They Might Be Giants: Wake up! It's They Might Be Giants

[MrSyntheticDesign]

TED i am disappoint

[tallen42]

"not all the facts are in ...19 degree thing -- fantastic!" - at least they got a few laughs there.

[tallen42]

This was a brilliant set -- the people they are playing for "didn't get it". Too much humorl, too early int he morning?

Fingertips is soooo good here.

How could you have that many nerds in one place and not a single fan? (I saw no one bobbing their heads). I hope people at the TED talk went home and looked them up and realized how really talented TMBG are...

@AlexandriaM - was one of my fav parts, too.

[confusedwhale]

I know they released it two years after this... but it have been awesome if they finished their set with "Meet the Elements" instead of "Alphabet of Nations".

I'm pretty sure there would have been a few nerdections.

[ohmycaribou]

TMBG trolled all y'all.

[DaTartanSpartan]

!? what!? what happened!?!? what the hell!? WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY DOING

[RIVEXNGLE]

Yeah, TMBG! What's TED?

[/troll]

Hate me. =P

[swagar]

Yikes.  I love me some TMBG, but their ducks weren't in line here.

[FlansyLinny]

lol u mad TED fans?

[dylanlawless1]

Sometimes only the smartest group of people would find this "brilliant" when it's,  well, shit. Reminds me of The Emperor's New Clothes.

Maybe they want to sound crap ironically.

[rwired]

West Xylophone. Please!!!!........ Xinjiang (West China) might one day become an independent nation and is a much better substitute for the lack of nations beginning with X.

[coopersnoop]

Who ever booked these guys for the TED convention needs to get his ass fired!

[MrTroyiss]

haha, i wonder if they had their morning coffee yet.

[calebmoss18]

STUPID

[ashtray45]

this is garbage... 18 min?! Occasionaly TED has some sub-par presentations, this is one of them. TED RULES!

[teamjoe3]

No, this if fucking great. And if you dont like it your a fucking, cum coated dick loveing, homo.

[3thought]

sounds like crowded house or REM

[MehMehBear]

No, you're wrong. He doesn't need vocal, his voice is just fine. You're delusional.

I agree, Older might be over done, but the rest of the songs are just fine, but if you've listened to TMBG before, you'd understand their type of music. You just don't get it, that's your problem.

[thethinman61]

Pretty dumb.

[teamjoe3]

Like you?

[Whitestripes33]

It's funny how Linnell is known as the one without glasses...

[iloveallecchianime]

does john linnell ever age???!?! i means hes 50 years old yet he looks like in the 30s

[Capitalocracy]

and has since he was 12, I'm sure

[dfeltch]

hahaha

[rutgersemp01]

lol, in the studio version it's a lot less timid.

great stuff though, love TMBG

[LukamiCsalad]

Yeah, but no bridge in the version on the album -- I think the bridge adds a lot.

[teamjoe3]

Great songs!

[teamjoe3]

you fail

[ROFLpwnedvideos]

This is my all time favorite band, and I didn't even know they had a video on this channel. Awesome.

[reksub10]

they are a bit iver cutler

[TVGM]

I heart TMBG & TED! HOWDIDIMISSTHIS?!

Oh yes, I was working...not just bloviating.

[Dunklekuh81]

Only three of them. That's kinda odd. Takes you back to the old days, when there was just the two Johns.

[Anonchoir]

Bee of the Bird of the Moth was so awesome. :3

[naganokumas]

I want a West Xylophone stamp on my passport.

[naganokumas]

I wanted the 'kicked in the head at the Stone Pony' song to continue. I'd love to hear a punk "The court of King Caractacus".

[Emptybottleofgin]

this shit is hilarious..how the hell can you guys not think this shit is great lol...

[UbiquitousOps]

what a horrible accordion player.

wow, no wonder he's there, the band is extremely worse.

please shoot yourselves.

I'd rather listen to Michael Meyers in "So I Married an Ax Murderer"

[ehyomudda]

awkward much?

[wheredidallthepeople]

for the alphabet song...

for G, why on earth would they pick "the Gambia"??????

What happened to Germany??

[subgerocallidus]

WHy not Gambia? What wrong with Gambia? You got something wrong with Gambia?

[wheredidallthepeople]

No, it's just that Germany is about 400 times more famous... Although now that i think about it some more, Gambia has a the "gaa" sound their looking for, cause Germany's is confusing with the "jee" sound.

[xGothimox]

Because Germany is an over used and steriotyped nation, do you even know what Gambia is?

[AlexandriaM]

Gotta love Linnell dropping "fucked up" on a fairly unreceptive audience at 8:30 in the morning.

[ross350tube]

hmm

bee of the bird of the moth?

and its about the moth? if i wrote a song titled

:-the song of the film of the book,

you would presume the song was about the song and not about the book at all, but in my example the song is a result of the movie of the book. where in these boy's song the moth is a result of the bird of the bee. hmm,in my eyes the song is about a bee.

I'd like to know if I'm wrong and how..

[lenskap]

He's merely singing about the hummingbird moth. It's in the sphynx moth family and is often mistaken for a bumblebee or a hummingbird. One of natures interesting creatures.

[dvdtranslations]

I love TMBG. I've been a fan since Lincoln, but I really saddened by their latest releases. I feel they peaked at Mink Car, and then, I don't know, 9/11 turned these boys from NY sour.

[AKAcronny]

The guys at TED didn't seem too receptive to the banter portion. They were open enough to the music though. And it was pretty early...

[jordancooperlalala]

Damn look at Flans playing the bass -- weird

[niklasva]

Ow, hearing Linnell say "fuck" makes my auditory canal hurt. D:

[mostamazingppl]

omg...i love this performance...live is always good...

[juttman]

That was a really bad performance to be honest.

They sound out of tune a lot.

I love the band, don't get me wrong, just an off performance.

[margittarget]

they're not that bad, they're out of tune. Shit happens.

[lsm007]

Most people don't get it do they? This is great! Though in reading the comments it is clear you aren't a fan of TMBG. Too Deep. Maybe you should all listen to something more elementary, like teletubbies.

[JohnDeBunkTest]

Yeiks .. the poor people at the TED conference who had to suffer through this live ...

ouch.

[pepeotf45]

I just want to know...HOW MUCH...how much hard drugs i would need to smoke in order to simply listen to this music let alone enjoy.

[SoupNazi3]

Oh, give them a break, you ass. They're not used to performing this early, and the accordion is hard to work with.

[pepeotf45]

WOW WTF KILL yourselves please.

[Chickenpainter111]

John looks like Adam Sandler.

[MasterMark123]

well .... that was pretty different for sure .. reminds Me a bit of Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention

[suchducks]

Interruption:

OMG MARTY!! :D

hehe.

[burleighmt]

Somehow TED and TMBG go together perfectly. Like peanut butter and jelly, like open-source economics and string theory. Love it.

If I was there I would've stormed the stage with my laminated badge. Awesome!

[gmalonzo]

Best comment I've seen the whole week.

The geeks shall inherit the earth.

[burleighmt]

I saw TMBG in 1992 or 93 in Maine in a college gym with about 200 other folks. Here they are on stage at TED, Al Gore etc. This would somehow fit in one of their songs.

[medicinalpink]

agree

peanutbuter and jelly > other stuff

[TheFamousEccles]

Not enough music features an accordion.

These guys are brilliant.

[VidN00b]

throw away the accordion, change the lyrics then the song might sound like something

[lordtalon69]

[clap clap] congratulations mr. mainstream. Your right remove the accordion change the lyrics and make it sound like every other boxed sound that is mass produced in the industry today.

TMBG is a unique sound with a devoted fan base, and what you say won't make a difference.

[HelloRadiooo]

Where are Dan and Danny?

[SoupNazi3]

And time.

[zakki666]

they should have just put on a playback of stairway to heaven, now thats good music.

[zakki666]

this sounds like the decemberists gone really bad.

[SirMildredPierce]

Y'all don't know good music when you hear it.

[Paulginz]

Nerd music FTW!

[lordtalon69]

I'll agree with that, its not really an insult but more of a explanation to all the haters on here.

Its a unique niche of music that the devoted fans have enjoyed since the early 90's.

For those that prefer TED lectures keep in mind TMBG was invited to play here, and they were asked to play at 8:30 in the morning if you object to this then argue with TED don't blame TMBG for the kind of music they do.

On a side note this performance dind't do there music justice. I suggest dl'ing them.

[Paulginz]

lordtalon69.

FTW=for the win.

It's a mark of appreciation.

I should've called it geek music instead of nerd music maybe.

The bottom line is, I can SO relate to these wackos ^_^.

[lordtalon69]

heh its all good i knew you weren't being condescending. Thats why i said your message was more a explanation .. the rest of it was mostly for those that were hating on this heh.

[Fantabulous666]

holy shit this has got to be the worst TED episode I've ever seen...

[idioteque3]

these guys aren't really that talented at all

[PoochDoobie]

I agree, nerd music is pathetic..

[AKAcronny]

Hahaha. Hey. Sup, bro?

[theneighborhoodgang]

Good thing they're not nerd music!

[only1duk]

wow instead of learning, I've actually LOST braincells *dribbles uncontrollably*

[ReaverG1]

Yeah, I like music that sounds better too.

[HKragh]

this was simply woo weired for me. Guess I'm kinda into mainstream pop...:P

[morganmghee]

yeah....No.

[Domzdream]

These guys are fucked in the head. I love 'em.

[ajknee]

Wow, this is not TED material. They're really bad.

[calo54]

I love these guys!

[IAteYourTV]

Awesome!  TMBG rock.

[TerhiTheFinn]

I like it.

[TheWiseCommenter]

boring. stop trying to be cool and hip, and skip to the fucking science/technology.

[trill42]

Yeah, accordions are really cool and hip. ;)

[alcoholanddrugabuse]

I WILL PRAY FOR YOU*/*

[thkaal]

Too bad they weren't playing particle man.

[darksean99]

They really should of after the speech over the LHC

[LikeAPossum]

Almost funny

[asmhaxor]

so bad...

[JoKKeSvin]

Hmm. I don't think we're ready for this music yet, hehe.

[SIP100]

Huh!?

[skebeman]

WTF!!!!!!!!

[LobsterMassage]

A fitting band for the TED conference

[captaincaustic]

If others don't get the band and what it's about, then I say they(others, not the band) have no business being anywhere near TED.

[clearmenser]

poor guys, rock is not meant for breakfast. 8:30am?

[jeffcrenshaw]

unique and creative! cool lyrics

[MightyTiny]

Have known They Might Be Giants only by name, this is the first performance I've seen/heard by them - they SO remind me of Frank Zappa... especially the "fingertips" song. :)

[lordtalon69]

heh... where is the birdhouse in my soul :( still TMBG's rock...

[LoveCraken]

That version of Older was fucking godawful.

[EverettsVLOG]

terrible

[wii2050]

This was so inspiring that I reinvented the wheel.

[baronmorris]

I bet 8:30 a.m. was kind of early for the audience to be @ a rock show, too.

TMBG are fkn tight. in a good way.

peace!

O

B

A

M

A

!

[quantitty]

First

[arshsingh1984]

what? no "Constantinople"?