Dear TMBG.... END THE MADNESS. FREE THE RABID CHILD.

You all have likely noticed that I've changed my name from TheLazenby to The Rabid Child.  Allow me to explain why.

In 1985, They Might Be Giants filmed their first-ever music video to accompany "Rabid Child," a track from their widely-circulated demo tape that would shortly after appear on their proper debut album.  When the Johns felt that it didn't meet their standards, the video was shelved and never once shown to the public.  Outside of a mention in the 'Early Years' FAQ on TMBG.org (which claimed it merely showed Flansburgh clinging to a door jamb while staring dreamily into the camera), it was more or less unknown by their fan-base.

Then, in 2002, the documentary film 'Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns' was released.  Most surprisingly, the film included a very brief clip of the "Rabid Child" video which most certainly *didn't* show Flans clinging to a door jamb, and seemed to be a fairly well-done and quite surreal production.  Unfortunately, this brief clip is all the Johns would allow - director A.J. Schnack wanted to include the entire video as a DVD feature, and was refused without question.  Nevertheless, this clip left fans hungry for more.

In 2004, hoping that its appearance on the Internet would inspire TMBG to release their most notorious and mysterious music video in full, a high school classmate and I spent a wealth of time in our filmmaking class building a full length music video for "Rabid Child" out of the fragment of footage seen in 'Gigantic.'

Unfortunately, a decade later, this is STILL the only version of "Rabid Child" available for public viewing... the same short clip, looped and manipulated to pad out the minute-and-a-half song.  (The version currently on YouTube has been touched up compared to our original version - I tweaked the speed of the footage in spots to make Flans mouth the words a little more accurately, and added a 'Direct From Brooklyn' style title card.)


When faking the video failed to sway Messrs. Flansburgh and Linnell into revealing the rest of the genuine article, I started a petition that, sadly, faded into obscurity - but not after receiving more than 30 signatures from like-minded fans.
http://www.petitiononline.com/RbdChild/petition.html

In 2009, on this very blog, I wrote a letter to TMBG, respectfully telling them of the wishes of their fan base to see this video once and for all.  Of course, this post didn't grab the attention of anyone in the TMBG camp, and likely did not bat an eyebrow on either of the Johns.
http://steveworek.blogspot.com/2009/01/free-rabid-child-open-letter-to-tmbg.html

So, nearly a decade after my friend and I created our reconstruction, and almost thirty years since the video was filmed and hidden away, we remain devoted to our cause - though my determination is considerably stronger than his.

It consumes me - last night I had a dream (from my recollection, the third I've had about this video) where TMBG offered to release the video if fans gave them a collective $5,000.  Hell, if that were the case, I'd start a Kickstarter before you could blink.

From this day forward, I have but two goals in life - one, to join a Rocky Horror cast; and two, to feast my eyes upon the missing one minute and twenty seconds of the "Rabid Child" video!

You haven't won yet, Johns....

TMBG - Space Suit demo upgrade!

I know I don't post here much (or... at all) anymore, but I thought I'd share this because of its rarity.  A while back, one of TMBG's Podcasts had tracks from a previously unknown 1983 demo tape - one of which was "I'll Remember 3rd Street", a demo of what became known as "Space Suit" nine years later.  Unfortunately, the podcast was mono and low bitrate, so the song didn't sound great.

A while back, a fan sent me an upgrade of this track, not only in higher sound quality, but in FLAC (which Trader's Little Helper verified 100% legit).  Since no one else seems to have this, I'll post it here.  Enjoy!

http://www.mediafire.com/?0a851pcs96p2k94

FREE THE RABID CHILD! (An open letter to TMBG)

Dear They Might Be Giants:

As a loyal fan of yours for over a decade, I have followed your many flights of whimsy, collected your numerous albums, attended a number of your shows, and hunted long for your rarities. I am pleased that you have been so open in sharing your demos and live recordings with an eternally grateful body of fans. But, as is the case with many other fans, one particular rare piece of work has long intrigued me ever since I read of its existence online several years ago.

This elusive video.


That, of course, is the legendary "Rabid Child" video from 1985, which you so kindly allowed us to glimpse in A.J. Schnack's documentary Gigantic. However, I know that I am not alone among your fan community in feeling somewhat taunted by that brief clip, especially given your absolute refusal to let the entire video be seen as a special feature on the Gigantic DVD. Thus, the question remains... what could be so bad about the other 1:20 of that video?

As you may be aware, a young "Weird Al" Yankovic had his own equivalent to the "Rabid Child" video - a very amateur music video for "My Bologna", obviously shot on a camcorder by a friend of his. Despite lacking any production values and consisting merely of Al lipsynching his demo in front of a blank backdrop, Al released this simple but still entertaining bit of footage as an Easter Egg on his 2003 video compilation. It would not be unreasonable to think, since both you and Al seem to share many of the same fans, that the "Rabid Child" video would be met with the level of appreciation and artistic respect that we showed to Al's homemade "My Bologna" clip. If you are embarrassed about the video, as fans have told me in the past, there is no certainly reason to be - we accepted a 19-year-old lip-synching with an accordion, so we will also heartily accept and appreciate a video supposedly consisting of Mr. Flansburgh leaning on a door jamb!

So I ask you, Mr. Flansburgh and Mr. Linnell, to please consider finally releasing the video that fans have wanted so desperately to see over the past 24 years. No matter what the as-yet-unseen portions contain, you can be assured that the video will be roundly appreciated and enjoyed in a positive manner by the whole of your fan base.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Steven Worek