MELODY, FIDELITY, QUANTITY and ALL NEW! At least, that’s the promise of They Might Be Giants’ Dial a Song for 2018 service. For those unfamiliar, They Might Be Giants are a alternative rock duo known for their tongue-in-cheek style and cult following. They’ve been together since 1982, and really started picking up steam in 1985 with their Dial-a-Song service.
The service came from the band getting their apartment robbed and all their gear stolen, which left them without any formal recording equipment. As a result, they recorded songs and skits onto their phone answering machine, and published the phone number for fans to call in and listen. They would publish the phone number (718)-387-6962) in local newspapers, and as a result it would often get jammed up and become difficult to access.
Dial-a-Song ended up continuing for a staggering 30 years, and ended up dying in 2008 due to technical issues. It briefly popped back up in 2015 with a new number, but disappeared again pretty quickly. Many fans were disappointed, as the Dial-A-Song service was an integral part of They Might Be Giants’ music for them.
It’s unclear whether the service will be a traditional phone line, or on the internet. I guess we’ll have to wait until 2018 to see!