Modest Mouse recently announced a tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their breakthrough album Good News for People Who Love Bad News.
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The expanded edition of the album arrived on April 5 featuring remixes by Poolside, Dan the Automator, Jacknife Lee, John Congleton, Justin Raisen, and others. The anniversary tour begins on October 28 in Honolulu.
This list features four standout tracks from Modest Mouse’s Good News for People Who Love Bad News.
“Bukowski”
Singer Isaac Brock told Drowned in Sound why he wrote a song about writer Charles Bukowski. “He glamorized alcoholism and misogyny. I’ve seen friends get impressed by him and he seemed to impress himself by being a pain in the a–. I just don’t like alcoholism being put in a way that makes my friends wanna be alcoholics.” Over a plunking banjo, Brock asks, Who would wanna be such a control freak?
Woke up this morning, and it seemed to me
That every night turns out to be
A little bit more like Bukowski
And yeah, I know he’s a pretty good read
“Ocean Breathes Salty”
The themes of Modest Mouse’s fourth studio album return to movement and place. “Ocean Breathes Salty” examines the existential relationships we have with one another. The singer wishes for heaven and hell to exist as he accuses the other person of wasting life. Why not waste death, too? Brock said he doesn’t like to explain the meanings of his songs, and the lyrics are vague enough to be universal. But if you’re looking for cogency, “Ocean Breathes Salty” develops from a place of pain.
You missed when time and life shook hands and said goodbye
When the earth folded in on itself
“The World at Large”
The second track on Good News for People Who Love Bad News is a song about destination. Its narrator searches for happiness while moving from place to place. The hope is traveling will replace the stasis of heartbreak or persistent sadness. It parallels the hopeful intent of “Float On” and even quotes from Modest Mouse’s biggest hit. Whether or not the drifter finds peace goes unresolved. However, sometimes just the act of moving is enough to put despair behind you.
Well, I float on, maybe would you understand?
“Float On”
On Modest Mouse’s defining song, Brock wrote something optimistic to offset the malaise he felt from the constant influx of bad news. “Float On” asserts that even when the bad news arrives, good news will follow, and “we’ll all float on anyway.” Brock called the song a series of “tiny little stories” and “happy accidents.”
Modest Mouse released The Moon & Antarctica in 2000, their first on Epic Records. The move to a major record label didn’t alter their familiar indie rock sound but it did add the burden of commercial expectations. As the band prepared its follow-up, Brock worried The Moon & Antarctica hadn’t sold enough copies for Modest Mouse to remain signed to Epic. “Float On” changed that. Modest Mouse received a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Song, though “Vertigo” by U2 took home the award.
All right, already we’ll all float on
No, don’t you worry, we’ll all float on
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