Good News For People Who Love Modest Mouse

Back in the early to mid 2000's, I was searching for music that was new and interesting to me. I'd fallen out of the hardcore scene a bit and was feeling a bit lost, so I was downloading anything that might catch my attention... and that included a lot of hip hop, 70's and indie rock bands... some of it hit the mark, but a lot of it was disposable and I didn't stick with it much longer than two or three spins of the burned CDR that I'd made for my car stereo. One of the bands that I was checking out at that time was Modest Mouse. There was something about them that I found interesting, but I think that I was just consuming so much new music at the time that it was overwhelming, and I never really gave them much of a chance.

So while I'd never really given Modest Mouse much of chance back in the 2000's, as we were closing out 2023, my friend Sarah shared the song Dramamine with me. I'd never heard that song before, but it was a perfect fit for the musical headspace I was in at the time. I sat with that one song for a few months before I started to really crave more from the band, and then I started to dig out more and more songs from them. Soon Modest Mouse became a full on obsession, and there was not a day throughout April and May that I was not listening to something from the band.

Because sometimes it is all about the timing, but as my Modest Mouse obsession was ramping up, I noticed that there was a 20th anniversary edition of Good News For People Who Love Bad News that was due to be released in the coming weeks... and holy shit, it looked fucking nice.

From the new design on the front cover, to the colored vinyl, and lyric booklet... this was just so pleasing to my eyes that I couldn't pass it up.

Also as luck would have it, Modest Mouse are playing a live show with The Pixies in New Hampshire this month. I don't know anyone else that would have been interested to seeing them, so I would have to go to the show by myself, and that felt a little weird. Like, I have no problem going to small hardcore shows alone, because once the music starts and I've got my place in front of the stage to sing along and get jumped on, being there by myself doesn't matter. But a big concert, with assigned seating... I dunno, it just felt weird to think about going to that by myself. In the end I just said "fuck it", and I'm gonna be weird. I bought my ticket and can't wait to see the band perform some of my favorite songs this year live.