History YMMV / TheyMightBeGiants

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: Even with some rather esoteric lyrics, it's pretty obvious that many of their songs touch on more mature themes. Yet their songs have appeared in multiple kid-friendly places (such as ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' and the first ''[[Film/MightyMorphinPowerRangers Power Rangers]]'' movie) even before they specifically made children's albums. They try as hard as they can to avoid falling under this trope completely by splitting their tours in two to join to their two distinct fanbases (their original alternative rock fans and their new children's music fanbase). The "adult shows" (the one where they play their non-children's material and back catalog) have a 18 (or 21 in some places) cover for when someone tries to bring their kid into an adult TMBG concert expecting to hear music from their children's albums. In addition to the difference in content, this is because "adult shows" tend to take place in venues that serve alcohol, so bringing someone under 18 would generally be illegal.

** While not an official member of the band per se, Robin Goldwasser, John Flansburgh’s wife, is widely beloved by the fandom, both due to their adorable relationship and Robin’s lovely singing voice (and numerous other talents).

* MisattributedSong: This one works both ways. While not the most common band misattributed, quite a few songs on file-sharing services are mistakenly labeled as being by They Might Be Giants ("88 Lines About 44 Women," by The Nails, a 1984 song that fits the same rough outline as early TMBG--unorthodox AlternativeRock built around simple synth and drum machine sounds with satirical lyrics--but otherwise sounds nothing like them, seems to be the most common one). On the flip side, some of their tracks are labeled as belonging to other bands, particularly remixes (you'll find some people distributing the Brownsville Remix of "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" as a Music/WeirdAlYankovic song, although it was a B-side for the single for the original).

** There's actually a [[http://tmbw.net/wiki/Songs_Incorrectly_Attributed_To_TMBG list]] of songs often misattributed to them.

* MisattributedSong: "88 Lines About 44 Women" by The Nails is often attributed to them.

** "I Am Ret*rded" by [[Music/HemorrhoyRogers Hemorrhoy Rogers]] is commonly mistaken to be one of their songs. In reality, TMBG would NEVER make anything ableist.

** "I Am Retarded" by [[Music/HemorrhoyRogers Hemorrhoy Rogers]] is commonly mistaken to be one of their songs.

** "Flans" or "Flansy" for John Flansburgh, which the band seem to have embraced: Flansburgh has referred to himself as such in interviews, and [[Music/SoulCoughing Mike Doughty's]] WordSaladLyrics to "Mr. Xcitement" include a reference to "Flansy in a soda can".

* TrueArtIsIncomprehensible

* FaceOfTheBand: John Linnell and John Flansburgh (the original two members) are the ones that all fans of the band think of, although they have other members backing them up, many of them named Dan. Which of the two Johns is more likely to be considered the face depends on your approach to the band. If you go by albums, Linnell sings more of the iconic hits and album headers. But going by concerts, Flansburgh tends to be more of a showman.
** Though, of course, the actual face most associated with the band is that of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Allen_White William Allen White.]]