[3][4] After Matador Records released the Soft Effects EP in January 1997, Spoon began work on their second full-length album.

[5] In the fall of 1997, the band agreed to join the major label Elektra Records, officially signing in February 1998, after the new album had been completed.

Though Elektra VP and A&R rep Ron Laffitte had pursued the band for over a year, they said he became less responsive even before they signed with the label in February 1998, a trend that continued through the release of the album.

[10] When A Series of Sneaks was reissued by Merge Records in 2002, both songs from "The Agony of Laffitte" single were included as bonus tracks.

[17] The music on the album has been compared to that of the Pixies, Wire, Pavement,[1] Archers of Loaf, Gang of Four, Robert Pollard,[18] and The Fall.

"[20] Chris Morgan of Treble wrote in 2007 that "It would be a bit hasty to say that A Series of Sneaks was ahead of its time, an achievement that is more daunting with every passing decade.

Rather Spoon simply dusted off sounds of an era not yet fully appreciated by American audiences and it could be said that albums of this type were catalysts that made it possible for a band like Modest Mouse to become the next Green Day.