[GENERAL] John Flansburgh is a superior musician to John Linnell
[GENERAL] John Flansburgh is a superior musician to John Linnell
I've been a fan of They Might Be Giants for most of my life and have always been surprised that people universally disagree with me on this.
Linnell's songs tend to be quirkier but also shallower. (State Songs is a good example here - there isnt a song for every state and theyre often abstract to the point of meaninglessness. I expected such a project to have more inspiration behind it.
I've always found Flansburgh's more melodic and thoughtful, slightly better composed, and with a superior singing voice.
Of course they're a great duo and they play off each other's strengths. I don't dislike Linnell at all, just the songs that he sings tend to not be my favorites.
I think I'd need a side by side list to make an informed judgement.
Yea, I’m not familiar with much of their stuff so I would like to hear it side-by-side comparison.
I'll come up with a list. Solid point.
They've got such an extensive catalog it was hard to narrow down, so here's a top five of songs sung by each John:
John Linnell: Particle Man, We Want a Rock, Ana Ng, Birdhouse in Your Soul, and Doctor Worm
John Flansburgh: Lucky Ball and Chain, Cyclops Rock, New York City, Man It's so Loud in Here, Pet Name
Having made these lists, Flansburgh does more love songs, maybe that's my bias.
I just looked it up, and Linnell also did "Let's Get This Over With," which is by far my favorite of their more recent stuff...
Yeah, I think I've just gotta disagree with you as well. "Dr Worm" is such a banger too...
Yeah, it's tough, cause I love pretty much all the Flansburgh you listed, but I think Linnell probably edges it out for me...
Yeah, I keep looking up other songs to try and make the case for Flansburgh, and they keep being Linnell. He also did "Contrecoup." And it looks like he's primary on "Older." I think all the songs that are immediately popping to mind are Linnell, so I guess that says something...
here's a top five of songs sung by each John
Said the old-timey sex worker
First, I'm just happy that there is a TMBG topic. Nobody ever talks about them and I like them a lot.
Second, John F writes love songs and I'm into it. I'm pretty sure "She's an Angel" is his "Twisting" is great. With that said John L. Just has really good weird sounds that are pop enough to be palatable. Songs like "you're on fire", "dr. Worm", and I'm pretty sure "the lady and the tiger" is his. To say who's better is like comparing radio head to the talking heads, they just make different stuff.
Last, thanks for this. I really like tmbg and don't really get to talk about them with anyone
Yeah, I've been a fan since high school and have followed them over the years.
I'm so glad they've gotten the mainstream attention - to the point of being almost embraced with a sitcom theme song and all the Disney stuff.
But, consistently, people tell me I'm wrong when I say Flansburgh is better.
I'm glad this got attention and some love from fans.
I've always viewed their songs as somewhere between Weird Al and The Wiggles. Songs that get stuck in your head, but are pretty annoying. Just seeing this post already has their songs playing through my mind, and I hate it. It'll probably be stuck the rest of the day now.
"[GENERAL]"
By which you mean UNBELIEVABLY SPECIFIC.
I mean, that's fine. Your opinion is completely valid, specific or not. I just think it's weird that you put the "general" tag. You don't have to put any tags, but you chose to put one that's arguably entirely incorrect. You could at least have tagged it as [MUSIC] or [POP CULTURE] or something.
"General" is not what this is. That's all I'm saying.
Chill.