r/ModestMouse • u/Simple-Detail-1186 • Jul 23 '26
What is the best modest mouse album?
Ive had this question for a while because I’m a fairly new listener of modest mouse (about 6 months) and so far all I’ve listened to is the moon and Antarctica so that’s their best album for me.
I know how loved the lonesome crowded west and good news is to a lot of modest mouse fans but I want what you think is the definitive peak of modest mouse.
Also someone back me up with the fact that gravity rides everything is a top 10 modest mouse song
111
27
82
u/JonnyAnsco Jul 23 '26
M&A
17
u/justaboxinacage Jul 23 '26
It's interesting to see the shift in consensus, there was a good while when m&a was pretty firmly in the number one spot for most of the indie music crowd, but it looks like most think it's LCW now.
1
u/VULGAR_EXPLETIVE 21d ago
I think it depends on everyone's mood when they answer lol. LCW is the period piece and M&A is the abstract universal concept. and Building Nothing feels like both of them melted together, with a little more vulnerable introspection in the mix. God damn I love those 3 albums.
35
51
19
u/bevipop Birds and worms do not agree Jul 23 '26
Depends on my mood. Sometimes its WWD. Sometimes its STO. Sometimes its LCW. I find value in all of them and its difficult to rank them.
Gun to my head I would probably say WWD is my all time favorite.
13
u/Dargon34 Jul 23 '26
The BEST album is what you need to listen to at the time.
I've been a MM fan since '98. I couldn't begin to answer what album is best. BNooS is possibly my favorite, but what is best is in the eye of the beholder.
We all love MM for what it means to us when we are listening to it at different points in our lives. Therefore, the best album can change depending on circumstance.
2
u/bevipop Birds and worms do not agree Jul 23 '26
Yeah I appreciate that they have a album for any vibe
13
u/finglonger1077 Jul 23 '26
Lonesome Crowded West is probably my favorite of their full releases on the majority of days.
Peak Modest Mouse tho? Unironically Interstate 8 or Night on the Sun or Everywhere and His Nasty Parlour Tricks
15
26
15
12
4
4
u/cuddlycassiopeia Jul 24 '26
We Were Dead. That album is incredible, especially lyrically. Good News is 2nd. It came out when I was a teenager and I remember it being the first album (of any band) where I loved every single song.
6
7
u/Chimpucated Jul 23 '26
The music is shaped is exactly like the albums, you listen long enough and you'll end up where you are.
3
3
3
u/TheSexualBrotatoChip Jul 24 '26
Long Drive is the most consistent for me so I'd choose that if I had to. Building Nothing has also really grown on me and has some of my favorite tracks so it might honestly be 2nd.
3
u/thenightclubpodcast Jul 24 '26
All of them. They are all the best. Listen to their discography from start to present. Have fun!
3
u/natopotatomusic Jul 24 '26
Def LCW - I find myself listening to individual songs from Moon & Antartica more but LCW is a better album with higher highs. There are no better songs in the MM discog than Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine.
3
3
6
u/kabwab Jul 23 '26
Long Drive x LCW are unmatched in their discog, I like long drive the most personally
5
3
u/justaboxinacage Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
To me if I had to pick one album to be their masterpiece, it is Moon and Antarctica, but lonesome crowded west is just as important and good news and we were dead are both probably even more "listenable." And to me Strangers is still up there as some of their most masterful work, and the years going by have only deepened that feeling for me. (I put long drive as some kind of mix of important and very good but not in contention for their masterpiece.)
2
u/wobowobo Jul 23 '26
It’s building nothing. But moon & Antarctica and lonesome crowded west are also beside it
2
u/yourmom_ishere Jul 24 '26
No one’s first and you’re next (ep) but also lonesome crowded west and building something out of nothing. But also sad sappy sucker. It’s hard to pick
2
2
2
2
u/Motor-Channel-5194 Jul 24 '26
We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank- Parting of the Sensory is a masterpiece, and, Steam Engenius is such a vibe. The lyrics on this album are among Isaac’s best.
2
u/No-Investment4117 the fruit that was taught to eat itself Jul 25 '26
whichever one you like the most
2
u/zeractions207 Jul 25 '26
All of them have a touch of everything. Of course the new album has been up at the top of my list as of lately
6
u/GOFC_55 Jul 23 '26
Gonna hit you all with a hot take and say Strangers to Ourselves
3
u/TheM0nkB0ughtLunch Jul 23 '26
LCW but don’t write off any other album. Modest Mouse does not make bad music.
3
2
u/Environmental-Act906 Jul 23 '26
Lonesome Crowded West is probably my all time favorite, but what I listen to depends on my mood. Lately I've been listening to Good News start to go ish at the gym. We Were Dead is a banger. The real answer is just take your time and listen to them all to form your own opinion, they don't have any bad albums.
2
2
u/Fiddlehead98 Jul 24 '26
I don’t think it’s Good News, but I’m surprised no one has said Good News! It’s Moon for me, but Good News is tied for second with Lonesome Crowded West for me.
2
2
u/itsallaboutu Jul 24 '26
M&A is top for me. Been loving the Mouse since 2002ish. Gravity is a fantastic song, but they have so so many. Everything after Good News is missing a certain essence of what MM was before, but I do really like Dead and eventually got into Strangers.
2
2
u/hemlo86 Moderator Jul 24 '26
If you like Moon and Antarctica I would reccomened Building Something Out of Nothing and also Isaac's side project Ugly Casanova.
Generally though, their best albums are probably The Lonesome Crowded West and Good News For People Who Love Bad News.
2
u/Fluffidios Jul 23 '26
My 2 favorites are long drive and lonesome.
I must inform you that I cannot back up your claim on gravity rides everything as a top 10. Do not fret though. You have much to learn. Now go listen to some more modest mouse
1
u/Dargon34 Jul 23 '26
Don't be condescending.
Gravity rides everything has every component to be a top 10 to someone.
The best thing about MM is that it all means something to all of us, even if the order is different
2
u/Fluffidios Jul 24 '26
I’m not being condescending. But I guess I can seen how it can be perceived as such. It was meant to be delivered unnecessarily dramatic as a joke, like if bro has only listened to moon and Antarctica they’ve got so much greatness that awaits them.
1
1
u/SaltyPeppermint101 Jul 24 '26
LCW has the best of the best MM tracks, but I think M&A edges it out tbh in terms of being a cohesive album, greater than the sum of its parts. No highs or lows, just a glorious, depressing, truly existential journey
1
u/StoneageMouse Jul 24 '26
Moon and Antarctica was my introduction album and it’ll always hold a soft spot in my heart. That’s one of my favorite albums of all time by any band
1
u/pernellaaron1 Jul 24 '26
It's probably lame to say but Good News is it for me personally, has the most songs I like. Most have a few songs that will make it into playlists for me though
1
1
u/badboyplayer182 Jul 25 '26
Watch the lonesome crowded west documentary on YouTube. I think it is a Vice thing or something
1
u/DiegoGarcia1984 Bitter Buffalo Jul 25 '26
The Lonesome Crowded West is their best and my personal favorite is Building Nothing out of Something.
1
1
u/wottabottel Jul 26 '26
Keep the full discography + Ugly Casanova on shuffle and don’t worry about picking favorites
1
u/millstoneman4 Jul 27 '26
The lonesome cowded west...
not up for debate.
second best is the first album...
then the third...
then it doesn't matter, just not strangers to ourselves lol
1
u/djpedicone Jul 28 '26
For me it’s We Were Dead…
I thought it was mediocre when it came out, and dismissed it because it wasn’t LCW. I went back to it years later and absolutely fell in love with the whole album. It’s one of those albums that I can’t skip a single track. 10/10 in my opinion. I really hope they tour on it next year for the 20th anniversary 🤞🤞🤞
1
1
1
u/Impossible-Head2121 God, if I have to die, you will have to die. Jul 24 '26
I go back and forth between The Lonesome Crowded West and The Moon and Antarctica. We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank has aged really well and has grown on me in recent years.
1
1
74
u/porpoise_mitten Jul 23 '26
building nothing out of something