Let's Get This Over With"