1985 Demo

The tape was originally distributed by the Johns at TMBG concerts in 1985-86 as a self-released cassette-only album. The material was recorded onto standard store-bought audio cassettes, with black-and-white photocopied inserts on different colored paper (commonly yellow, but also on white and blue). Although it was self-released, the cassette was reviewed by Michael Small in People magazine, giving the band the attention they would need to score a record deal with Bar/None.

There are at least four 'batches' of the tape with noticeable differences in both the printed cover as well as differences in the songs.

The tape went out of print not long after The Pink Album came out, but was re-released in 1993 as a promotion by the Hello CD Of The Month Club (limited edition of 3,000 copies). If subscribers added $5 to their subscription fee, they would receive a copy of the reissue, which had a glossy color insert and this message on the back:

Hello Recording Club, PO Box 551, Palisades, New York 10694 - 1 year subscription send $41 check or money order (NY residents add 8.25% sales tax) or call 1-800-HELLO-41 for credit cards - For an additional $5 receive this cassette - All proceeds from the sale of this cassette go to the People With Aids Coalition - All songs written by They Might Be Giants, published by They Might Be Giants Music ASCAP, administered by WB Music Corp. - ℗ & © 1985 They Might Be Giants Music. All Rights Reserved. HEL-T

There have been at least four different versions of the 1985 Demo Tape, with possibly more existing, as it seems the band was constantly tinkering with the songs during this year, as evidenced by the other mixes and versions on the promotional demo tapes of this time.

https://tmbw.net/wiki/1985_Demo_Tape