Wait… Modest Mouse is SO good……

I’m shaking in my chair right now. I threw on ‘Dashboard‘ about an hour ago when I started my GOVT reading and completely forgot about it. When I snapped out of the zone just a few minutes ago the song on was unbelievable: ‘King Rat.’ WHAT? Modest Mouse has been pumping out albums since 1996 and I just figured out how good they are…

Why are they SO GOOD?

Their music is a vibe, but why? Strong, catchy, and layered guitar riffs make you bob your head to the songs, while the pronounced, yet complementary basslines keep your foot tapping to the beat. Isaac Brock has a unique voice that sounds like Cold War Kids’ Nathan Willett fed through both an equalizer pedal, and either a compressor pedal or an overdrive pedal, depending on the verse and song. He uses his eccentric voice to coax the listener through the song, sometimes modestly, but others rather abrasively.

Why didn’t I find this out sooner???

Modest Mouse has four unbelievably popular songs, each with at least 30 Million streams on Spotify alone: ‘Dashboard,’ ‘Missed The Boat,‘ ‘Lampshades On Fire,‘ and ‘The World At Large.‘ On top of this, they also boast one megahit with almost 200 Million streams just on Spotify: ‘Float On.‘ It’s easy to stay complacent and just enjoy these 5 songs when they come on the radio, or even through visiting their pages on music streaming sites, as these are the most publicized songs. Furthermore, these five songs encompass a wide range of moods/ tones, so within this small set, it’s easy to feel like you’re getting the full Modest Mouse Experience. But NO. This is SO not true. Their music has so much more style, funk, and complexity to it than is showcased in these pieces. The reason these five songs are the most popular is because they are the most mainstream sounding and the easiest to like, but they’re not the ONLY to like. While Modest Mouse’s popularity drops off drastically after their 9th most popular song (#9 – 10M streams to #10 – 1.2M streams on Spotify), their quality surely does not. Read on to see which songs you should give a chance to.

What songs should you listen to?

Without further ado, some B-side bangers: