They Might Be Giants is an alternative rock band originally formed in 1983. They are known for their usage of the
accordion in many of their songs, unconventional music styles, and their eccentric music videos. The band originally consisted of John Linnell, the band's keyboardist/accordionist and one of the lead singers, and John Flansburgh, the band's guitarist and other lead singer.
In 1985, the band recorded their first music video for their own song "Rabid Child" off of their 1985 demo tape (the song would later re-appear in their first official
album). However, it was never released in full to the public. The video's existence was first revealed in the They Might Be Giants Early Years Handbook which stated that the video consisted of John Flansburgh hugging a door jamb while staring at the camera.[1] In 2002, the They Might Be Giants documentary film, "Gigantic: A Tale of Two Giants" was released. Featured in the film was a short clip of the unreleased Rabid Child music video. It consisted of three men (John Flansburgh, John Linnell, and their producer at the time, Bill Krauss) wearing John Linnell and John Flansburgh masks while robotically moving their hands up and down to the rhythm of the song, before cutting to John Flansburgh at the aforementioned door jamb lip-syncing the final lyrics of the song with John Linnell in the background playing the accordion.
The film's director, AJ Schnack, approached the band about the possibility of including the full video in the DVD release of the documentary as a bonus feature, but Linnell and Flansburgh shot down this idea.[2] Their reasoning to not releasing the video is because it "didn't meet their standards." Given the band's opinion of the video, it is unlikely that it will ever be released to the public during the band's lifetime, although a fan-made mock-up of the video was made with the clips featured in Gigantic.
- ↑ [1]They Might Be Giants Early Years Handbook Retrieved 5 May '16
- ↑ [2]DIRECTOR'S REPORT: YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED Retrieved 5 May '16