Editing They Might Be Giants (section)

===Earlier years (1981–1989)===
Johns Linnell and Flansburgh first met as teenagers growing up in [[Lincoln, Massachusetts]]. They began writing songs together while attending [[Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School]] but did not form a band at that time. The two attended separate colleges after high school and Linnell joined [[The Mundanes]], a [[New wave music|new wave]] group from [[Rhode Island]]. The two reunited in 1981 after moving to [[Brooklyn]] (to the same apartment building on the same day) to continue their career.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Weiskopf, Myke |title=They Might Be Giants Early Years Handbook v3.0 |url=http://www.tmbg.org/band-info/early-years/ |access-date=February 26, 2006}}</ref>

At their first concert, They Might Be Giants were introduced as and performed under the name '''El Grupo De Rock and Roll''' ([[Spanish language|Spanish]] for "the Rock and Roll Band"), because the show was a [[Sandinista Revolution|Sandinista rally]] in Central Park and a majority of the audience members spoke Spanish.<ref name="NY1">{{Cite web |last=Mishkin |first=Budd |date=December 8, 2009 |title=One on 1: "They Might Be Giants" Span the Age Group Globe |url=http://statenisland.ny1.com/content/features/110059/-i-one-on-1---i---they-might-be-giants--span-the-age-group-globe |type=Interview |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130130205339/http://statenisland.ny1.com/content/features/110059/-i-one-on-1---i---they-might-be-giants--span-the-age-group-globe |archive-date=January 30, 2013 |access-date=2022-11-22 |website=NY1 |url-status=dead }}</ref> They had previously chosen a name that, according to John Flansburgh, was "so bad that John [Linnell] and I have made a vow that we will never tell anyone, even our children."<ref>{{cite book|last=Dolgins|first=Adam|url=https://archive.org/details/rocknamesfromabb00dolg/page/202/mode/2up/|title=Rock Names|year=1995|page=202|publisher=Carol Publishing Group|isbn=9780806516172 |access-date=October 2, 2023}}</ref> Soon discarding this name,<ref name="Brian Butterick p.152">Brian Butterick, Susan Martin, Kestutis Nakas (eds.) ''"We Started a Nightclub": The Birth of the Pyramid Cocktail Lounge as Told by Those Who Lived It'', Damiani Books, p.152</ref> the band assumed [[They_Might_Be_Giants_(film)#Title_explanation|the name]] of the 1971 film ''[[They Might Be Giants (film)|They Might Be Giants]]'' (starring [[George C. Scott]] and [[Joanne Woodward]]), which is in turn taken from a ''[[Don Quixote]]'' passage about how Quixote mistook [[Tilting at windmills|windmills for evil giants]]. According to Dave Wilson, in his book ''Rock Formations'', the name They Might Be Giants had been used and subsequently discarded by a friend of the band who had a [[ventriloquism]] act.<ref name="RockFormations">{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Dave |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tOpB23GGxAIC&q=ventriloquist+%22they+might+be+giants%22+friend&pg=RA1-PA24 |title=Rock formations: categorical answers ... - Google Books |year=2004 |isbn=9780974848358 |page=24 |publisher=Cidermill Books |access-date=July 17, 2011}}</ref> The name was then adopted by the band, who had been searching for a more suitable name.

A common misconception is that the name of the band is a reference to themselves and an allusion to future success. In an interview, John Flansburgh said that the words "they might be giants" are just a very outward-looking forward thing which they liked. He clarified this in the documentary movie ''[[Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns)]]'' by explaining that the name refers to the outside world of possibilities that they saw as a fledgling band. In an earlier radio interview, John Linnell described the phrase as "something very paranoid sounding".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Levy |first=Mike |year=2000 |title=TMBG: FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) |url=http://www.tmbg.org/band-info/faq/#q7 |access-date=February 26, 2006 |website=Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about They Might Be Giants}}</ref>

The duo began performing their own music in and around New York City at the East Village [[Pyramid Club (New York City)|Pyramid Club]]<ref>Brian Butterick, Susan Martin, Kestutis Nakas (eds.) ''"We Started a Nightclub": The Birth of the Pyramid Cocktail Lounge as Told by Those Who Lived It'', Damiani Books, p.301</ref> – Flansburgh on [[guitar]], Linnell on [[accordion]] and [[saxophone]] and accompanied by a [[drum machine]] or prerecorded backing track on [[cassette tape|audio cassette]]. Their atypical instrumentation, along with their songs which featured unusual subject matter and clever wordplay, soon attracted a strong local following.<ref>Brian Butterick, Susan Martin, Kestutis Nakas (eds.) ''"We Started a Nightclub": The Birth of the Pyramid Cocktail Lounge as Told by Those Who Lived It'', Damiani Books, p.212</ref> Their performances also featured absurdly comical stage props such as oversized [[fez (clothing)|fezzes]] and large cardboard cutout heads of newspaper editor [[William Allen White]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=William Allen White |url=http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/William_Allen_White |access-date=April 7, 2006 |website=This Might Be A Wiki}}</ref> Many of these props would later turn up in their first music videos. From 1984 to 1987, They Might Be Giants were the house band at the [[Pyramid Club (New York City)|Pyramid Club]]<ref name="Brian Butterick p.152"/> and Darinka, a [[Lower East Side]] [[performance art]] club<ref name="gigantic" /> run by Gary Ray. They played on the stage there one weekend a month and by the end of their three-year stint, their performances were selling out. On March 30, 1985, TMBG released their 7" [[flexi disc|flexi-disc]], dubbed "Wiggle Diskette" at Darinka. The disc included demos of the songs "Everything Right Is Wrong Again" and "You'll Miss Me".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Leith |first=William |date=10 August 1985 |title=Singles |pages=19 |work=NME |url=https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EbGeeiIUwAAQ_k3?format=jpg&name=large |access-date=11 Oct 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231011220150/https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EbGeeiIUwAAQ_k3?format=jpg&name=large |archive-date=11 October 2023}}</ref>