Modest Mouse: Top 125 Countdown Analysis

 

In the past six years, I have made two attempts to rank my favorite Modest Mouse songs. My first ranking, in 2014, only covered the Top 25. A year later, I ranked my Top 100 and gave my thoughts on all of the choices in a 22-part series, complete with videos and lyrics. I was curious to see how my ranking has changed over the last five years, so I made yet another attempt which I have just finished. This last ranking consists of 125 songs and was revealed on Twitter over the course of 125 days.

This post will comment on some of the choices I made this time around, and will analyze how the three sets of rankings have changed over the years. Finally, I'll assign a points system to see how much each individual album has contributed to the overall list. I did not look at any previous rankings while I was compiling the latest set.

As with any list of this nature, it is highly subjective. I am sure many of you love Modest Mouse and would come up with a wildly different list. I would love to know your thoughts on what you would put higher or lower, or any comments at all about this fantastic music. Everyone's individual ranking is correct for them, so please respect each other if you do comment.

Here are my rankings as of now:

This task was far from easy, and you can easily see how my own thoughts have changed over six years. I love every song on the list, whether it is in the Top 10 or number 125.

Biggest Climbers

Let's take a look at the 10 songs that have made the biggest move up my rankings in the last five years.

1 Other People's Lives (Building Nothing Out Of Something) +49 places

2 Lives (The Moon & Antarctica) +47

3 Whenever You Breathe Out, I Breathe In (Building Nothing Out Of Something) +38

4 Sugar Boats (Strangers To Ourselves) +29

5 Lampshades On Fire (Strangers To Ourselves) +27

5 Ohio (This Is A Long Drive) +27

7 Styrofoam Boots/It's All Nice On Ice, Alright (The Lonesome Crowded West) +26

8 King Rat (No One's First And You're Next) +23

8 One Chance (Good News For People Who Love Bad News) +23

10 Night On The Sun (Night On The Sun) +22

10 People As Places As People (We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank) +22

I think I have more appreciation for Building Nothing Out Of Something and the last two tracks are two of my three biggest movers up the rankings. Lives is a song I connect with more than in the past because of its reflective lyrics. The two representatives from Strangers To Ourselves are played at almost every show and that has increased my enjoyment of those songs considerably. I think that explains my additional love for Night On The Sun as it sounds so spectacular live. 

There are a few honorable mentions:

Truckers Atlas moves into my Top 10. I've heard some great live versions and love the whole journey that the song takes me through. The Stars Are Projectors has really clicked with me lately and Cowboy Dan just blows me away every time I hear it played at a concert. It seems that there are so many ways to play that song.

Biggest Fallers

I still love all of these songs of course. If I include more songs and some climb, there have to be some that are ranked lower.

1 A Life Of Artic Sounds (Building Nothing Out Of Something) -38

2 Ansel (Strangers To Ourselves) -34

2 The Waydown (The Fruit That Ate Itself) -34

4 Guilty Cocker Spaniels (No One's First And You're Next -32

5 Custom Concern (This Is A Long Drive) -31

6 Shit In Your Cut (Strangers To Ourselves) -30

7 A Manic Depressive Named Laughing Boy (This Is A Long Drive) -28

8 Might (This Is A Long Drive) -25

9 Shit Luck (The Lonesome Crowded West) -24

10 The Whale Song (No One's First And You're Next) -22

How Do The Albums Rank?

If I assign a basic points system of 125 points for the top song, down to 1 point for song 125, it produces the following ranking:

In my own head, my ranking is The Lonesome Crowded West as the clear number one with This Is A Long Drive and The Moon & Antarctica in a close battle for second. Good News would also be above We Were Dead. If I apply some kind of weighting, The Lonesome Crowded West has 6 songs in the Top 10 and would easily come out on top.

If I divide the above totals by the number of songs each album has on the list to get an average per song, we get this:

I've rambled on enough with this analysis. I hope that you enjoyed my latest countdown. Maybe I'll do another when we get a new album.

I would be very interested to know your thoughts on Modest Mouse. What songs would you rank much higher or much lower? Which is your favorite album release? Have your opinions changed a lot since you first got into the band?

Thanks for reading. Keep enjoying this amazing music.

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