Sweet Revenge (of the Nerds)

Remember in the movie "Revenge of the Nerds", at the end of the Greek games, when each of the fraternities do their pathetic little skits, only to be eclipsed by the nerds of Lambda Lambda Lambda who put on a killer live show, and end up taking the trophy and winning the day? And then, there's that inspiring speech at the end in which everyone (except for the nasty jocks and prissy cheerleaders) realize that deep inside we're all nerds.

Listening to Rhino's massive anthology of They Might Be Giants is something like hearing that speech all over again.

In 1982, there was no such thing as geek rock. 20 years later, it's all over the place - largely because of two small-time geeks named John who moved from Boston to New York to become... BIG-TIME geeks, or rock stars, or, whatever. The point is whatever it is they set out to do, they did, and in the process they created a new subgenre of rock music. John & John (Linnell & Flansburgh) made Rivers Cuomo possible.

Though this collection is titled "Dial-a-Song" after TMBG's famous call-in service ("free when you call from work"), this is not, as is made clear on the back cover, a collection of songs from the Dial-a-Song service.

However, most of They Might Be Giants recorded output began with Dial-a-Song, and as explained by the Johns in one of the collection's two essays, Dial-a-Song had a lasting impact on their songwriting and recording styles. Because of limitations of the answering machine (sound quality,etc.), and the limits of callers' patience, they were forced to adapt their songs to the medium. In their words, "the machine was calling the shots." It also forced them to be more prolific. While most bands only release 10 or so songs to the public every couple of years, Dial-a-Song had a somewhat voracious appetite, and they challenged themselves to constantly be putting new songs on it.

After nearly 5 years playing live shows (with the two John's augmented by a drum machine, who once gave a bitter tell-all interview to the Village Voice), and feeding their answering machine, They Might Be Giants released their classic self-titled debut on Bar/None Records in 1987. The debut included the now-legendary singles "Don't Let's Start", "Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head", and "(She Was a) Hotel Detective", along with 16 other quirky numbers like "I Hope That I Get Old Before I Die," "Alienation's for the Rich", "Nothing's Gonna Change My Clothes" and the 27 second "Toddler Highway."

By 1990, these guys had signed to Elektra Records who released their breakthrough third album "Flood" featuring their biggest hit "Birdhouse in Your Soul," and loving ode to a nightlight: "I'm your only friend, I'm not your only friend, but I'm a little glowing friend, but really I'm not actually your friend..." And for a second, even big fans of TMBG had to stop an ask, "how the hell did they get so big?"

Who knows, for sure. But somewhere it has to do with the fact that they're to regular guys - the kind of guys you could beat up, if only they weren't so nice, and weren't always helping you cheat on math tests. It also has to do with a bunch of catchy tunes that rarely if ever have a chance to outstay their welcome. It might also have to do with the funny surreal lyrics, full of jokes, puns, social comment; and sometimes the occasional sweet love song. It might have to do with their quirky self-directed videos, or with their over-the-top live shows. At any rate, 20 years later, it's a comfort to know that this world still has room for They Might Be Giants.

Dial-a-Song collects 52 of the Johns' finest, and includes tracks from every one of their albums including the Internet-only release "Long Tall Weekend", and their recent children's disc "No!"

The first disc consists primarily of the more well know hits, including "Birdhouse in Your Soul", "Don't Let's Start", "Boss of Me" (for which they won a Grammy), "Istanbul", and "Ana Ng".

The second disc features some of their more obscure moments, including a few killer live performances ("She's Actual Size", "Stormy Pinkness" - listen for the drum solo) and some of the boys' personal favorites like "Purple Toupee", "She's an Angel" and their famous collection of song fragments "Fingertips."

My personal favorites include "New York City" (from their underrated album "Factory Showroom"), a song about falling in love in New York in the middle of the winter, with chimes and everything, and one of the duo's catchiest couplets "Everyone's your friend in New York City, and everything is beautiful when you're young and pretty."; their take on 60's garage rock "Twisting"; and "I Can Hear You", a song recorded on antiquated equipment whose lyrics are all about communicating with modern devices.

Of course, with a body of work as vast as they've accumulated, everyone will likely have their own personal favorites, and it's inevitable that a few of yours will be left off. On my wish list would be "Where Your Eyes Don't Go" (from "Lincoln"), the raucous "Till My Head Falls Off" (from "Factory Showroom"), and "The Day" (from "They Might Be Giants").

But, while listening to "Dial-a-Song", it's really hard to focus on what's not there. There's just too much to love; complaining about the songs that didn't make it will only make you feel selfish and gluttonous.

Admittedly, there isn't a lot of new stuff for long-time fans here, although "Boss of Me" and the hilariously Bond-ish "Evil" are soundtrack cuts that have been previously unavailable on a TMBG CD. And fans will want to have this collection for it's terrific packaging, discographical information, and the two fun essays, one by friend-of-band writer Sarah Vowell, and one by the Johns themselves.

For all those sad souls who've never heard of TMBG, "Dial-a-Song" is a fantastic introduction, not just to their songs, but to their world-view in general. Folks who pick this up out of curiosity will no doubt find themselves dialing in on their boss's dime in no time.

Also, They Might Be Giants have a supercool website www.tmbg.com, and Dial-a-Song is still up and running. It is still just a simple home phone line hooked up to an answering machine, "always busy, always broken." You can Dial-a-Song at (718)387-6962.

Still free when you call from work.