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JOHN FLANSBURGH
guitar
Plays Guitar Left Handed with default stringing.
In band(s) : THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS
Half of They Might Be Giants, most of Mono Puff, actor-director-producer of plays, music videos and television documentaries, writer of film and television music, and record producer, John Flansburgh has little free time and a lot to say.
A juggler of lyrics with edgy humor or surreal leanings, Flansburgh articulates melodies with equal verve and refinement. He and John Linnell are the two friends who became They Might Be Giants, the bigger-than-life twosome that has probed and challenged the confines of the genre known as ‘the popular song’ for the past 25 years. John and John have produced some of the most imaginative songs this side of The Beatles: joyful or dark, charming or bizarre, intricate or infectious, bittersweet or childlike pieces that have smattered their more than ten albums and as many years of exquisite doodles on their Dial-A-Song phone-in offerings.
The Johns take nothing for granted. They are persistent explorers of what Flansburgh has dubbed their “musical universe starring otherness.” From their sharp 1986 eponymous debut album to 2005’s multimedia kids project Here Come the ABC’s (Disney Sound), their music is consistently fresh, fascinating, and imaginatively accessible. If you are not familiar with their material, you might pick up the glorious, gold-selling Flood (1990, Elektra), the stunning Factory Showroom (1996, Elektra) or the elegantly produced, rollicking The Stride (2004, Idlewild), for starters. Rhino’s 2-disc anthology Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of TMBG is also an effective overview.
Key to Flansburgh’s enduring success are his appeal to the playful leanings in all of us, combined with the steadily high quality of his musical output which never underestimates his audience. As long as there are artists like him plying their talent in the specious freedom of ‘rock music,’ the essence of rock will live on.
© LFV / John Engel all rights reserved.
Read more about Flansburgh's life and music in John Engel's Uncommon Sound book.
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