Dial-A-Song

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the They Might Be Giants telephone service. For the TMBG album, see Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants.

Established by rock band They Might Be Giants (TMBG), Dial-A-Song consisted of an answering machine with a tape of the band playing various songs. The machine played one track at a time, ranging from demos and uncompleted work to fake advertisements the band had created.

Based in Brooklyn, NY, Dial-A-Song was often difficult to access due to the popularity of the service and the dubious quality of the machines used. In reference to this, Dial-A-Song's tongue-in-cheek slogan is "Always Busy, Often Broken." The number was a local Brooklyn number and was charged accordingly, but the band advertised it with the line: "Free when you call from work," meaning you don't have to pay the phone bill at the office.

Due to the nature of an answering machine, only one caller could listen to the current song at any given time. This had been noted as creating a special bond between the song and the person calling as it is playing just for them.

Longtime listeners to Dial-A-Song have counted at least 500 distinct songs and variations recorded by They Might Be Giants, making them one of the most prolific rock bands in history in terms of published material.

The Dial-A-Song system should not be confused with TMBG's compilation of a similar name: Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants. This "best-of" anthology is not in fact a compilation of Dial-A-Song rarities; the name is simply a tribute.

In March 2000, TMBG started dialasong.com, which was more reliable than the original, phone-based version, as it utilized a flash document to stream the songs. This was replaced in August 2006 however, with a page promoting the They Might Be Giants podcasts.

John Linnell stated in an interview in early 2008 that Dial-A-Song had died of a technical crash, and that the internet had taken over where the machine left off.

[edit] Influence

For a short time, Isaac Brock of the indie rock band Modest Mouse started his own Dial-A-Song service. Tracks 16-24 of the album Sad Sappy Sucker are experiments that were used for it.

[edit] External links


v • d • e
They Might Be Giants
John Flansburgh  · John Linnell
Dan Miller · Danny Weinkauf · Marty Beller
Brian Doherty · Dan Hickey · Graham Maby · Tony Maimone · Eric Schermerhorn
Albums:
They Might Be Giants (1986) · Lincoln (1988) · Flood (1990) · Apollo 18 (1992) · John Henry (1994) · Factory Showroom (1996) · Long Tall Weekend (1999) · Mink Car (2001) · No! (2002) · The Spine (2004) · Here Come the ABCs (2005) · The Else (2007) · Here Come the 123s (2008)
EPs:
Live albums:
Compilations:
Songs
Video Releases
Related Articles
Dial-A-Song · Mono Puff · State Songs (John Linnell solo album) · Hello Radio: The Songs of They Might Be Giants (tribute album)