Pianosaurus

{{Short description|Soy puto}} {{for|the dinosauriform|Pisanosaurus{{!}}''Pisanosaurus''}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} '''Pianosaurus''' was a 1980s rock and roll band from New York City, formed by Alex Garvin, Steve Dansiger, and Bianca Miller. Their music was played on toy instruments, the name being taken from a child's plastic toy piano in the shape of a dinosaur with a keyboard running along the right side.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Theo |title=Pianosaurus takes toy instruments quite seriously |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/361350898/?terms=pianosaurus |accessdate=14 July 2020 |work=Eau-Claire Leader-Telegram |date=July 24, 1988 |page=2F}}</ref>

After two self-released live albums, their 'debut' album ''Groovy Neighborhood'' was released by Rounder Records in 1987.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Pick |first1=Steve |title=Pianosaurus: More Than Just Kids Stuff |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/141091586/?terms=pianosaurus |accessdate=14 July 2020 |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |date=November 13, 1987 |page=4G}}</ref> Produced by Peter Holsapple, guitarist and songwriter for The dB's, "Neighborhood" featured cover versions of Chuck Berry's "Memphis", as well as the Box Tops' 1960s hit "The Letter".

Regarding the band's musical style, Garvin told ''The Chicago Tribune'', "One of the things that playing toys makes you do is really strip things down to their simplest, most direct components. A lot of complicated melody lines or intricate parts get lost. There's a certain sensitivity you have to bring to playing toy instruments."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Heim |first1=Chris |title=Alex Garvin's toy band is the real thing |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-pianosaurus-chicago-trib/145663275/ |access-date=19 April 2024 |work=The Chicago Tribune |date=November 24, 1987 |page=57}}</ref>

In 1989, the song "Back to School" was featured in the movie ''New York Stories'', in Francis Ford Coppola's short "Life without Zoe", and was released on the soundtrack.

Their second album, titled ''Back to School'', remains unreleased.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Pianosaurus {{!}} Biography & History {{!}} AllMusic|url = http://www.allmusic.com/artist/pianosaurus-mn0000282883|website = AllMusic|access-date = 2016-01-19}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p5141/biography|pure_url=yes}} AMG entry for Pianosaurus]

Category:Rock music groups from New York (state) Category:Musical groups from New York City