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Modest Mouse
American rock band
Modest Mouse is an American indie rock band formed in 1993 in Issaquah, Washington, and currently based in Portland, Oregon. The founding members were lead singer/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green and bassist Eric Judy.
They achieved critical acclaim for their albums The Lonesome Crowded West (1997) and The Moon & Antarctica (2000) and found mainstream success with the release of Good News for People Who Love Bad News (2004) and its singles "Float On" and "Ocean Breathes Salty". The following album We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank (2007) brought additional successes with the single "Dashboard".
When Isaac Brock was a teenager, he was employed at a local family video store just outside Seattle, where he met bassist Eric Judy. Brock and Judy later discovered drummer Jeremiah Green, who also resided near Seattle, at a heavy metal show, at which point they decided to make music together. Brock says he made a point of the band being from Issaquah to avoid association with the music scenes of Seattle or Olympia and to keep with the band's suburban lyrical themes. In 1994, at Calvin Johnson's Dub Narcotic Studios, Modest Mouse recorded its first EP, Blue Cadet-3, Do You Connect?, which was released by K Records. This was followed by a single, "Broke", recorded by Steve Wold (a.k.a. bluesman Seasick Steve) under Sub Pop records at Moon...
Modest Mouse's music has been described as indie rock, alternative rock, post punk revival, punk rock, synthpop and emo. Marcy Donelson of AllMusic called Modest Mouse's sound "a volatile mix of punk-inspired rawness and simmering atmosphere" showing tendencies of "light-hearted pop". The band's early releases were said to be a mix of emo, post-rock, folk and progressive music. The early releases were also noted for their abrasiveness and sense of experimentation. Jim Alexander of NME wrote in a contemporary review of The Lonesome Crowded West: "Modest Mouse are the sound of the Pacific Northwest - this is music as rugged as the area it comes from." The band's later output contained pop sensibilities.
"Float On" is a song by American rock band Modest Mouse, released on March 8, 2004, as the lead single from their fourth studio album, Good News for People Who Love Bad News (2004). The song topped the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Song in 2005.
Background and composition
Asked about the song in an interview with The A.V. Club, Brock said that he consciously intended to write something that felt more positive than some of his previous work:
Release and reception
The song was released to alternative radio on March 8, 2004, and was the first Modest Mouse song to gain mainstream popularity. Nearly six months after its release, it became the band's first No. 1 hit on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 70 and peaked at No. 68. In Australia, the song peaked at No. 94 and was ranked No. 11 on Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2004. In 2013, when Triple J created a new list of the Hottest 100 songs of the past 20 years, Float On appeared at No. 45. In July 2009, it was also voted in at No. 94 in the Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time. In December 2009, Rolling Stone named it the 39th greatest song of the 2000s. NME ranked it at No. 351 on their list of the "500...
Music video
The music video is portrayed in the style of a pop-up book with the band wearing turn of the century style clothing and in an underwater scene with flotsam suits.
Covers
The song was covered by Ben Lee, whose version can be heard on the soundtrack for the 2006 film John Tucker Must Die. It was also covered by Mark Kozelek and Goldspot, whose version later appeared on the television series The O.C.
"King Rat" is a song by indie rock band Modest Mouse and appears as the title track to their fifth promotional single, following "The World At Large". The single was later released on the band's 2009 EP No One's First, and You're Next.
The promo also features the song "Fire It Up" from their 2007 album We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.
Music video
During a boat trip with family and friends while on a visit to his native Australia in January 2007, actor Heath Ledger outlined a music video idea for the then unreleased song to frontman Isaac Brock and other band members. Modest Mouse, who had befriended Ledger through their tour manager, had been touring Australia at the time.
"Lampshades on Fire" is a song by American alternative rock band Modest Mouse. It is the lead single from their sixth studio album Strangers to Ourselves (2015), released on December 15, 2014.
This song as well as the entire Strangers to Ourselves album was mixed by Joe Zook.
"Ocean Breathes Salty" is a song by American rock band Modest Mouse, released on August 23, 2004 as the second single from their fourth studio album Good News for People Who Love Bad News.
Cover art
On the front cover of both releases of the single, one of the band's icons (an upside down hot air balloon with an anchor) can be seen.
Music video
The music video for "Ocean Breathes Salty" was directed by Chris Milk. The video shows a young boy finding a bird with a broken wing, which throughout the video becomes lead singer Isaac Brock. The boy patches up the bird and shows it to his mother, who is disgusted. She tries to take the bird away, and then the boy runs away and spends the night in a field with the bird where he dreams that he can play with it when it heals. When he wakes up, he finds that the bird has died, and he buries it. As he walks away, the band, all dressed up as animals, appear and finish the song, then disappear.
"Satellite Skin" is a single released by indie rock band Modest Mouse. It is the first single from their EP, No One's First and You're Next.
Music video
The surreal music video for "Satellite Skin" was directed by Kevin Willis. Willis is known for his frequent involvement as co-producer in the music videos of alternative metal band Tool. The video includes stop-motion animation, namely portraying "birdhouse creatures". The creatures are involved in a forest ritual where eggs from inside the houses are hatched. The video debuted on MySpace on May 15.
"The Ground Walks, with Time in a Box" is a song by American alternative rock band Modest Mouse. It is the second single from their sixth studio album Strangers to Ourselves.
"The World at Large" is the third promo release by indie rock band Modest Mouse. It was recorded in 2003 and was featured on their 2004 album Good News for People Who Love Bad News.
It was not until after the album's release that Isaac Brock and the band decided to release it as a promo. It is about someone who cannot stop moving, so they move on to new towns and cities to explore around the world, as stated in the lyrics: "if the world's at large, why should I remain?" and "...you still have your words and you got your friends".
"Dashboard" is a song by American indie rock band Modest Mouse and is the second track on their 2007 album We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. The song was released as the first single from that album and peaked at number 5 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart.
It debuted and peaked at #61 in the Billboard Hot 100 in early February 2007. In late May 2007, the song was released as a single in the United Kingdom with "King Rat" as the B-side.
Composition
This song was written the first day Modest Mouse began collaborating with Johnny Marr. The guitarist later recalled to Uncut magazine: "On the first night we (Marr and Isaac Brock) just set up two amps opposite each other and just got louder and louder and improvised. I just started playing 'Dashboard,' which I'd been playing a few weeks before and forgotten about. And he instantly started improvising the lyrics, which knocked me out. To see someone produce those lyrics just off the top of his head is amazing: I've never seen it done in such a way."
Music video
The music video to the song starts with several old sea captains having drinks in a pub, and one of the sea captains telling the others a story about a giant fish. Overhearing the conversation, another captain (played by Brock) sits at the table and begins to tell the story of how he lost his right hand to a giant fish while sailing in the Sargasso Sea. The video flashes back to Brock as a young captain, who hooks an enormous fish in the middle of a storm. The fish tugs Brock to a surreal island made of musical and electronic equipment, biting off his right hand in the process. The tribal inhabitants capture Brock and tend to his wounds, replacing his right hand with a microphone. The video then returns to the pub, where Brock finishes his...
"Missed the Boat" is a song by American indie rock band Modest Mouse and is the sixth track on their 2007 album, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. The song was released as the second single from that album and peaked at #24 in Billboard's Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart.
Music video
In 2007, Apple Inc. and Modest Mouse asked fans to direct and film a video for the song. The contest ended on May 22, 2007. Christopher Mills, who also directed the "Float On" video, directed the green screen sequences used in the contest. The winning video, directed by Walter Robot, that is Christopher Louie and Bill Barminski, shows a robot who directed himself in a video about a robot who runs away from home.
Popular culture
This song appears in the Scrubs episode "My Waste of Time" at the end of the show.
