Every Modest Mouse Song Ranked From Best to Worst w/ Reviews. pt. 2: #120-101

Part two! We're out of the weeds of Dial-a-Songs and can get to the good stuff. A lot of Sad Sappy Sucker on this section, so get ready for Isaac Brock in his purest, most lispy form.

Modest Mouse combined harsh melodic rock with vulnerable, witty lyrics - with singer/songwriter Isaac Brock acting as the common man's David Foster Wallace, delivering succinct & peculiar insights into life that every teenager in America could relate to.

As previously mentioned, 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.

I HOPE YOU ENJOY! please follow me if you do :-)

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(120) Buttons to Push the Buttons (Interstate 8)

This song should be awesome, but we’re stuck with a bad demo version. I'm not a fidelity snob by any means, but the clipping on this thing makes it tough to enjoy. That’s a shame - the song itself is good.

Partial schemes, pleasure schemes
Business shemes, pleasure swells
We all got jobs
Like our opinions and millions of readers

(119) It Always Rains on a Picnic (Sad Sappy Sucker)

A slow song from the first album. Starts with the sound of rain, builds from there into the guitars and drums, it's a pretty nice song. The lyrics are simple, only six lines, and despite it being a sparse, slow song, it goes by rather quickly. Why is it so low on this list, then? As with most of the songs from this point, it's not so much about any of these songs being bad as much as the rest of the discography being so damn good.

No, I don't suppose
Downpour, downpour
It always rains on a picnic
Downpour, downpour
Don't let go quite yet
Downpour, downpour

(118) Secret Agent X-9 (Sad Sappy Sucker)

This is a neat one. It's short and simple, consisting of just guitars and vocals, but it's very catchy and neat. The lyrics are out there, about a secret agent dealing with a bomb at a space station. Whoever decided that there should be multitracked vocals here did a shitty job of it, because it sounds like there's fifty different Isaac Brocks, all singing it a little bit out of tune. Other than that, it's a pcool song.

Got a racecar grin and a calculation
And every gun for a secret agent
Defunct that timebomb at the space station

(117) Blue Cadet 3, Do You Connect? (Sad Sappy Sucker)

This is basically Secret Agent X-9's sister song, since it follows the same pattern - guitar and bass, vocals about some person on a mission we don't know about (the lyric is just the title repeated over and over), and it's short. This one, rather than being a catchy, raw sounding song, though, is ambient, with guitar harmonics and a simple guitar line filling the 36 or so seconds of music, followed by a 40 second pause which separates the bulk of Sad Sappy Sucker from the Dial-A-Songs.

(116) Mice Eat Cheese (Sad Sappy Sucker)

Another slow song without too many lyrics from SSS, drifting along with a simple guitar and bass line pushed forward by Jeremiah Green's inventive drumming. The lyrics are simple, but unlike some of the lyrics from this era, they actually make sense and have some meaning, which is a plus. The most notable part of this song is the last section, trademark MM rock jam with heavy use of guitar harmonics right on top of it all. These are proto-harmonics, they aren't distorted or bending all over, but it's still a quick display of what's to come in Long Drive and Lonesome.

mice eat cheese
and for the most part, they do as they please then
cat comes home
mice don't feel very free to walk around

(115) Red Hand Case (Sad Sappy Sucker)

As we enter the SSS stretch, we come to Red Hand Case. This is a drunken bluesy feel, even though it's not a blues. It's very swingy and has that back-alley feel to it. On the unfortunate side, the vocals are really weird and weak, like he's singing without actually using his voice at all, which makes it sound really weird. Other than that, it's not bad - my favorite part is probably right after everything gets soft for a second, when the band kicks back in for the end.

Blame it on the red hand's weight
Getting hateful, a little fed up, oh no
Sent you a note from my cage:
"I need a carton of cigarettes to stay shut up”

(114) Race Car Grin You Aint No Landmark (Sad Sappy Sucker)

This is another song in the vein of Secret Agent X-9, featuring just guitars and heavily multi-tracked vocals (less annoyingly done, this one!). It's very catchy, and a good song, even though it's so simple. The lyrics are typical of Sad Sappy Sucker - short, slightly random, but still enjoyable. Overall, a decent track.

looks like accounting's not accountable
for anything or anyone at all
johnny took the fall
johnny took the fall

(113) From Point A to Point B (Sad Sappy Sucker)

Don't worry, there aren't too many more songs from this album. This song is actually really good, and I may have ranked it a bit too low - it's another chill song, starting out with a slow, simple riff going back between two chords on the guitar and bass. The vocals are decent, and the lyrics are alright, and it all comes together pretty nicely. At the end, it goes into a sparse section featuring a lo-fi accordion thing in the background.

Point A To Point B oh I Know
lots of points with no points in between, for me
So lonely but never alone I know
I'm at my house but I wish that I were at home

(112) Dirty Fingernails (The Fruit That Ate Itself)

Musically, this song is standard early-era Modest Mouse. Mostly sung/some screamy vocals, guitar harmonics and lots of pitch bending, some sort of cool drum part, and a simple bassline holding it together. It works. The lyrics, however, do not. I don't know if he was going for an OCD thing, but the end result is goofy when he's singing 'DIRTY DIRTY FINGERNAILS' throughout half the song. This EP showed them taking the sound of Long Drive and cleaning it up a bit, but this song doesn't quite work out.

dirty dirty fingernails...
dirty dirty fingernails...
Out of the shower, on to the bathroom floor
Out in the kitchen, underneath the casserole

(111) Beach Side Property (demo) (Interstate 8)

This is another song that would be much higher, but there's a non-demo version with much better quality that pretty much makes this obsolete. To make it even worse, there's a random 2:30 of silence to start this track off for no reason. The bad quality is much more apparent here than on the Novocain Stain because Isaac's screams are like one big wall of static whenever he does them.

Wow said the broken californian down
On the beach that used to be by the beach
Town hasnt moved buts getting closer, losing ground
Making better views and close relaxing sounds

(110) Four Fingered Fisherman (Sad Sappy Sucker)

This is another song from SSS with a slightly drunken triplet feel going on, at least in the beginning. It sobers up when the vocals kick in, though. This song is a great example of Jeremiah Green's style, spending just as much time on the toms as he does on the cymbals. Overall, it's a very solid song from this album, suffering the fate of many other songs on this list: It's a good song, but the rest are just even better.

You're in the back seat and you say to yourself
"OK it doesn't matter anyway"
it's weeds pulling weeds and you’re blaming yourself
Ok we're all indifferent in our own ways
You're in trouble now and you say to yourself
"Ok my baby clean conscience anyways"

(109) Every Penny Fed Car (Sad Sappy Sucker)

This is one of the more upbeat, intense songs off of this album, at least during the instrumental parts. The whole band jams for a while on some simple riffs and such, and then it calms down in time for the vocals to come in - a simple vocal with minimal lyrics. This song showcases a common aspect of the songs on this album - each section repeats itself a bit, but it never goes back. The initial jam is not repeated, and it never kicks back into high gear. It goes from point A to point B, and then it ends.

So you spilled every last penny into your car
And it still won't take you where you want to go
So you spilled every last penny into your car
And it still won't take you very far at all

(108) Summer (The Fruit That Ate Itself)

A Long Drive style song, gone ultra-poppy. The music itself is ok, the most interesting part probably being a pretty cool bassline that just slides all over the place throughout the song, but it's way too forcefully cheery. Mostly in the lyrics, I think - "Just the smell of the summer can make me fall in love", repeated a bunch of times? No thanks.

1996 1997 1998 we’re all waiting for the year 2000
Just the smell on the summer can make me fall in love
We go to the parties listen to the dj’s
Dance dance dance and go crazy

(107) Positive/Negative (demo) (Interstate 8)

This is the last interstate 8 demo. There is another version of this song which is basically the same thing in better quality, so this serves as more of a historical document than a song to listen to. This is definitely the best sounding demo by far, though, so I put it higher than the other two.

When you're living your life, well, that's the price you pay
Whenever I breathe out, you're breathing it in
Whenever I speak out, you're taking it in you, now
I'm feeling this positive negative, positive negative

(106) Dukes Up (Sad Sappy Sucker)

This is one of my favorite songs off of SSS. It's not a hugely deep song or anything, but it's definitely the most fun one on the album. It's really catchy and the phrase "dukes up" reminds me of some old 30s black and white cartoon or something. It's also worth noting that this song continues the SSS tradition of having almost no lyrics.

Soda fountain crowd
button up, shut em' up
gettin' fed up now
got no time, no money, knockout
get em' up, put em' up
get your dukes up, now

(105) The Air (Everywhere and His Nasty Parlor Tricks)

This is an instrumental track which samples the guitar line from Lives. It's a soothing song, but I guess it's not the side of Modest Mouse that I'm most interested in - the playing is all very simple, and most of the interesting stuff is from effects rather than the musicians themselves. I suppose I just prefer them when they're rocking out to some degree. Nonetheless, a reasonable track from an obscure EP.

(104) Lounge (Long Drive)

This song is pretty good, but I think I don't appreciate it as much as I would because of how much better Lounge (Closing Time) is - they're both in the same vein. Still, this is a neat song, pretty typical of Long Drive. My favorite part is definitely where it kicks up a notch and the vocals go through an overdrive effect, which sounds really neat. Also, the fact that there is a cello in the last three minutes or so, basically a long chill-out break, is always a good thing.

He read the note in the black light
He thought he read minds and was not right
That line still made him seem charming
His clothes were shining, shining

(103) The World at Large (Good News)

This is the soft opening song (kinda) from Good News. It's pretty good, they keep layering stuff on top of the simple guitar line as they go along for a slow build. It's a post-rock approach to the song, even though the song itself is obviously not post-rock. A good song, but not one of the stronger ones on this album.

The days get shorter and the nights get cold.
I like the autumn but this place is getting old.
I pack up my belongings and I head for the coast.
It might not be a lot but I feel like I'm making the most.

(102) Sleepwalking (Interstate 8) (BSoN)

Apparently this song is based off of a famous 50s instrumental song by "Santo & Johnny", which I've never heard (editor’s note: nine years later, I’ve heard it :-D). It's a very nice, relaxing song, which they added vocals/lyrics to. The lyrics fit the feel of this song so well, it feels like an original. It’s more “Based on a True Story” than a straight-up cover. It's a good song for chilling out, and it'll put you in the mood for some sleep(walking) of your own.

A mutual friend's parents
Left town for a week
So we raided their liquor stash
And walked down by the riverside
Sleepwalking, cause I'm sleepwalking

(101) Dog Paddle (Long Drive)

This would be a bit higher up if not for those damned wheezing sounds that are so prominent for the first twenty seconds or so. They're really painful sounding, and it annoys me. Yes, Exit Does Not Exist does it too, but they fit better there and that song is way better than this one anyway. Regardless, this is an otherwise cool song with some neat vocal echoes. It's got a cool groove, the drumming is neat as always, and in general it's a good song. Other than the wheezing.

I'm down on the water.
(I'm down on the water)
We don't like what we just saw but...
(We don't like what we just saw but...)
I can't swim so I dog paddle.
(I can't swim so I dog paddle.)
I can't swim so I dog paddle.

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Yes! Two parts down. We're approaching some really good shit now, no more demos, no more excuses. It's all rock and roll from here. See you tomorrow for part three!

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