Modest Mouse
Vague Space Favorite Bands of All-Time
- TBA
- TBA
- Modest Mouse
- Bright Eyes
- Mogwai
- Superchunk
- Sunset Rubdown
- Explosions in the Sky
- Sufjan Stevens
- Okkervil River
We're up to #3 on my continuing list of favorite artists with everyone's favorite band from Issaquah, WA, the great indie rock legends Modest Mouse. I've discussed my history with "indie rock" music before on this site, but just as a refresher, after a lifetime of music love, centered mostly around British new wave heroes from the '80s (New Order, The Cure, Psychedelic Furs, the band in the #1 slot :), followed by underground alternative mostly American artists in the '90s (Superchunk, Sunny Day Real Estate, Sebadoh, the band in the #2 slot :), I found myself completely disillusioned with the state of "alternative" music and rock music in general and assumed as I entered my 30s, I'd simply lose an interest in music in general and/or continue to replay old New Order tracks over and over again until I died. But somehow in 2001, in between my discovery of mp3 file sharing on the Internet and of the site Pitchforkmedia that described all these new bands playing music they called "indie rock", I ended up hearing, first, Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane over the Sea and then, a couple weeks later, Modest Mouse's 2000 masterpiece The Moon and Antarctica. The rest, as they say, is history, as the rest of the bands in my top 10 (other than Superchunk) came out of the indie rock/Internet explosion that began at the end of the '90s and continues to this day. If I didn't fall in love with Modest Mouse in 2001 (and I didn't at first, actually - it was a couple months later, when I bought This is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About in a record store in Jacksonville while bored on a business trip), I can probably assume that my top 10 would look a lot different today. And I would have missed out on some incredible music.
- This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About (1996)
- Interstate 8 EP (1996)
- The Fruit That Ate Itself EP (1997)
- The Lonesome Crowded West (1997) - my favorite
- Night on the Sun EP (1999)
- Building Something Out of Nothing (Compilation) (2000)
- The Moon & Antarctica (2000) - major label debut
- Sad Sappy Sucker (Collection of early tracks) (2001)
- Everywhere and His Nasty Parlour Tricks EP (2001)
- Good News for People Who Love Bad News (2004)
- We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank (2007)
The other thing about the Mouse - that they hit it "big time" with their last two releases -- is also interesting. Looking on Song Meanings for Modest Mouse lyrics, I noticed that the song with the most comments (by far) is "Float On", which is obviously their most famous song, but one didn't rank in my top 20 favorite Mouse tracks. And clearly, looking at my list below (after the jump), I don't believe that their last two major label releases come close to being their better albums, as each has just a sprinkling in the top 40, even as those albums have made the band (and its label) a ton of money. Now, it's not strange for bands to get "worse" the longer they record (in fact, it's rare when it doesn't happen), so maybe this is just the natural progression of the band. Don't get me wrong, I still liked the last 2 albums (and "Float On" was the reason I bought my first iPod back in 2004, when iTunes premiered the song a month before anywhere else). But it's still kind of disheartening that newer or casual fans of the band may not know the glory of The Lonesome Crowded West or This is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About. Because that is a shame. If you have a chance, download the tracks I've included below and go buy those two albums. They are truly brilliant.
Top 40 Favorite Modest Mouse tracks of all time
1. "Trailer Trash", The Lonesome Crowded West, 1997, 5:49 (#1 favorite song of all time)
2. "Whenever You See Fit", Whenever You See Fit single, 1998, 14:28 (#9 favorite song of all time)
3. "Edit the Sad Parts", Interstate 8 EP, 1996, 9:33 (#16 of all time)
4. "Bankrupt on Selling", The Lonesome Crowded West, 1997, 2:53 (#28 of all time)
Well, all the apostles, they're sitting in swings
Saying, "I'd sell off my savior for a set of new rings
And some sandals with the style of straps
That cling best to the era"
So all of the businessers in their unlimited hell
Where they buy and they sell and they sell all their trash
To each other, but they're sick of it all
And they're bankrupt on selling
And all of the angels, they'd sell off your soul
For a set of new wings and anything gold
They remember the people they loved, their old friends
And I've seen through them all, seen through them all
And seen through most everything
All the people you knew were the actors
All the people you knew were the actors
Well, I'll go to college and I'll learn some big words
And I'll talk real loud, goddamn right I'll be heard
You'll remember the guy who said all those big words
He must have learned in collegeAnd it took a long time until I came clean with myself
I'd grown clean out of love with my lover
I still love her, loved her more when she used to be sober
And I was kinder
5. "Night on the Sun", Night on the Sun EP, 1999, 7:38 (#45 of all time)
6. "Breakthrough", This is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About, 1996, 4:06 (#98 of all time)
7. "Paper Thin Walls", The Moon and Antarctica, 2000, 3:01 (#120 of all time)
8. "Alone Down There", The Moon and Antarctica, 2000, 2:21 (#131 of all time)
9. "Teeth Like God's Shoeshine", The Lonesome Crowded West, 1997, 6:53 (#148 of all time)
10. "Broke", Building Something Out of Nothing, 1996, 3:19 (#157 of all time)
11. "Baby Blue Sedan", Building Something Out of Nothing, 1997, 4:04
A nice heart and a white suit and a baby blue sedan
And I am doing the best that I can
All the eunuchs, they were standing in rows
Singing, "Please stud us out just as fast as you possibly can"
Sad song, last dance and no one knows who the band was
And Henry, you danced like a wooden Indian
Except this one mattered and I felt it had a spirit
And I shot the story because I didn't hear it that way
And it's hard to be a human being
And it's harder as anything else
And I'm lonesome when you're around
And I'm never lonesome when I'm by myself
And I miss you when you're around
12. "Convenient Parking", The Lonesome Crowded West, 1997, 4:07
13. "Custom Concern", This is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About, 1996, 4:28
14. "Dramamine", This is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About, 1996, 5:41
15. "Spitting Venom", We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, 2007, 8:26
16. "Birds v. Worms", Sad Sappy Sucker, 1997, 2:12
Self pity me, so pitiful
You can see that birds and worms don't get along
Self righteous me, so wrong
You can see that we don't have to get along
Self pity me, so pitiful
You can see that birds and worms do not agree
And we will crawl
17. "Never Ending Math Equation", Building Something Out of Nothing, 1998, 3:23
18. "3rd Planet", The Moon and Antarctica, 2000, 3:58
19. "Lives", The Moon and Antarctica, 2000, 3:18
20. "A Life of Arctic Sounds", Building Something Out of Nothing, 1996, 2:29
21. "Float On", Good News for People Who Love Bad News, 2004, 3:28
22. "Buttons to Push the Buttons", Interstate 8 EP, 1996, 2:25
23. "Lounge", This is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About, 1996, 6:33
24. "Summer", The Fruit that Ate Itself, 1997, 3:12
25. "Polar Opposites", The Lonesome Crowded West, 1997, 3:29
26. "Black Cadillacs", Good News for People Who Love Bad News, 2004, 2:43
27. "The Stars are Projectors", The Moon and Antarctica, 2000, 8:46
28. "All Night Diner", Interstate 8 EP, 1996, 4:44
29. "March into the Sea", We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, 2007, 3:30
30. "Whenever You Breathe Out, I Breathe In (Positive/Negative)", Building Something Out of Nothing, 1996, 5:18
31. "She Ionizes & Atomizes", This is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About, 1996, 4:21
32. "Talking Shit About a Pretty Sunset", This is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About, 1996, 5:50
Oh, noose
Tied myself in, tied myself too tight
Looking kind of anxious in your cross-armed stance
Like a bad tempered prom queen at a homecoming dance
And I claim I'm not excited with my life anymore
So I blame this town, this job, these friends, the truth is it's myself
And I'm trying to understand myself and pinpoint who I am
When I finally get it figured out, I've changed the whole damn plan
Oh, noose
Tied myself in, tied myself too tight
Oh, noose
Tied myself in, tied myself too tight
Talking shit about a pretty sunset
Blanketing opinions that I'll probably regret soon
Changed my mind so much I can't even trust it
My mind changed me so much I can't even trust myself
33. "The Fruit that Ate Itself", The Fruit that Ate Itself, 1997, 3:17
Take a drive in the wrong hand lane
Got bad breath talking about fresh rain
My hand, my hand going to shake the same
Are you going to be your own goddamn best friend?
Well, we taught the fruit how to eat itself
It was hanging out alone all on the shelf
How do I land?
Because I don't understand
Walk across the country, shaking many hands
And you're buying the product
But you didn't get that because you already got it
And you do not understand
Take a drive in the wrong hand lane...Black hole talking about nothing
You can't get the chicken or the stuffing
Going around and you think you're tough
When you can't kick ass
Take a ride on a downtown train
Wake up so you can get drunk again
Well, take a drive in the wrong hand lane
Got bad breath talking about fresh rain
We taught the mirror how to admire itself
Are you going to get sick worrying about your health?
Where do I land? Where do I land? Where do I land?
I don't understand
34. "Parting of the Sensory", We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, 2007, 5:34
35. "From Point A to Point B", Sad Sappy Sucker, 1995, 2:56
36. "Lounge (Closing Time)", The Lonesome Crowded West, 1997, 7:03
37. "Other People's Lives", Building Something Out of Nothing, 1998, 7:10
38. "Bury Me with It", Good News for People Who Love Bad News, 2004, 3:49
39. "Karma's Payment", The Fruit that Ate Itself, 1997, 3:28
40. "Medication", Building Something Out of Nothing, 1997, 5:01
Shoot of the Bay Area's popular Noise Pop music festival, Treasure Island Music Festival takes place right in the middle of the San Francisco Bay. http://bible.postedpost.com/2008/10/01/the-unlimited-god/
Posted by: unlimited God | October 08, 2008 at 11:23 AM