You are going about your daily business when the Deranged Millionaire appears and presents you with a diabolical choice. He has the ability to whisk you back in time to attend an infinite number of TMBG duo shows. Just John and John and the drum machine and the silly carpet hats all the time. But the trade off (and this is the diabolical part) is that you can't go forward again. You have to give up the band. You can not go past 1992 and you give up any memory of any of the material past Apollo 18. What do you do?
Would you be willing to trade in the band for a chance to experience the duo? Consider carefully and explain why or why not (20 points):
It's an easy decision for me. No. Not for all the duo shows in the history of the world would I give up the band. I am far, far too fond of them and the music that has been produced with them. Yes, it would be cool to see one of the old show's but at the expense of the boys? Never. I think, for me, the decision is influenced strongly by when I became a fan and the order in which I heard the music. The band is all I have ever known, and I was seeing them live before I was listening to much of the music. And it was the later material I heard first and fell in love with before I heard the early stuff. I mean, I don't even own my own copy of The Pink Album. So no, I'm not trading in the band.
The much harder question for me would be the reverse. Would you give up all the duo stuff in order to keep the band? Now that would be a diabolical question. I'm not even sure I can answer that one. Yeash, I am getting a headache just thinking about it.
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Not. a. chance. I didn't become a TMBG fan until 2007. I don't have any nostalgia for the late 80s/early 90s TMBG. All my TMBG experience involves Dans and Marty and horn players that I wouldn't trade for anything. Plus, my favorite albums are Factory Showroom and The Else. While it would certainly be interesting and I wouldn't pass up the chance to time travel with a return ticket, I would definitely not trade the whole band and great post-Apollo 18 albums to see just the Johns.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I answered this without reading your response (didn't want to color my answer)
P.P.S. Instead of choosing, can I just kidnap the Deranged Millionaire? :)
Kathy
I guess my answer is already obvious but I'll just say some stuff about it anyway:
ReplyDeleteI DEFINITELY (!!!) would choose the duo shows. There's just something so exciting about the idea of it. I think I would be ok with losing the memory of all of the later material, because while it's all (or, mostly, at least) really fantastic, if I didn't know what I was missing, I think I would be able to live with myself.
I think the duo shows were also a lot more intimate than shows with the full band. John and John are two of my very favourite people, and seeing them put on a show together, a stripped down, reel-to-reel backed, energetic show, with accordion almost the entire way through and awesome flans-guitar-playing, would be really incredible. Sadly, that's not really a thing that current shows can achieve. I guess with more consideration I might re-evaluate my decision (or at least be less confident about it) but this was my immediate response. And I still love the backing band (especially the horn section) and the shows tmbg does today, of course.
What Kathy said, partly because I'm lazy but mostly because it's exactly how I feel and she said it much more eloquently than I would. And I cannot imagine standing around waiting for a show to start without being able to say "man, I hope they play Seven."
ReplyDeleteI find myself with the majority sentiment expressed so far here. As cool as having a chance to experience the early duo sets would be, it's the band music that I really love, and that I think is their best work. Giving up the entire kids' music catalog, The Else, The Spine, Mink Car, forget it. No need to discuss further.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the reverse goes, it would be an obvious, if more painful decision. The Puppet Head video has meaning for me not only as a fan of the band, but as a fan of music video in general. And Apollo 18 would be hard to live without -- no more Narrow Your Eyes? no more Space Suit? But to get my band back, yeah.
Deranged Millionaire!
ReplyDeleteThe Deranged Millionaire is a tricky, tricky man. He is toying with the fact that my favorite albums are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Damn you, Yeah.
I've always wished I could have seen John and John as a duo. There's something charming about the two of them back then, something young and spunky and innocent, in a way. I would take Yeah up on this offer to see I've Got A Match for the few times it was played, to see Stormy Pinkness, duo Birdhouse, all of that. Lincoln is possibly my all time favorite album. However, I can't deal with the carpet-hats and dancing. They really were into the performance art of the East Village, weren't they?
I love the full band sound. John Henry is one of my favorite albums, as is Mink Car. TMBG really evolved as the full band years progressed. So I'll have to agree with you, Kelly; I'd rather the Deranged Millionaire take me to any full band show, rather than duo show. I'd rather have no memory of pre-John Henry years, save for the songs from before then they play live.
I vote to kidnap the Deranged Millionaire so I can play Scrabble against him. Deal?
Eeshk. I am very indecisive, as I'm sure I've made clear in the past, so I don't think I could give a definite answer to this question. It is an interesting one to ponder, though. As much as I absolutely love so many of the newer songs, I really like what Apollo wrote as a comment. I'm leaning toward being able to go back in time and see duo shows, but that may be strongly influenced by outside factors (like the fact that I simply want to go back in time), not to mention that I would hate to give up the newer music, so I can't really make up my mind.
ReplyDeleteEasy decision for me too. The Deranged Millionaire is less diabolical than he thinks. I'd definitely keep the band. As much as I love their early work (some of which has big contextual meaning to me), I think John and John have gotten better with age, and I think the full band sound is a big part of that. In fact, I can't wait to hear what they'll do next... how could I ever give up that anticipation excitement?!
ReplyDeleteAs I only really became a big fan following the introduction of the kids' music, the band is what I really fell in love with. I do have very fond memories of the duo back in the late 80's, and wish that I had been the sort to seek out a show back then. Would have been very do-able since I lived NYC-metro CT and had at least one very Manhattan-savvy friend, but alas, I was a rare concert-goer. I did enjoy the TV appearances that I saw back then, and still enjoy viewing the early duo shows now. But I wouldn't trade the future for them.