Let's start with Dial-A-Song. Who came up with that idea?
John Linnell: Lots of people thought we got the idea from Rambo. They're wrong. It was First Blood. And if people don't know the difference...
Bill Krauss: We were the first ones...
John Flansburgh: That's right. We were the first to see First Blood, the first with Dial-A-Song, and we're going to be the first with the mind-reading radios, too. Period. Next question?
In spite of overwhelming artistic success here and abroad, your work has been shunned by top industry executives. Why?
JL: Boy, you're going to be sorry you asked that one.
BK: The industry hates us, They know we control half the flow of media culture information world-wide.
JF: I know what you're going to ask—the other half. Who controls the other half?
BK: It's the so-called "Care Bears," and they're not talking to anybody.
Your stage show is so unique...so elaborate. Why?
JF: We owe all of that to a woman named Doris Cunningham. She makes all of our instruments and recording equipment. The drum machine she built for us is eighty feet tall.
BK: We're very excited about the high-tech equipment that's coming out now. There's a lot of possibilities that haven't been explored by us—especially in rock and roll.
JF: We've got a lot of equipment now. The more we have the more valid our music becomes. It's as simple as that.
Tell me about the time you had "butter on stage?"
BK: I think you're referring to a show we did on March 5th, 1968.
JF: With Canned Heat?
JL: Right. The Ontario Civic Center. My ears are still ringing. (All laugh.) We made more money that night than...
JF: ...than we thought we did.
BK: The whole thing is tied up in litigation right now. I don't think we'd better get into that.
Many of your songs are really, really funny. Is that on purpose?
JL: Yes. We like to leave them with a little something extra. We like to make them laugh, make them cry.
JF: We like to make them do other things too. Feel like they're on stage with us, pretend they're at a party, pretend their skin isn't just a blanket made of meat.
JL: Right. We just want to remind everyone how it really is out there. Like, Elvis has left the auditorium, you know?
BK: As if they need to be told that. I mean, Elvis left the auditorium for good in '54.
JF: Right. But we're still here (points at forehead).
You've stopped using other people's ideas in your songs.
JL: Not just other people's. If you listen to our last record you'll notice we've also stopped using original ideas.
ET: Why?
JL: Because we decided to move on. We wanted to get out of music—get away from sound altogether.
Your video reflects that, doesn't it?
JF: (bobbing head) I think so. I think our video has something very new and very exciting to offer, but certain members of the self-proclaimed rock establishment have a "heads-in-the-sand" attitude.
BK: They thought a silent video would be too difficult to market.
JL: They kept saying things like, "This is pointless," and, "You guys are insane."
JF: We showed them.
Many bands lose all their friends after they become famous. Has this happened to you?
JF: No. I figure your friends are always what you want them to be (shatters glass against wall). I guess this interview is over (leaves room).
Do you have any plans for the future?
JL: I'm very happy with the way things are right now. Everything's fine. Why are you asking me that?
BK: I think you better go now. I hope this answers all your questions.