The 1997's acclaimed full-length Under the Western Freeway proved Grandaddy's creative breakthrough, and the following year the album was reissued on major-label V2, with "Summer Here Kids" earning Single of the Week honors in the pages of the NME. The Broken Down Comforter Collection, a compilation of singles tracks, preceded the 1999 Signal to Snow Ratio EP, which heralded a movement toward the vintage electronic textures further in evidence on 2000's superb Sophtware Slump.

In 2002, the group released another odds-n-sods collection, Concrete Dunes, which paved the way for a busy 2003: that spring, Grandaddy released the Floating Debris EP and their fourth full-length, Sumday, and spent the rest of the year touring, making appearances at festivals such as Glastonbury. In 2005, they resurfaced with the Excerpts from the Diary of Todd Zilla EP and a full-length album (Just Like the Fambly Cat) followed in 2006.