No!

For other uses, see No (disambiguation).

2002 studio album by They Might Be Giants

No!

Studio album by

They Might Be Giants

Released| June 11, 2002
Recorded| 1991 ("The Edison Museum"), February–June 1999, Spring 2000
Studio| Coyote Studio, Brooklyn
Genre| Alternative rock, children's music
Length| 33:50
Label| Idlewild/Rounder Kids (US)
Shock Records (Australia)
Producer| They Might Be Giants
They Might Be Giants chronology
| They Might Be Giants In... Holidayland
(2001)  | No!
(2002)  | They Got Lost
(2002)

|
|

Professional ratingsAggregate scores

Source| Rating
Metacritic| (84/100)[1]
Review scores
Source| Rating
Allmusic| [2]
Billboard| (favorable)[3]
Blender| [4]
Pitchfork Media| (7/10)[5]
PopMatters| [1][6]
(Deluxe Edition)[7]
Robert Christgau| [8]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide| [9]

No! is the first children's album (and ninth studio album) by alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, released in 2002 on Rounder Records and Idlewild Recordings.

Retaining the eclecticism, humor and psychedelic sensibilities of their adult work, the lyrical stylings are decidedly different: the darker themes of death and depression have been replaced with songs extolling the virtues of imagination, robots and sleep. The album declares itself TMBG's first album "for the entire family",[10] with the intention that songs appeal to both young and old audiences. The album contains a cover of Vic Mizzy's safety song "In the Middle, In the Middle, In the Middle" sung by Robin Goldwasser.

No! was released as an enhanced CD; while it plays normally in any CD audio player, it features a CD-ROM portion as well, providing the listener with interactive flash animations by the Chopping Block.

"The Edison Museum" was originally written in 1991 and featured on the Edisongs compilation that year. The recorded version appearing here is largely the same as the Edisongs version, but has been slightly modified. The modified version here previously appeared on Long Tall Weekend in 1999.[11] "Robot Parade" appears in the closing credits of "Them, Robot", the 503rd episode of The Simpsons.

The largely positive reception the album received led to a collaboration with Walt Disney Records and the Disney Sound label. They released three albums through the mid-2000s, each with a theme: Here Come the ABCs (2005), Here Come the 123s (2008), and Here Comes Science (2009). The band's fifth children's music album, Why?, released in 2015, was intended as a more direct follow-up to No!

## Track listing

[edit]

All songs by They Might Be Giants unless otherwise noted.

1. "Fibber Island" – 2:10
2. "Four of Two" – 2:18
3. "Robot Parade" – 1:22
4. "No!" – 1:30
5. "Where Do They Make Balloons?" – 2:41 (Danny Weinkauf)
6. "In the Middle, In the Middle, In the Middle" – 1:16 (Vic Mizzy)
7. "Violin" – 2:26
8. "John Lee Supertaster" – 2:01
9. "The Edison Museum" – 2:02 (They Might Be Giants/Brian Dewan)
10. "The House at the Top of the Tree" – 2:31
11. "Clap Your Hands" – 1:22
12. "I Am Not Your Broom" – 1:04
13. "Wake Up Call" – 1:10
14. "I Am a Grocery Bag" – 0:35
15. "Lazyhead and Sleepybones" – 3:28
16. "Bed Bed Bed" – 3:12
17. "Sleepwalkers" – 2:42

The Enhanced CD portion of the CD contains a hidden track about the Chopping Block, the designers of the enhanced CD and tmbg.com, one of the band's websites.

2012 digital "deluxe" version bonus tracks

1.   2. "Alphabet of Nations (Bonus Extended Version)" – 2:20
3. "John Lee Supertaster (Live Almanac)" - 3:09
4. "Violin (Live Almanac)" - 2:55
5. "Clap Your Hands (Live Almanac - Censored)" - 1:58
6. "Robot Parade (Live Almanac)" - 2:53
7. "Doctor Worm (Live Almanac)" - 2:58
8. "Stalk of Wheat (Live Almanac)" - 1:30

## Personnel

[edit]

### Musicians

[edit]

* John Flansburgh \- lead and backing vocals, acoustic and electric guitars
* John Linnell \- lead and backing vocals, accordion, piano, saxophone
* Dan Miller \- electric guitar
* Danny Weinkauf \- bass guitar, lead vocals on "Where Do They Make Balloons?"
* Dan Hickey \- drums
* Robin Goldwasser - lead vocals on "In the Middle"
* Nicholas Hill - lead vocals and vibraband on "The Edison Museum"
* Dan Levine - trombone/tuba on "John Lee Supertaster"
* Jim O'Connor - trumpet on "John Lee Supertaster"
* Crystof Witek - violin on "Violin"
* Gero Yellin - cello on "Violin"

### Production Crew

[edit]

* Produced by Pat Dillett
* Recorded & Mixed by Albert Calatt
* Animated by The Chopping Block Studios Inc.

## Trivia

[edit]

* The cover art for the album depicts characters signing the words "They Might Be Giants" in American Sign Language (ASL).

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Critic reviews at Metacritic
2. ^ Allmusic review
3. ^ "Billboard review". Billboard. Archived from the original on August 15, 2002. Retrieved August 15, 2002.
4. ^ Blender review[dead link]
5. ^ Pitchfork Media review
6. ^ PopMatters review 1
7. ^ PopMatters review 2
8. ^ Robert Christgau Consumer Guide
9. ^ Brackett, Nathan; Christian Hoard (2004). The Rolling Stone Album Guide. New York City, New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 808\. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
10. ^ No! liner notes
11. ^ tmbw:The Edison Museum

## External links

[edit]

* No! at This Might Be A Wiki
* No! at Metacritic

* v
* t
* e

They Might Be Giants

* John Flansburgh
* John Linnell
* Dan Miller
* Danny Weinkauf
* Marty Beller

* Hal Cragin
* Brian Doherty
* Jonathan Feinberg
* Dan Hickey
* Kurt Hoffman
* Graham Maby
* Tony Maimone
* Eric Schermerhorn

Studio albums|

| Rock 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)
* The Spine (2004)
* The Else (2007)
* Join Us (2011)
* Nanobots (2013)
* Glean (2015)
* Phone Power (2016)
* I Like Fun (2018)
* My Murdered Remains (2018)
* The Escape Team (2018)
* Book (2021)

|

Children's albums|

* No! (2002)
* Here Come the ABCs (2005)
* Here Come the 123s (2008)
* Here Comes Science (2009)
* Why? (2015)

EPs|

* Why Does the Sun Shine? (The Sun Is a Mass of Incandescent Gas) (1993)
* Back to Skull (1994)
* Working Undercover for the Man (2000)
* They Might Be Giants In... Holidayland (2001)
* Bed, Bed, Bed (2003)
* Indestructible Object (2004)
* The Spine Surfs Alone (2004)

Singles|

* "Don't Let's Start"
* "Ana Ng"
* "They'll Need a Crane"
* "Purple Toupee"
* "Birdhouse in Your Soul"
* "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)"
* "I Palindrome I"
* "O Tannenbaum"
* "Boss of Me"
* "Can't Keep Johnny Down"
* "You're on Fire"
* "Lazy"

Other songs|

* "Particle Man"
* "James K. Polk"

Live albums|

* Live!! New York City 10/14/94 (1994)
* Severe Tire Damage (1998)
* Live (1999)
* The Spine Hits the Road (2004)
* Almanac (2004)
* Venue Songs (2004)
* First Album Live! (2014)
* Flood Live in Australia (2015)
* Live in Brooklyn (2016)
* Beast of Horns (2024)

Compilations|

* Don't Let's Start (1989)
* Miscellaneous T (1991)
* Then: The Earlier Years (1997)
* Best of the Early Years (1999)
* They Got Lost (2002)
* Dial-A-Song: 20 Years of They Might Be Giants (2002)
* A User's Guide to They Might Be Giants (2005)
* Venue Songs DVD/CD (2005)
* Album Raises New and Troubling Questions (2011)
* Idlewild (2014)

Video releases|

* Direct from Brooklyn (1999)
* Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns) (2003)
* Here Come the ABCs (2005)
* Venue Songs DVD/CD (2005)
* Here Come the 123s (2008)
* Here Comes Science (2009)

Related articles|

* Discography
* Mono Puff
* State Songs (1999)
* The Brothers Chaps
* International Space Year
* "Tiny Toon Music Television" (1991)

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group

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