Editing They Might Be Giants (section)

===Beyond Elektra and move to Restless Records (1999–2003)===
For most of their career, TMBG has made innovative use of the Internet. As early as 1992, the band was sending news updates to their fans via Usenet newsgroups. In 1999, They Might Be Giants became the first major-label recording artist to release an entire album exclusively in [[mp3|MP3]] format. The album, ''[[Long Tall Weekend]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |last=Yahoo Media Relations |date=July 15, 1999 |title=eMusic.com & YAHOO! To host exclusive web-launch of "They Might be Giants" new MP3-only album July 19 |url=http://docs.yahoo.com/docs/pr/release341.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060901184346/http://docs.yahoo.com/docs/pr/release341.html |archive-date=September 1, 2006 |access-date=November 4, 2006}}</ref> is sold through [[Emusic]].

Also, in 1999, the band contributed the song "Dr. Evil" to the motion picture ''[[Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me]]''. Over their career, the band has performed on numerous movie and television soundtracks, including ''[[The Oblongs]]'', the [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] miniseries ''Brave New World'' and ''Ed and His Dead Mother''. They also performed the theme music "[[Bob Mould#In popular culture|Dog on Fire]]", composed by [[Bob Mould]], for ''[[The Daily Show|The Daily Show with Jon Stewart]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 30, 2011 |title=They Might Be Giants |url=http://onpoint.wbur.org/2011/09/30/they-might-be-giants |access-date=September 3, 2012 |website=NPR's On Point radio program |archive-date=January 2, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120102053646/http://onpoint.wbur.org/2011/09/30/they-might-be-giants |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Dwight Garner |date=June 14, 2011 |title=After Metal Music's Deafening Roar, Hüsker Dü's Guitarist Pauses to Reflect |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/15/books/see-a-little-light-by-bob-mould-of-husker-du-review.html}}</ref>
They composed and performed the music for the [[TLC Network|TLC]] series ''Resident Life'', the theme song for the [[Disney Channel]] programs ''[[Higglytown Heroes]]'' and ''[[Mickey Mouse Clubhouse]]'', and songs about the cartoons ''[[Dexter's Laboratory]]'' and ''[[Courage the Cowardly Dog]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=TV And Movie Themes |url=http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/TV_And_Movie_Themes |access-date=February 26, 2006 |website=This Might Be A Wiki}}</ref>

During this time, the band also worked on a project for [[McSweeney's]], a publishing company and literary journal. The band wrote a McSweeney's theme song and forty-four songs for an album that was meant to be listened to with the journal, with each track corresponding to a particular story or piece of artwork. Labeled ''They Might Be Giants vs. McSweeney's'', the disk appears in issue No.&nbsp;6 of ''[[Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern]]''.
{{Listen
| filename     = BossOfMe.ogg
| title        = "Boss of Me"
| description  = Sample of the band's Grammy Award–winning theme song to Malcolm in the Middle.
| format       = Ogg
}}

Contributing the single "[[Boss of Me]]" as the theme song to the hit television series ''[[Malcolm in the Middle]]'', as well as to the show's [[Music from Malcolm in the Middle|compilation CD]], brought a new audience to the band. Not only did the band contribute the theme, but songs from all of the Giants' previous albums were used on the show: for example, the infamous punching-the-kid-in-the-wheelchair scene from the first episode was done to the strains of "Pencil Rain" from ''Lincoln''. Another song to feature in the series was "Spiraling Shape". "Boss of Me" became the band's second top-40 hit in the UK which they performed on long-running UK television programme [[Top of the Pops]] and, in [[44th Annual Grammy Awards|2002]], won the duo a [[Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media|Grammy Award]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Boss of Me by They Might Be Giants Songfacts |url=http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1714 |access-date=April 3, 2006 |website=Songfacts}}</ref>

On September 11, 2001, they released the album ''[[Mink Car]]'' on [[Restless Records]]. It was their first full album release of new studio material since 1996 and their first since parting ways with Elektra. The making of that album, including a record signing event at a [[Manhattan]] [[Tower Records (music retailer)|Tower Records]], was included in a documentary directed by [[A. J. Schnack]] titled ''[[Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns)]]''. The film was released on DVD in 2003.

In 2002, they released ''[[No!]]'', their first album "for the entire family". Using the [[enhanced CD]] format, it included an interactive animation for most of the songs. They followed it up in 2003 with their first book, an illustrated children's book with an included EP, ''[[Bed, Bed, Bed]]''.