History Music / FloodTheyMightBeGiants

** The music of "Minimum Wage" is borrowed from a Music/FrankSinatra cover of Petula Clark's "Downtown".

* AmbiguousSyntax: ''Dead'' opens "I returned a bag of groceries accidentally taken off the shelf before the expiration date" which makes it sound like the singer simply returned some groceries for a refund, only for the next line to immediately clarify that the singer specifically died and reincarnated as said bag.

** "Twisting" meanwhile is a third-person take on the "Don't want you back" variety; the song is from the point of view of a friend of the ex-girlfriend, who is telling her ex in no uncertain terms that the only way she wants to see said ex again is if they're suffering, "twisting... in the wind."

!! Someone Keeps Troping My Chair

[[caption-width-right:350:Make a little birdhouse in your soul]]

* MinisculeRocking: Many tracks are less than two or three minutes long. "Birdhouse In Your Soul," "Hearing Aid," and "Whistling in the Dark" are the only songs longer than three minutes. "Theme From Flood" and "Minimum Wage" are less than a minute long, while "Twisting" is almost two minutes.

* TheWalrusWasPaul: "Particle Man" seems like a very cryptic song, and it isn't clear who the four "men" are supposed to represent, if anyone. John Flansburgh described it as "just a song about characters in the most obvious sense" and claims that the lyrics are not intended to invoke real people, though Linnell later said that Triangle Man was based on a friend's observation that Robert Mitchum looked like an evil triangle when he took his shirt off in ''Film/NightOfTheHunter''.

** As different as the songs sound, "We Want a Rock" takes both its title and theme from Music/TwistedSister's "I Wanna Rock". It also references "If I Were a Carpenter" by Tim Hardin and "I'm Gonna Burn Your Playhouse Down" by George Jones.

** "Twisting" name-checks The [=dB's=] and The Young Fresh Fellows.

* RearrangeTheSong: As shown [[http://tmbw.net/wiki/Chronology:Particle_Man here]], "Particle Man" has been subject to all sorts of retooling by the band in live shows. They've shifted the instrumentation, done it as an UnpluggedVersion, did one version InTheStyleOf [[Music/TheBeatles "Strawberry Fields Forever"]], and have added a breakdown section where Linnell performs part of a CoverVersion of an older song in a fairly straight manner (with [[Music/AceOfBase "The Sign"]] and [[Music/DollyParton "Here You Come Again"]] as two of the more memorable ones).

* AlbumTitleDrop / AlbumIntroTrack: "Theme from Flood"

* BreakUpSong: "Lucky Ball & Chain" is of the "I blew it, but it's too late" genre, with the singer [[DrowningMySorrows drinking excessively]] and lamenting his foolishness over his wife walking out on him four years prior. "Twisting" meanwhile is a third-person take on the "Don't want you back" variety; the song is from the point of view of a friend of the ex-girlfriend, who is telling her ex in no uncertain terms that the only way she wants to see said ex again is if they're suffering, "twisting... in the wind."

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The album cover is in green and white except for the Flood logo, having been taken from a Great Depression-era photo.
** The back of the CD case and the liner notes background images are a golden-yellow and white.

* IstanbulNotConstantinople: One of the band's well-known songs.

--> ''I'm your only friend\\
I'm not your only friend, but I'm a little glowing friend\\

** As different as the songs sound, "We Want a Rock" takes both its title and theme from Music/TwistedSister's "I Wanna Rock".

--->''We can't be silent \\
'Cause they might be giants \\

** The Flood logo on the front cover is a nod to the logo of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Alliance_of_Theatrical_Stage_Employees International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees]] (IATSE), the union that most film crews belong to, with the logo most always displayed prominently at the end of movie end credit rolls. The idea was to convey that this album was more "cinematic" in scope than earlier TMBG albums.

* LimitedLyrics: "Minimum Wage" is just the title, a "hyah!" shout, and a whip crack. The rest of the song is instrumental.

** The "Flood" logo on the front cover is a nod to the logo of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Alliance_of_Theatrical_Stage_Employees International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees]] (IATSE), the union that most film crews belong to, with the logo most always displayed prominently at the end of movie end credit rolls. The idea was to convey that this album was more "cinematic" in scope than earlier TMBG albums.

** "Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love" sounds like a shout out to ''ComicBook/GreenLantern''; Hal Jordan's girlfriend, Carol Ferris, has a tendency to become Star Sapphire, whose powers are fueled by love, when she feels scorned by him, and, while John could be referring to the two bandmates, it could also be Hal's partner, John Stewart.

--> ''John, I've been bad, and they're coming after me\\

* ColbertBump: "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" and "Particle Man" gained the album new followers after they were turned into music videos on ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures''.
** "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" was used again in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Mobile Homer".

-->Now I rock the barstool and I drink for two\\
Just pondering this time-bomb in my mind

* RunawayBride: "Lucky Ball and Chain"
* SeriousBusiness: in "Someone Keeps Moving My Chair":

--> ''It's a brand new record for 1990\\

-->''We can't be silent \\

'''''Flood''''' is the third studio album by Music/TheyMightBeGiants, released in 1990 by Creator/ElektraRecords, marking the band's major-label debut. It was their most commercially successful album, thanks to the cult hit singles "Birdhouse in Your Soul" and "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)". It remains considered one of the band's best, and many people pointed it as their gateway to the band.

'''Tracklist'''

* ColbertBump: "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" and "Particle Man" gained the album new followers after they were turned into music videos on ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonsAdventures''.