Pretty cool that like four of us are all listening to this album together this morning lol, a few of you for the first time
it is pretty cool I even feel bad about calling that person I mentioned annoying before - they were just doing the total stereotypical too cool artsy kid thing (and she was an amazing artist and this convo happened in the art room), literally saying 'this band's music sucks now because they sold out, you need to go back and listen to their old stuff' when the truth was that I actually had big crush on her but was afraid to even talk to her really turns out she was totally right about this album! my apologies Kirsten _______, I was just an insecure goober
One of my friends did the whole “this band sold out and sucks now” routine when Float On came out. We were ten, I had absolutely no idea what he was on about.
oh i like the new song. Janet Weiss drums! cool riff! not mad at all. I also quite liked the last LP tho (which to me is much better than Strangers to Ourselves)
Had a friend of a friend in college when “Good News” dropped that said they sucked now then admitted he just didn’t like that a ton more people were into a band that he liked.
Good News has to be one of the best crossover indie records ever. Right up there with Transatlanticism
I distinctly remember that time as basically the year that indie rock broke through with them, Death Cab, The Shins, Bright Eyes, Franz, etc. Us generic whites were eating good.
Ha in both cases my response was (and still is) "this is fine but it just ain't the same hope y'all enjoy it tho :/"
Everywhere and His Nast Parlor Tricks has some great TM&A B-side material. "Night on the Sun" is a crazy track to leave off, but you can't be mad when the record is as perfect as it is
I listened to Moon 3 times today: once just sitting there, once driving, and the last time while I was cleaning & conditioning a pair of boots. I have to say that it is indeed incredible and lives up to the hype, which is saying something after 26 years and my own personal anecdotes about it. I also listened to Everywhere... today too. fantastic as well, and yeah "Night On The Sun" was probably the highlight for me. top tier Modest Mouse right there.
I am clearly by no means any type of expert at all, but I find these guys fascinating, and the fact that they signed to a major when they did pretty incredible. I also don't really see the sell out tag sticking here aside from the fact that they literally sold a ton of albums, but it strikes me as a refinement of their sound and not something like when Sugar Ray went from Nu Metal / Funk Metal to putting out songs like "Every Morning" & "Someday" after "Fly" showed them how fun it was to be rich.
Listened to "Sugar Boats" a few times this week after this discourse and it always makes me think of the nightmare boat ride in Willy Wonka (complimentary) also, I was playing a bunch of F-Zero X on Nintendo 64 when I first got inro this album and the riff in "A Different City" always makes me think about hitting those rainbow speed-zones
I kinda miss consuming music pre, like, age 15. It was just "do I like this song" and not "SHOULD I like this song?"
Oh, it was absolutely like the latter before, too. Kids these days don’t know how much credibility you could lose if you liked a band that “sold out.”