Black Sheep Hit: Thoroughly averted. The band's biggest mainstream hits ("Birdhouse in your Soul", "Istanbul", "Boss of Me") remain fan favorites.
Hollywood New England: Both Johns are originally from outside of Boston, so they both will slip into the accent on occasion in songs. Linnell most blatantly does it in "A Self Called Nowhere," while Flansburgh intentionally heavily does it in "Wicked Little Critta."
Shrug of God: Related to Epileptic Trees above, the band doesn't often confirm or deny theories about a given song.
An example: when asked what their first single "Don't Let's Start" was about, they responded that it was "about not let's starting"...
So My Kids Can Watch: Their four children's albums, No!, Here Come The ABCs, Here Come The 123s, & Here Comes Science.. Then subverted when the puppets made for the latter two were then used for a video of their cover of "The Long Grift" from Hedwig and The Angry Inch.
They've now released a fourth, Here Comes Science. The band is now at a steady clip of alternating regular albums and children's albums.
There's an EP that goes with the book Bed Bed Bed, too. Four tracks, the title one later reworked for No!
A couple of the songs also have this going on. The version of "Four Of Two" that you hear on No! is much more child-friendly than the original.