If you stayed up late you could catch some good alternative music on 120 Minutes on MTV in the 80’s. Pretty sure that’s where I first encountered They Might Be Giants’ Don’t Let’s Start.
I was also an avid reader of the Rolling Stone College Charts on the back page, because when you grew up in small town Ohio, that’s where you found the other things.
Once I got this debut album on cassette, I would memorize every lyric to every song, trying to figure out which John wrote which song.
I’ll leave you with a favorite.