They Might Be Giants’ Flood, How This Quirky Musical Masterpiece Is Still Fun and Relevant After Three Decades.
Thirty years after its release, They Might Be Giants’ “brand new record for 1990” is the best album you’ve never heard. Flood is everything a well-done album should be. For an album to still be considered relevant after three decades, it must have relevant content, both lyrically and musically, its’ themes must transcend time and generations, and lastly and simply, it must be entertaining. Flood delivers all these qualities in the form of child-like sing-a-longs, familiar laments of everyday life, and biting political commentary.
To determine Flood’s relevancy after thirty, years, one must begin by analyzing its’ content. Are the songs rooted in a deeper meaning, or are they merely flights of fancy? The song “Lucky Ball and Chain” laments regret over a lost relationship, a theme as old as love itself. For the last thirty years, and for time out of mind before that, men have continued to stand there “whistling ‘There Goes the Bride’ as she walked out the door.” The band’s John Flansburgh told Rolling Stone magazine in 2009 that the song “Minimum Wage,” lyrically containing only those two words with a “conceptual tip of the hat to the song ‘Rawhide,’ is really the soundtrack to any crummy job,” another universal theme. (Ferris, 2009) Ringing most true is the song “Your Racist Friend.” A song about listening to “some bullet head” at a party spouting racial invectives, “Your Racist Friend” touts the belief that racism is unacceptable and unforgiveable, culminating with the witticism, “Can’t shake the Devil’s and say you’re only kidding.” Actor Nick Offerman, in his book Gumption: Relighting the Torch of Freedom with America’s Gutsiest Troublemakers, called the song, “An eye opening moment for me.” He continued that, “a song from a fun, weird band that I loved could also have a powerfully relevant social message? Say. I liked where this was going.” (Offerman, 2015) This is indeed the hallmark of a socially relevant message: it causes the listener to assess his or her opinion on a matter and hopefully inspires the listener to act appropriately. Flood is rife with universal themes, themes to which almost any person can relate, thus it is certainly relevant in lyrical content.
If Flood is lyrically impressive, then it must be acknowledged that it is musically and sonically impressive as well. Great lyrics without a hook are often forgotten by time. Flood was a perfect melding of the two. Most bands feature a guitar, bass, drums, and possibly a keyboard. With Flood, They Might Be Giants pushed the boundaries of popular music by using a guitar and accordion as their primary instruments. This is, in and of itself a thinking-outside-the-box maneuver, but the band didn’t stop there, adding other instruments, including the clarinet, xylophone, and a Dustbuster vacuum. Flansburgh told Rolling Stone that the song “Hot Cha” incorporated the use of “mallets and drumsticks on my kitchen sink, the base plate of my refrigerator, oven, and door buzzer.” Rolling Stone called the album “technically adventurous.” (Ferris, 2009) Sonically, Flood is innovative, but musically it pulls no punches either. Chris Carrabba, lead singer for the band Dashboard Confessional spoke of Flood to Spin magazine in 2020. Carrabba said, “They have a beautiful way of doing a thing…in taking extra complex chordal arrangements and key changes but allowing the melody to anchor it in such a way that anyone can sing along.” In the same article, Mike Doughty, lead singer for the band Soul Coughing, speaking of Flood said, “There’s some sophisticated stuff going on there. You can feel a melody moving up the scale as it goes along, and there’s a perfect arc to everything — chordal digressions.” (Harris, 2020) Sonically and musically, Flood is a masterpiece.
Flood, They Might Be Giants third release, was the band’s definitive album. (Offerman, 2015) However, does it stand the test of time? Are the songs as meaningful in 2020 as they were in 1990? In a word, yes. Yes it is. “Crummy jobs” and a relationship’s end, as addressed in “Lucky Ball and Chain” and “Minimum Wage” respectively are as commonplace today as they ever were. The lyrics and message of “Your Racist Friend” are of paramount importance. I would hesitate to call the song more relevant now than it was then, but it is certainly no less relevant. America in 2020 needs this song. Are there other enduring themes? Certainly there are. Speaking of the song “Someone Keeps Moving My Chair,” John Linnell, the other of the two members of They Might Be Giants said, “It’s a song that notes the exaggerated importance of petty concerns when everything else is going haywire.” (Ferris, 2009) If you tried to write a description of social media in 2020, you would be pressed to find one more accurate. One might argue that the reference to Berlin in the album’s final song is dated, and I’ll give you that. The song “Road Movie to Berlin” was written before the Berlin wall fell, but the Cold War’s shadow is not unseen nor unnoticed by my generation. Flansburgh said, “This song was designed to feel like a fragment of some bar room song just starting up again and again. Even though the verses resolve, there is bit of tension left hanging each go around, and that hopefully is a bit more unsettling with each verse.” (Ferris, 2009) Though a few specific details might not exactly translate, the overall themes addressed in Flood are as relevant in 2020 as they were back in 1990.
It has been established that Flood is both relevant and enduring, but is it entertaining? If so, it would complete the trifecta and would be considered a well-done album. Roger Lima, bassist for the band “Less than Jake” told Spin, “When Flood was released, it ransacked its way through all of the different scenes in my high school. Nerds liked it, cheerleaders liked it, and even my clique of heavy-metal-jacket wearers liked it. There was a joy in singing seemingly out-of-this-world lyrics, and a bond that happened with friends who knew every last word…I still know every word on that record, and I feel sorry for anyone who missed out on the fun.” (Harris, 2020) This is the true beauty of this record. It is fun. The music is quirky, odd, and eclectic, but the melodies hook the listener. The words are nothing short of brilliant. Flood is full of lyrical gems like “Now it’s over I’m dead, and I haven’t done anything that I want/Or I’m still alive and there’s nothing I want to do,” “I was young and foolish then/I feel old and foolish now,” and “We were once so close to Heaven/Peter came out and gave us medals/Declaring us the nicest of the damned.” These witticisms, along with countless others, bring me back to Flood time and again.
Flood is an extremely well-done album, but well done does not mean perfection. Achilles had his heel, and this Titan of an album has perhaps only one flaw. The “only bee in my bonnet” concerning this album is its’ length. The length of the album leaves something to be desired. When he or she sees the track listing at 19, the listener is led to believe, erroneously, that Flood is a long album. It is not. Its’ run time is only forty-three minutes and twenty-four seconds. (They Might Be Giants, 1990) Only three of these tracks clock-in at over three minutes, with most songs falling in the two minute range. Two tracks even fall under one minute in length. This is, quite simply, a travesty. While it is not my place to dictate to an artist details about what I think his art should be, Flood’s short run time leaves me wanting more, but is that really a bad thing? Perhaps it is not. Perhaps leaving an audience wanting more really is the hallmark of good showmanship. If that is true, then perhaps Flood’s only weakness is indeed an additional strength. If I had my choice, Flood would be “infinite, like a Longines symphonette, and it doesn’t rest.”
Flood by They Might Be Giants is everything a well-done album should be. Its’ content was relevant at its release in 1990, tackling everyday issues, both personal and political. Flood is enduring. It made statements, especially those concerning racism, that are no less true today than they were thirty years ago. Flood is entertaining. It holds the listeners attention through the band’s genius combination of musical hook, humor, and wittiness. They Might Be Giants could rebrand the “Theme from Flood” to say, “It’s a brand new record for 2020” and a new listener would never know the difference.
Works Cited
Harris, Chris. “They Might Be Giants’ Flood Turns 30: Musicians Extol the Landmark Album.” Spin, 15 January, 2020, https://www.spin.com/2020/01/they-might-be-giants-flood-at-30-musicians-celebrate-album/
Ferris, D.X. “They Might Be Giants’ “Flood”: Track by Track Guide to the Geek-Chic Breakthrough.” Rolling Stone, 8 October, 2009,
Offerman, Nick. Gumption: Relighting the Torch of Freedom with America’s Gutsiest Troublemakers. Dutton Publishing, 25 May, 2015.
They Might Be Giants. Flood. Greenwood Publishing, 1990.