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They Might Be Giants’ third album in their educational series for kids, Here Comes Science, is their best effort yet. Maybe because it’s aimed at older kids. The content is more mature and has greater replay value for adults. But in addition to the great music, the CD is packaged with a DVD that contains music videos for all of the songs. But one of these videos outshine the rest.
For the uninitiated, They Might Be Giants are nerd-tastic creators of smart and witty pop music. Growing up in the ’90’s, I found their major hit album, Flood, to be a gateway drug to their entire catalog. And while their clever song writing allowed appreciation on many levels, some of the most fun is had when they dabble with historical or educational narratives. Songs like Meet James Ensor, James K. Polk, and Why does the Sun Shine, are their best examples from this era.
With Here Comes Science, John Flansburgh and John Linnell continue to offer well written and catchy pop tunes with their trademark educational twists. Throughout the DVD, the animated videos are endearing and compliment the songs fairly well, but none are as perfect as the video for the track, Meet the Elements.
Produced by Feel Good Anyway, the video for Meet the Elements takes one of They Might Be Giants’ more standard edu-pop tunes and adds real value. Not only do they ‘get’ the science, they illustrate that science perfectly. The visuals move past the lyrics to teach you more than the song alone could ever aim to do. For most, learning about the Periodic Table of the Elements is fairly boring. But I challenge you to find a more fun and accessible way of introducing the concept to kids. And in that light, I bet there are science teachers all over the world thinking of ways to integrate this video into their lesson plans.
They Might Be Giants’ album, Here Comes Scienceis available now on Amazon and iTunes which include the music videos. Be sure to read Wired.com’s interview with John Flansburgh and John Linnell. Also check out more of Feel Good Anyway’s contributions to this album including artwork stills.
And finally, check out the video for Meet the Elements after the jump. (via Boing Boing)
