Don't Let's Start: A Podcast About They Might Be Giants

39: APOLLO 18 Wrap-Down: One Door Shut, Another Door Closes

Don't Let's Start: A Podcast About They Might Be Giants

Show Notes

Finally splashing down from our lunar mission, Jordan and Dave close the (space?) book on They Might Be Giants' Apollo 18 by resurrecting and inspecting the demos and dial-a-songs made for the album! We begin with a viewing "party" of the infamous Apollo 18 Promo, featuring the hit song "Integrity Project", and a pre-Power Point Power-Point-esque slideshow, with funny jokes and cool stuff! DON'T LET'S START POD "EXPLAINS" THE POWER SPHERES, 20,000K YOUTUBE HITS! Yeah, man!

Then we discuss a WALLOPING NINETEEN demos and dial-a-songs, including the WALLOPING I Palindrome I written by Mr. John Flansburgh, a shockingly funky (so pack your bag!) She's Actual Size written by Mr. John Flansburgh, and a mind-bending nightmare version of Turn Around (written by Mr. John Linnell)!

We also nitty the picks of the Apollo 18 B-side demos (you better believe they are WALLOPING), including the Fun-derful (Ⓒ Jordan Cooper) Welcome To The Jungle demo, and the terrifying tale of Music Jail, "Free Bird's Rebirth." Throughout the jam-packed episode Jordan and Dave discuss songwriting methods, "what is a demo", running into Mr. John Flansburgh at a record store, "what is a praline", camel misunderstandings, and so much more! Coming to you faster than you can say 10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...blast off!

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Apr 15, 2026

Why? Because it's extra, baby! In this episode we're kicking back onto our seductive red leather couch to discuss a few songs left off of They Might Be Giants' sixth album Factory Showroom that managed to slide right into the S-E-X-X-Y EP! Our big earth-shaking discussion is Sensurround, a catchy, crafty and collateral-damage filled John Linnell classic! We don't know where he got the idea for this song, but we go ballistic for it! Next is We've Got A World That Swings, a cute and...Oh, wait, sorry. Next is Unforgotten, a somber and soberingly sweet sentiment from John Flansburgh that surprised us! Is this song what we want at all? Hey, what's the hassle? The nutty We've Got A World That Swings is next. Even though by this point we're sleepy and yawning, we give it our all and dive into the history of this curious cover! What a lucky guy I am! And finally, we grab our glow sticks and rave out with our fellow kids to the feature length S-E-X-X-Y (The Warren Rigg Microwave Mix)! You don't have to know what we're thinking now, listen to the episode to find out!

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