If you are a regular reader of my blog, you may remember that I attempted to rank the songs of Modest Mouse in August 2014. It turned out to be a sprawling 8-part series. Well, now that I am familiar with Strangers to Ourselves, I thought it was time to compile a new ranking.
Here's my original attempt if you are curious.
I would love to automatically know my rankings for music and movies, but doing it the hard way is a great opportunity to dig deeper into the things that I love. I bought my first vinyl 45 around 43 years ago. Although my tastes have evolved and my enthusiasm for music deepened after attending approximately 500 live shows, music was important to me as a child.
Over the course of my life, my favorites have changed from glam, to David Bowie, Pink Floyd, The Fall, Pixies, Throwing Muses and Sonic Youth. I discovered Modest Mouse later than most, first paying close attention about 10 years ago. For the last 15 months, it's hard for me to listen to anything else.
There are so many things to love about Modest Mouse. The music itself ranges from driving alternative rock, to funk, ballads, dance, and even rap. Isaac Brock's vocals can be delicate and heartfelt, or outright screaming rants. The sheer variety of styles and songs is incredible. Most bands tend to find a sound they like and stick to it, but you never know what to expect from Modest Mouse. The latest tour has seen the band play 69 different songs. Most bands hardly ever vary from their core setlists, maybe playing two or three different songs each show. Many of the lyrics are clever and insightful.
One of things I am curious to discover as I work my way through this ranking, is how it has changed from last August. Strangers to Ourselves gives me 15 new songs to discover, but I will do this exercise without referring to my previous rankings. I want to find out how my appreciation for the songs has evolved.
I'm sure that many of you are wondering how to tackle such a daunting task. My method is to list every song, cut the list down to 100, then rank each album or EP individually. Then I'll compare the weakest remaining song on each release to determine its ranking. I can't think of a more accurate way, although I am aware of the sheer futility of such an exercise.
The list will be updated as time allows, and I will comment on each song, provide the lyrics, along with a video if one is available.
This initial post is just about done. Here's my alphabetical list of the songs that made the Top 100. The next installment will begin to rank them, in reverse order. I hope that you will follow along and perhaps discover a song you may have overlooked or even never heard.
Thanks for reading so far.
Alphabetical Top 100
| 3rd Planet |
| A Different City |
| A Life of Arctic Sounds |
| A Manic Depressive Named Laughing Boy |
| All Night Diner |
| Alone Down There |
| Ansel |
| Bankrupt on Selling |
| Be Brave |
| Beach Side Property |
| Birds Vs Worms |
| Black Cadillacs |
| Blame It on the Tetons |
| Breakthrough |
| Broke |
| Bukowski |
| Bury Me with It |
| Convenient Parking |
| Cowboy Dan |
| Coyotes |
| Custom Concern |
| Dance Hall |
| Dark Center of the Universe |
| Dashboard |
| Doin' the Cockroach |
| Dramamine |
| Dukes Up |
| Edit the Sad Parts |
| Education |
| Exit Does Not Exist |
| Fire It Up |
| Float On |
| Florida |
| Fly Trapped in a Jar |
| Gravity Rides Everything |
| Grey Ice Water |
| Guilty Cocker Spaniels |
| Head South |
| Heart Cooks Brain |
| I Came as a Rat |
| Interstate 8 |
| Invisible |
| King Rat |
| Lampshades On Fire |
| Life Like Weeds |
| Little Motel |
| Lives |
| Lounge (Closing Time) |
| March into the Sea |
| Might |
| Missed the Boat |
| Never Ending Math Equation |
| Night on the Sun |
| Novacain Stain |
| Ocean Breathes Salty |
| Of Course We Know |
| Ohio |
| One Chance |
| Other People's Lives |
| Out of Gas |
| Paper Thin Walls |
| Parting of the Sensory |
| People as Places as People |
| Perfect Disguise |
| Polar Opposites |
| Pups To Dust |
| Satellite Skin |
| Satin in a Coffin |
| She Ionizes & Atomizes |
| Shit In Your Cut |
| Shit Luck |
| Space Travel Is Boring |
| Spitting Venom |
| Steam Engenius |
| Strangers to Ourselves |
| Styrofoam Boots/It's All Nice on Ice Alright |
| Sugar Boats |
| Sunspots in the House of the Late Scapegoat |
| Talking Shit About a Pretty Sunset |
| Teeth Like God's Shoeshine |
| The Best Room |
| The Cold Part |
| The Good Times Are Killing Me |
| The Ground Walks, With Time in a Box |
| The Stars Are Projectors |
| The Tortoise and the Tourist |
| The View |
| The Waydown |
| The Whale Song |
| The World at Large |
| Tiny Cities Made of Ashes |
| Trailer Trash |
| Truckers Atlas |
| Tundra/Desert |
| We've Got Everything |
| What People Are Made Of |
| Whenever You Breathe Out, I Breathe in (Positive Negative) |
| Whenever You See Fit |
| White Lies, Yellow Teeth |
| Wicked Campaign Building nothing out of something (overview)
Building nothing out of something - songs 100 to 96
Building nothing out of something - songs 85 to 81Building nothing out of something - songs 95 to 91 Building nothing out of something - songs 80 to 76 Building nothing out of something - songs 75 to 71 Building nothing out of something - songs 70 to 66 Building nothing out of something - songs 65 to 61 Building nothing out of something - songs 60 to 56 Building nothing out of something - songs 55 to 51 Building nothing out of something - songs 50 to 46 Building nothing out of something - songs 45 to 41 Building nothing out of something - songs 40 to 36 Building nothing out of something - songs 35 to 31 Building nothing out of something - songs 30 to 26 Building nothing out of something - songs 25 to 21 Building nothing out of something - songs 20 to 16 Building nothing out of something - songs 15 to 11 Building nothing out of something - songs 10 to 6 Building nothing out of something - the Top 5 Building nothing out of something - final thoughts |
Heello nice post
ReplyDelete