''No!'' is the first children's album (and ninth studio album) by

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

They Might Be Giants They Might Be Giants, often abbreviated as TMBG, is an American alternative rock and Children's music, children's band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as ...

, released in 2002 on

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts, by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by A ...

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 Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

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",''No!'' liner notes 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 Enhanced CD is a certification mark of the Recording Industry Association of America for various technologies that combine audio and computer data for use in both CD-Audio and CD-ROM players. Formats that fall under the ''enhanced CD'' cate ...

; while it plays normally in any CD audio player, it features a

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

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. tmbw:The Edison Museum "Robot Parade" appears in the closing credits of " Them, Robot", the 503rd episode of ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

''. The largely positive reception the album received led to a collaboration with

Walt Disney Records Walt Disney Records is an American record label owned by the Disney Music Group. The label releases soundtrack albums from the Walt Disney Company's Walt Disney Studios (division), motion picture studios, television shows, Disney Experiences, them ...

and the Disney Sound label. They released three albums through the mid-2000s, each with a theme: ''

Here Come the ABCs ''Here Come the ABCs'' is the second children's album and eleventh studio album by alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, aimed at young children learning the alphabet. The CD and DVD were originally released separately but have since been r ...

'' (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

All songs by They Might Be Giants unless otherwise noted. # "Fibber Island" – 2:10 # "Four of Two" – 2:18 # "Robot Parade" – 1:22 # "No!" – 1:30 # "Where Do They Make Balloons?" – 2:41 ( Danny Weinkauf) # "In the Middle, In the Middle, In the Middle" – 1:16 ( Vic Mizzy) # "Violin" – 2:26 # "John Lee Supertaster" – 2:01 # "The Edison Museum" – 2:02 (They Might Be Giants/

Brian Dewan Brian Dewan (born 14 June 1963) is an American multi-media artist, who produces music, audio-visual performances, decorative painting, furniture, poetry, filmstrips, illustrations, and musical instruments. He has released three albums of songs ...

) # "The House at the Top of the Tree" – 2:31 # "Clap Your Hands" – 1:22 # "I Am Not Your Broom" – 1:04 # "Wake Up Call" – 1:10 # "I Am a Grocery Bag" – 0:35 # "Lazyhead and Sleepybones" – 3:28 # "Bed Bed Bed" – 3:12 # "Sleepwalkers" – 2:42 The Enhanced CD portion of the CD contains a

hidden track In the field of recorded music, a hidden track (sometimes called a ghost track, secret track or unlisted track) is a song or a piece of audio that has been placed on a CD, audio cassette, LP record, or other recorded medium, in such a way as t ...

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 #

"Alphabet of Nations (Bonus Extended Version)" – 2:20 #"John Lee Supertaster (Live

Almanac An almanac (also spelled almanack and almanach) is a regularly published listing of a set of current information about one or multiple subjects. It includes information like weather forecasting, weather forecasts, farmers' sowing, planting dates ...

)" - 3:09 #"Violin (Live Almanac)" - 2:55 #"Clap Your Hands (Live Almanac - Censored)" - 1:58 #"Robot Parade (Live Almanac)" - 2:53 #"Doctor Worm (Live Almanac)" - 2:58 #"Stalk of Wheat (Live Almanac)" - 1:30

Personnel

Musicians

John Flansburgh John Conant Flansburgh (born May 6, 1960) is an American musician. He is half of the long-standing Brooklyn, New York–based alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants with John Linnell, for which he writes, sings, and plays rhythm guitar. Earl ...

- lead and backing vocals, acoustic and electric guitars *

John Linnell John Sidney Linnell ( ; born June 12, 1959) is an American musician and multi-instrumentalist, and is one half of the Brooklyn-based alternative rock band They Might Be Giants, with John Flansburgh, which was formed in 1982. In addition to sing ...

- 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 Daniel Hickey (born May 30, 1957) more commonly known as Dan Hickey, is an American drummer, who performed with the rock band They Might Be Giants from 1997 to 2003. Early life and career Birth Daniel Hickey was born in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, ...

- 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

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

Trivia

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

References

External links

*''

No! ''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 a ...

'' at This Might Be A Wiki * {{Authority control 2002 albums Self-released albums They Might Be Giants albums Children's music albums by American artists Rounder Records albums Idlewild Recordings albums Kindie rock albums