Fifty for Fifi

I know the hipster thing is to say you were into a band before they broke big. I wasn’t into They Might Be Giants before they broke big, but I was into them immediately when they broke big. Mulitplatinum album Flood was their first release with a major label, and aged 19 I owned a copy at the time.

This band is one of the many musical threads Fi and I have in common and seeing them at The Zoo was one of our most treasured early dates we got to go on once I was living in Australia.

The set was wild and weird and included a ten minute puppet show. I blotted my Brisbane copybook by disagreeing with friend of Fi’s brother Norman and local notable Spencer Howson when he expressed astonishment that some people saw TMBG as a novelty band. I countered that they were, in fact and in many ways, a novelty band. The conversation kind of ended there.

I still think I’m right.