In part three, we move into the good shit. B-sides, deep cuts, and fan favorites live here.
The cool thing about Modest Mouse is how consistent their quality is - They maintain greatness while changing their style radically from album to album. And while changing their style, they also stay... the same. The same pithy insights, bent harmonics, endearingly awkward drum/bass parts, but filtered through all manner of rock, folk, blues, and misc styles.
This area of the list shows off just how good their weaker songs are.
Disclaimer: I posted this list on an old message board nine years ago. This is the revamped & updated version. It doesn't contain songs released after 2008, cuz I don't know the newest album very well.
(100) 3 Inch Horses, Two Faced Monsters (Parlour Tricks)
Number one hundred! This one features a similar vocal effect to Dog Paddle, though in a much different context. This is a strangely folk tune with with woodblocks and realllly high strings. Lots of space in the mix, creating a real great sparse atmosphere in a song that actually has a lot going on. A great example of the style of the M&A/ENPT era.
You said "I hope you live forever." Don't you wish that on me.
You said "don't be clever."
(99) Edit The Sad Parts (demo version) (Interstate 8)
This song (along with the non-demo version) is one of only two songs on Interstate 8 to not get re-released at some point. It's the demo, and therefore gets ranked beneath the real version, but in this case, I haven't split them up by a large margin. While the studio version is obviously better quality, it's not nearly as severe a difference as with the other demos.
Sometimes all I really want to feel is love
Sometimes I'm angry that I feel so angry
Sometimes my feelings get in the way
Of what I really feel I needed to say
(98) Edit The Sad Parts (studio version) (Interstate 8)
And here's the studio version. This is a good song, and I'm surprised that it didn't get re-released like the rest of the EP. I'm not sure what happened there. This song is an unrefined version of the standard Modest Mouse aesthetic. The lyrics are the usual clever, idiom-laden poetry with plenty of turns of phrase, with the guitar's simple melodies filling out the tune. It's a good song, and a good sign of what is to come.
If you stand in a circle
Then you'll all have a back to bite
Back logged voices on the 7 wonders
We're all so funny but he's lost his joke now
(97) Novocain Stain (Long Drive)
This is a great song, really showing off Modest Mouse's earlier tactic of writing very simple, long instrumental passages, taking advantage of the group's unique performance style to wring extra juice out of a few descending notes repeated over and over. Lots of subtle pitch bends & harmonics over a solid bass and drum foundation, making a great song. The vocals serve to enhance everything, great imagery adding to an awesome song.
Interchange plaza malls
And crowded chain restaurants
More housing developments go up
Named after the things they replace
So welcome to Minnow Brook
And welcome to Shady Space
And it all seems a little abrupt
No I don't like this change of pace
(96) She Ionizes & Atomizes (Long Drive)
This is a chill song, with a simple subdued bass/guitar thing running through the first half and a more active instrumental jam filling the second half. The vocals are harsh in comparison to the featherweight groove, a weird contrast that works surprisingly well. The lyrics are simple, but very cool. it's a good song.
She ionizes and atomizes
Then turns to sunlight
He realizes and itemizes
Pulls harder than gravity
(95) Dance Hall (Good News)
This is one of the more straight-forward songs off of Good News. It's basically just the whole band jamming on a simple rock thing for three minutes, with a few guitar lines thrown in, and Isaac Brock going back and forth between "Dance hall dance hall every day" and other incomprehensibly mumbled lyrics. It's not a masterpiece, by any means, but it's a fun song and it works pretty well in the context of the album.
I'm gonna dance hall Dance Hall everyday.
I'm gonna dance hall Dance Hall everyday.
I'm gonna dance hall Dance Hall everyday.
(94) The Fruit That Ate Itself (The Fruit That Ate Itself)
This is a decent song off of Modest Mouse's worst release, which is The Fruit That Ate Itself EP. It was originally planned as a 7" release, but got expanded thanks to some reversed interludes and other subpar songs. Even this one isn't that good, really. It's a pretty simple drum and bass thing, with some vocals going back and forth between semi-yelling and something closer to talking, and then a chorus of "where do I land?". Not a very good song compared to the vast majority of Modest Mouse's discography, I think I probably put it a bit too high even letting it get this far.
Take a drive in the wrong hand lane
Got bad breath talking bout fresh rain
My hand my hand gonna shake the same
(93) Little Motel (We Were Dead)
Little motel clocks in as the lowest ranking song off of We Were Dead. It's not a bad song by any means, but I much prefer the upbeat songs off of this album to the slower ones, and this might be the most subdued song on the whole record. Starting off with a synth line straight reminiscent of Gnarls Barkley's Gone Daddy Gone [ed note: this was way more relevant nine years ago], this is a decent, somber song. It's pretty much what you'd expect from a soft song on this album.
We treat mishaps like sinking ships and
I know that I don't want to be out to drift
Well I can see it in your eyes like I taste your lips and
They both tell me that we're better than this
(92) Missed The Boat (We Were Dead)
This is one of three tracks of We Were Dead to feature James Mercer on backup vocals, which is a great contrast to Isaac Brock's voice. The Shins are decent, but Mercer's singing in particular is really good, so I'm glad that he got to participate a bit on this album. Hopefully he'll collaborate with them more in the future [ed: nope]. Anyway, this is another one of the softer songs on We Were Dead, and it's pretty cool song. The drums go back and forth between real drums and a soft electronic groove, and the rest of the song just kinda flows along nicely from verse to chorus and back, with some instrumental breaks in there as well.
oh and we carried it all so well
as if we got a new position
oh and i'll laugh all the way to hell
saying "yes this is a fine promotion"
oh and i'll laugh all the way to hell
(91) Shit Luck (Lonesome Crowded West)
I know that a few people are going to be pissed off by me putting this one so low. Yes, it's an awesome song. I still have no idea how some of those super-bent guitar harmonics are even possible. Modest Mouse rock the fuck out for the entire two minutes and twenty seconds, with very simple and angry lyrics holding the whole thing together. It's great, but it's also very simple, and while it's fun to listen to, it doesn't beat out a lot of their other songs when you really compare them. Also, this one of the songs that really benefits from the context of the album, and while it's still good out of the album, it's not quite as strong on its own merits. Still, awesome song, really, don't hurt me.
This plane is definitely crashing
This boat is obviously sinking
This building's totally burning down
And my, and my, and my, and my
And my heart has slowly dried up
(90) Classy Plastic Lumber (Sad Sappy Sucker)
This is one of the best songs off of Sad Sappy Sucker. Starting out with a 35 second very lo-fi vocal intro thing, and then going into a start/stop up-beat repeated part with an instrumental break, it's a an atypical song structure that really resonates with me. The lyrics are more involved than most SSS stuff, even if they make no sense. Overall, this is one of the most upbeat songs on the album and I enjoy it a lot because it's really weird and catchy at the same time.
Connect your wood feet to a motor
And the chrome dance trophy is won
A little classy plastic lumber
I'm embarrassed but I ain't that stunned
(89) The Waydown (The Fruit That Ate Itself)
This whole song is balanced between being chill and being hip and catchy. The guitar melody is simple yet effective, and when the vocals come in, they follow the same basic notes. This is a simple song that works - something Modest Mouse is great at.
on the waydown they saw alot they don't remember
and if you asked them how, they'd say gravity's how they got there
and if you want them now you could just pull on the lever
and say, "I'm hung up on this decade."
(88) Fire It Up (We Were Dead)
This song is relaxed in an energetic way. Got me? It's one of a couple songs on We Were Dead to have a semi-electronic tone on all the instruments, with the drums being particularly programmed/electronic. It's a neat sound, and the result is very good, Fire it Up is an enjoyable and uplifting song.
Fire it up, fire it up
When we finally turn it over
Make a B-line towards the border
Have a drink, you've had enough
(87) Whenever You Breathe Out, I Breathe In (Positive/Negative) (Building Nothing Out Of Something)
This song is awesome just for the chorus. "Whenever I breathe out, you're breathing it in". It starts off really soft, building from ultra-subdued to semi-subdued, guitar chords occasionally filling up the sound and there's a few trademark harmonic bends. It doesn't quite work as well as the rest of this awesome record, especially when put up against Broke or Neverending Math Equation.
I didn't feel angry or depressed
I didn't feel anything at all
I didn't want to go to bed
And I didn't want to stay up late
(86) The Good Times are Killing Me (GNBN)
This is a very fitting end song to Good News. Musically, it's uplifting and upbeat. It's easy to overlook what he's actually saying, since even "The Good Times are Killing Me" can sound happy when it's sung in that falsetto catchy hook that they do. This song encompasses a lot of the good aspects of this album, with the subtle performances, the folkiness, and the slow-burn build. Modest Mouse seems to reinvent itself on each album, and this song is a great example of the sound they went for on this one.
Got dirt, got air, got water and I know you can carry on.
Shrug off shortsighted false excitement and oh what can I say?
Have one, have twenty more "one mores" and oh it does not relent.
(85) Float On (Good News)
This is the one song everybody knows, because it actually was a number one hit on the billboard charts. It got the whole mainstream treatment with an appearance on Kidz Bop and American Idol, and then Modest Mouse dropped back to their usual status of not being nearly that popular. Dashboard got close, though, at #5 on the charts, so maybe there's more mainstream success yet to come? [ed: nope!!] Regardless, this is a pretty good song, although it did get overplayed when it was first released. The lyrics are positive and cheesy as hell, but musically it's not that different from the rest of the album - just with a catchy chorus, which was apparently all Modest Mouse needed to get some popular recognition.
A fake Jamaican took every last dime with a scam
It was worth it just to learn some sleight-of-hand
Bad news comes don't you worry even when it lands
Good news will work its way to all them plans
We both got fired on exactly the same day
Well we'll float on good news is on the way
(84) Steam Engenius (We Were Dead)
We Were Dead is basically a more 'modern rock' version of Modest Mouse. They always reinvent themselves on their albums, so it shouldn't have surprised anybody when they did again on this one. This song immediately struck me as one I enjoyed - it's very catchy and well written, and at first I really liked it. As time went on, this went from one of my favorites from the record to "just" another great MM song.
I held my hands
The beating heart of a robot
He drived his car
He's sitting there burning
Now in the parking lot
Just for you
(83) Whenever You See Fit (With 764-Hero)
I'm not even sure what to say about this song. It's a sprawling, fourteen minute collaboration with 764-Hero, whom I haven't heard other than this. It has a way of drawing you in and keeping you entranced, without noticing that nothing new happens for ten minutes. This is an interesting footnote on the Modest Mouse discography.
(You and me, whenever we go wrong)
Wake up early and you'll live to regret (Nothing is clear)
And you'll tell it to the telephone (tell the truth)
Look whenever you're talking all alone (Whenever you see fit)
(82) Education (We Were Dead)
Very good, easy to listen to, but not as good as the old stuff. This one features lyrics which are a bit closer to Isaac's earlier songs than most of We Were Dead. There's none of the water/ship imagery which is pretty consistent throughout most of the album, for example. I don't have too much to say here, because the song is just another "typical" example of the sound that Modest Mouse had going on on this album.
Hardly education
All them books I didn't read
They just sat there on my shelf
Looking much smarter than me
(81) You're the Good Things (Parlour Tricks)
This would be ranked a bit higher if not for the "You're the good things, yeah that's you yeah that's you yeah". I mean, come on, did that really seem like a good idea, or was that just a placeholder that never got replaced? Regardless, other than that, this is a really good song. The first part/whenever that gets repeated is my favorite part of the song, I think, it's really chill and neat. Also, the ending where it starts speeding up and the hand drums come in out of nowhere is also really neat. I think I definitely ranked this a bit too low, actually.
You were right I'm hanging around because
Light and sound wont seperate us from them
You were right I'm underground because
Slight of hand won't seperate your body from the dirt you're standing on today
Part 4 comes out tomorrow. Hope you're enjoying it so far :-)