Synopsis

They Might Be Giants perform "Purple Toupee" amid stark, deliberately awkward studio imagery, with John Linnell on accordion and John Flansburgh on guitar. Their deadpan presentation is interrupted by brief, grainy views of amusement-park rides and attractions at Brooklyn's Astroland Park. The disconnected images mirror the song's muddled recollections of 1960s politics, pop culture, and fashion, creating a surreal clip that feels less like a narrative than a collage of unreliable memories and colorful cultural fragments.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was shot in May 1989 and completed the following month.

• Its outdoor footage was filmed at Astroland Park in Coney Island, Brooklyn.

• Filmmaker Ken Brown contributed 8mm footage of the amusement park. Much of the material he shot was processed too dark to use, leaving only a portion of the planned footage in the finished video.

• The park footage was reportedly shot with the expectation that the band would later film additional material there. That did not happen, which helps explain the clip's abrupt split between performance scenes and amusement-park imagery.

• Flansburgh played a Coral Longhorn guitar borrowed from Jickets guitarist Lary 7. The same unusual instrument had previously appeared in the "Don't Let's Start" video.

• The video includes brief glimpses of pop-cultural objects associated with the song's jumble of historical memories, including Star Wars trading cards, a Star Trek puzzle, and a Planet of the Apes soundtrack album.

• The song's concept was inspired in part by Prince's "Purple Rain" and "Raspberry Beret." John Linnell described it as a reaction to shallow, overly simplified revivals of the 1960s.

• "Purple Toupee" was promoted as a planned single and EP in 1989, but that release plan was abandoned. The song ultimately remained associated with the Lincoln album and later TMBG compilations.

• The video was included on the band's early video collections, including Direct From Brooklyn and The Videos 1986-1989.