Boss of Me - wikipedia Boss of Me `` Boss of Me '' Single by They Might Be Giants from the album Music from Malcolm in the Middle B - side `` Reprehensible '' Released July 16, 2001 Format CD single, cassette Genre Pop punk, alternative rock Length 2 : 56 Label Restless / PIAS ( EU ) Restless / Shock ( AU ) Rykodisc ( US ) Songwriter ( s ) John Flansburgh, John Linnell Producer ( s ) Pat Dillett, John Flansburgh, John Linnell They Might Be Giants singles chronology `` ' Doctor Worm ' '' ( 1998 ) `` Boss of Me '' ( 2001 ) `` ' Man, It 's So Loud in Here ' '' ( 2001 ) Doctor Worm ( 1998 ) Boss of Me ( 2001 ) Man, It 's So Loud in Here ( 2001 ) Audio sample file help `` Boss of Me '' is a song by alternative rock band They Might Be Giants. The song is famously used as the opening theme song for the television show Malcolm in the Middle, and was released as the single from the soundtrack to the show. In 2002, `` Boss of Me '' won the band their first Grammy Award, in the category of Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. The song was one of the band 's most commercially successful singles and is one of their best - known songs. The song was originally written with the chorus `` Who 's gon na guess the dead guy in the envelope '' for a contest presented by the Preston and Steve show during their Y - 100 days. Contents 1 Release 2 Music video 3 Cover versions 4 Formats and track listing 5 Chart positions 6 References 7 External links Release `` Boss of Me '' was released commercially in the United Kingdom, Australia and mainland Europe. Mainland Europe was given a separate release from the British release, which had different cover artwork and a different track listing. The single was marketed as the single from the soundtrack album, Music from Malcolm in the Middle, but the B - sides to all releases were all tracks from They Might Be Giants albums, as opposed to being other tracks from the soundtrack album. `` Reprehensible '' comes from the band 's 1999 internet - only album, Long Tall Weekend. `` Mr. Xcitement '' went on to be included on their album Mink Car, released two months after the single. `` Boss of Me '' charted in three countries, reaching number 21 in the UK, 89 in the Netherlands, and saw the band 's first appearance on the Australian Singles Chart, reaching number 29. Music video This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia 's quality standards. No cleanup reason has been specified. Please help improve this section if you can. ( April 2010 ) The `` Boss of Me '' music video was directed by Ted Crittenden. It is based on Malcolm in the Middle, and contains the characters and set from the show. It begins with Dewey going through a dumpster that says `` TMBG Toys ''. He climbs out of the dumpster and rides his bike home while dragging the box full of toys. The box goes into Dewey 's backyard where Malcolm is raking leaves, their father, Hal, is cooking on a barbecue, and Reese is using hedge clippers on a tree. Dewey opens the box, revealing toy versions of TMBG. But whenever there 's a close - up in the box, it is the real band in miniature. A Hawaiian hula dancer toy joins TMBG as Dewey sways back and forth with her. Malcolm and Reese begin shooting the toys with paintball guns until one of them accidentally shoots Hal. Though not shown, it 's presumed to have been Reese who shot him as he is later seen using a weed whacker. The John Flansburgh toy is lying in the grass with his arm detached. Reese spots him and, while using the weed whacker, launches him onto the grill where Hal accidentally eats him, much to Dewey 's shock. Later, the John Linnell toy is placed in a model airplane that is launched across the street before curving back and landing on the driveway. As Hal drives up, he picks up the airplane to examine it. The plane explodes because it still had a lit fuse. Hal then angrily gathers the TMBG toys into the box and drives back to the dumpster where he promptly tosses it back in. Cover versions The ska - punk band Less Than Jake covered the short televised version of the song for their album TV / EP. Formats and track listing All songs written by They Might Be Giants, unless otherwise noted. UK / Australian CD single `` Boss of Me '' -- 2 : 56 `` Reprehensible '' -- 3 : 17 `` Mr. Xcitement '' ( D. Levine, The Elegant Too, They Might Be Giants, M. Doughty ) -- 2 : 23 UK cassette single `` Boss of Me '' -- 2 : 56 `` Reprehensible '' -- 3 : 17 European CD single `` Boss of Me '' -- 2 : 56 `` Mr. Xcitement '' ( D. Levine, The Elegant Too, They Might Be Giants, M. Doughty ) -- 2 : 23 `` Birdhouse in Your Soul '' ( live ) -- 3 : 11 Chart positions Chart ( 2001 ) Peak position Australian Singles Chart 29 Dutch Top 100 89 UK Singles Chart 21 References Jump up ^ Boss of Me CD single liner notes. ^ Jump up to : Boss of Me chart stats ( Link redirected to OCC website ) Chart Stats. Retrieved 2010 - 04 - 04. ^ Jump up to : Boss of Me by They Might Be Giants Archived March 13, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved 2010 - 04 - 04. ^ Jump up to : Boss of Me -- They Might Be Giants chart positions Archived September 22, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2010 - 04 - 04. External links `` Boss of Me '' at This Might Be A Wiki Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics Malcolm in the Middle Episodes `` Pilot '' `` Bowling '' Characters Malcolm Wilkerson Other Characters `` Boss of Me '' Soundtrack Guest stars Awards and nominations They Might Be Giants John Flansburgh John Linnell Dan Miller Danny Weinkauf Marty Beller Hal Cragin Brian Doherty Jonathan Feinberg Dan Hickey Kurt Hoffman Graham Maby Tony Maimone Eric Schermerhorn Studio albums Rock albums They Might Be Giants ( 1986 ) Lincoln ( 1988 ) Flood ( 1990 ) Apollo 18 ( 1992 ) John Henry ( 1994 ) Factory Showroom ( 1996 ) Long Tall Weekend ( 1999 ) Mink Car ( 2001 ) The Spine ( 2004 ) The Else ( 2007 ) Join Us ( 2011 ) Nanobots ( 2013 ) Glean ( 2015 ) Phone Power ( 2016 ) Children 's albums No ! ( 2002 ) Here Come the ABCs ( 2005 ) Here Come the 123s ( 2008 ) Here Comes Science ( 2009 ) Why ? ( 2015 ) EPs Why Does the Sun Shine ? ( The Sun Is a Mass of Incandescent Gas ) ( 1993 ) Back to Skull ( 1994 ) Working Undercover for the Man ( 2000 ) They Might Be Giants In... Holidayland ( 2001 ) Bed, Bed, Bed ( 2003 ) Indestructible Object ( 2004 ) The Spine Surfs Alone ( 2004 ) Singles `` Do n't Let 's Start '' `` ( She Was A ) Hotel Detective '' `` They 'll Need a Crane '' `` Ana Ng '' `` Purple Toupee '' `` Birdhouse in Your Soul '' `` Istanbul ( Not Constantinople ) '' `` The Statue Got Me High '' `` I Palindrome I '' `` The Guitar ( The Lion Sleeps Tonight ) '' `` O Tannenbaum '' `` S-E-X-X-Y '' `` Doctor Worm '' `` Boss of Me '' `` Man, It 's So Loud in Here '' `` Experimental Film '' `` Kids Go ! '' `` I 'm Impressed '' `` Ca n't Keep Johnny Down '' Other notable songs `` Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head '' `` Particle Man '' `` James K. Polk '' `` You 're on Fire '' Live albums Live ! ! New York City 10 / 14 / 94 ( 1994 ) Severe Tire Damage ( 1998 ) Live ( 1999 ) The Spine Hits the Road ( 2004 ) Almanac ( 2004 ) Venue Songs ( 2004 ) First Album Live ! ( 2014 ) Flood Live in Australia ( 2015 ) Live in Brooklyn ( 2016 ) Compilations Do n't Let 's Start ( 1989 ) Miscellaneous T ( 1991 ) Then : The Earlier Years ( 1997 ) Best of the Early Years ( 1999 ) They Got Lost ( 2002 ) Dial - A-Song : 20 Years of They Might Be Giants ( 2002 ) A User 's Guide to They Might Be Giants ( 2005 ) Venue Songs DVD / CD ( 2005 ) Album Raises New and Troubling Questions ( 2011 ) Idlewild ( 2014 ) Video releases Direct from Brooklyn ( 1999 ) Gigantic ( A Tale of Two Johns ) ( 2003 ) Here Come the ABCs ( 2005 ) Venue Songs DVD / CD ( 2005 ) Here Come the 123s ( 2008 ) Here Comes Science ( 2009 ) Related articles Discography Mono Puff State Songs ( 1999 ) The Brothers Chaps International Space Year `` Tiny Toon Music Television '' ( 1991 ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Boss_of_Me&oldid=812427457 '' Categories : 2001 singles Television theme songs They Might Be Giants songs PIAS Recordings singles Malcolm in the Middle Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media Songs written by John Linnell Songs written by John Flansburgh Hidden categories : All articles with dead external links Articles with dead external links from November 2016 Articles with permanently dead external links Webarchive template wayback links Articles with hAudio microformats Articles needing cleanup from April 2010 All pages needing cleanup Cleanup tagged articles without a reason field from April 2010 Wikipedia pages needing cleanup from April 2010 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Español Français Italiano Português Edit links This page was last edited on 27 November 2017, at 20 : 25. 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Question: who sings malcom in the middle theme song
Answer: They Might Be Giants