My Music: They Might Be Giants

John Flansburgh (left) formed the band with John Linnell

Quirky New York-based songwriters They Might Be Giants have been on the alternative pop scene for almost two decades.

They have just released their latest single, Boss of Me, which is the theme from hit TV comedy Malcolm in the Middle.

John Flansburgh is one of the band's main songwriters. He told BBC News Online about the music that has influenced him and that he avoids.

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What was the first album/single you ever bought?

I bought A Hard Day's Night soundtrack with birthday money from my grandmother.

It went back and forth between Beatles songs and these George Martin Beatle song instrumentals with muzak-ish arrangements. It was a good lesson in the effect of taste and style on an arrangement.

What was the most recent album you bought?

I bought a disc called Manhattan Research that is the first electronically sequenced music ever made, created by a guy named Raymond Scott (who is most famous for writing much of Bugs Bunny cartoon music).

He had a long career, and ended up as much an inventor as a composer. Through the 60s, he developed the sequencer (the idea that drives virtually all dance music today) with his trusty assistant Bob Moog.

I also bought the Daft Punk disc, which is excellent.

Where do you most like listening to music - and why?

We listen to a wide variety of stuff - new and old, live and recordings. I still buy records. Friends of mine run a tribute show out of NYC called Loser's Lounge where they do extensive retrospectives on a wide variety of artists.

So every month or so I get turned on to entire sets of music, from Harry Nilsson who I barely knew to Roxy Music which I had almost forgotten to Dusty Springfield which was a revelation - she was never really big in the US.

Are there any songs you can't listen to because they remind you of something you'd rather forget? Can you say what it is?

The band had a hit with Birdhouse In Your Soul in 1990

I am more bummed out by mediocre music than by the outstandingly bad, and usually I just try to extricate myself from the situation.

I remember pulling over the car to listen to We Built This City the first time it came on the radio. It was so incredibly bad, I was positive I would never hear it again, and I wanted to fully comprehend the strange vileness of it. I thought it might be Christian rock or something, but then it became a big hit.

What song always makes you cry?

Songs don't make me cry. That sounds cold, but they don't. I do cry at sentimental TV commercials against my will.

Which song by another artist do you wish you had written?

I think I would be proud to have written almost any song by Elvis Costello, the Ramones or a host of other bands of that era.

That is kinda ground zero for me - after the Beatles, of course, whose place on rock's Mount Olympus remains thoroughly secure in my mind.

Do you prefer CDs or vinyl? Why?

As someone who listens to records on a regular basis, I can tell you - peoples' memories of the warmth of vinyl are a little over-sentimental.

Record players roll off a lot of low end that I have grown very accustomed to hearing even on car radios. But records are not without their charms - specifically the covers.

With many stores selling records for a dollar and CD reissues of the same thing for $15, it's like they are on 15-for-the-price-of-one sale.

How long do you spend browsing in record shops - and what's the best record you've ever bought on impulse?

I browse more in junk shops. I tend to know what I am looking for in record shops, and they are so damn expensive I don't often just pick them by the cover.

I did buy the exceptionally cool Ventures in Space in spite of my general lack of interest in the Ventures, because it promised so much more, and it was everything I had hoped for.

Which song from the past 12 months is most likely to gain classic status?

Get Ur Freak On by Missy Elliot and Clint Eastwood by Gorillaz.

Which artists do you currently most admire?

Frank Black. Brian Dewan, Mike Doughty from Soul Coughing. The Elegant Too.

Boss of Me was released in the UK on 9 July.