After two solid indie efforts, Flood was They Might Be Giants’ major-label debut, and it broke them out from the avant-garde and into real transatlantic fame. Aided by a congregation of zealots in college radio and in the MTV offices, Elektra Records pushed Flood on a newly ascendant generation of—let’s not beat around the bush—geeks. Suddenly playing concerts in suburban theatres increasingly full of spectacled teens, the bewildered band was left wondering what had become of their old art-damaged urbanite fans.
From here.
I may be misremembering, but I think that Flood was the first album I bought for myself, at age 15. I still really like it, and also still feel like the follow-up, Apollo 18, is this cruelly-ignored masterpiece.