Remember the early Elvis Costello videos, with EC pouting and sneering at the camera behind his National Health glasses? He came across like the class nerd with a behaviour problem. It's unlikely that anyone saw those clips and wanted to buy the records; more likely they would've been scared off by Costello's intenstiy and bought a Joe Jackson single instead.

They Might Be Giants wouldn't dream of being bad-tempered, but the "nerd" image is one they seem to welcome. Bouncing round like puppets, looking alternately cute and dumb, pulling bizarre faces and throwing off wacky power pop tunes like a souped-up Devo, the Giants are ideal for college radio in the States, where they no doubt have a stronger cult appeal than they do in Britain. Their 20-minute video races through seven or eight songs (I lost count) too quickly to make you bored; but even twenty minutes of watching grown men trying to look totally stupid is rather tiring. "Birdhouse in Your Soul" is the exception, simply because the song isn't quite as jerky and wearing as the rest, but it is immediately sabotaged by "Constantinople," an exhibition of American college humour at its most annoying.

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