Good news for people who love bad news

Good News For People Who Love Bad News is the fourth album by indie rock band Modest Mouse and was released on April 6th, 2004. Since the album is approaching its 20 year anniversary, a retrospective review seems appropriate. The album was critically acclaimed by outlets such as Rolling Stone and NME, but how does it stack up in my opinion? What are the best tracks? 

    We open with the first track, “The World at Large,” which has a beautiful soft guitar riff, and I like how other instruments are gradually added, such as a kick drum and a tambourine. “The days get shorter and the nights get cold,” sings vocalist/guitarist Isaac Brock. Truer words have never been spoken. I also like the “ba-ba-ba-ba” refrain. A good selection for a single off the album. This track demonstrates that sometimes minimalism is effective in conveying emotions. The symphonic orchestra at the end really adds to the somber mood of the track, as does the electric flute. The message of the song is quite relatable, with the singer regretting his decision of starting his life over in another place, because he can’t undo the words he said, as I quote, “My thoughts were so loud I couldn’t hear my mouth.”

   The transition into the next song, my favorite track of the album, “Float On,” is fantastic. I love the guitar licks in this song. “I backed my car into a cop car the other day,” and then proceeding to illustrate how life cuts us breaks, and how no matter how much shit happens in our lives, it could be worse. “And we’ll all float on, okay.” The drum beat and bass riff are simple and stripped back, and it gives the guitar portions time to shine. Another line I like is, “We both got fired on exactly the same day. Well we’ll float on, good news is on the way.” I love the positive message the song has, because despite the shitty parts of life, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. That bridge has a total bar vibe with multiple singers singing the refrain, and I can just imagine a bunch of drunk frat boys singing this song at a dive bar.

    After that fantastic track, comes another track I like, “Ocean Breathes Salty.”This track has a much darker message than the previous track. “Your body may be gone, I’m gonna carry you in,” is a line that illustrates the loss of someone important and the song expresses the fear of mortality. I like the message that we shouldn’t miss the opportunities that life gives us. 

    One of my least favorite tracks on the record, “Bury Me with It,” follows. And while it’s not terrible, I just think the sound doesn’t fit in the album that well. The yelling just doesn’t go with the vibe of the album in my opinion. I like the line “we were aiming for the moon, We were shooting at the stars, but the kids were just shooting at the buses and the cars.” I like the bass riff of the track.

    Another track I’m not a fan of is “Dance Hall,” because, again, the yelling feels out of place and the chorus just kinda gets old, hearing “dance hall dance hall everyday,” over and over again being yelled can be irritating. There’s songs that are loud that I like, like “BYOB,” by System of a Down, but a lot of yelling on an indie rock album doesn’t feel right to me.

   “Bukowski,” is a much more mellow and slow track, I like the reverb soaked guitar paired with the banjo and cello in the background too. Charles Bukowski is a famous American author who was a notable atheist too, and the singer is sympathizing with his atheistic view. The question of “If God is so good, why does he allow evil to happen?” And asks why anyone would want to be like God, calling him a control freak.

   “This Devil’s Workday,” has a great trumpet and banjo backing track, but again the yelling can be a bit much to listen to, it’s not as hard to listen to as on “Dance Hall,” but it’s still not one of my favorite tracks. I really like the guitar riff on “The View,” as well as that fuzzy synth in the chorus. The analogy at the beginning of “shooting off your mouth” and an opinion being likened to a gun going off is an interesting concept. Something I’ve noticed, is that the verses on all of the tracks are incredibly short, which isn’t something I’m used to hearing often. This album is full of great guitar riffs from Isaac Brock, and the production is very well orchestrated for the most part. And even though I’m not the biggest fan of the tracks with a lot of yelling, I do admire the band for experimenting with more abrasive sounds. Eric Judy is also a very talented bassist, and the bass riff on “Float On,” is incredibly smooth.

    After that, we’ve got “Satin in a Coffin,” which reminds me of “Do I Wanna Know,” by Arctic Monkeys, with its kick drum beat. I like the organ and banjo instrumentation on this track, as it gives the song a very folksy sound. This album has a lot of fascination, as evidenced by the refrain on this track, “are you dead or are you sleeping?” After a brief interlude, we get a very acoustic, soft track in “Blame It On the Tetons,” which has themes of trespassing and blaming a bad week on an alcohol-filled weekend. I really like the minimalism of this track as it really gets the depressing sound engrained in the listener’s mind. The piano solo at the end is beautiful as it echoes and closes out the track with violins mixed in.

    “Black Cadillacs,” has a cool electric keyboard lead and some heavy power chords in the guitar. I actually like the aggressive sound of this track, which talks about the collapse of a co-dependent relationship. “And it’s true that the clouds just hung around like black Cadillacs outside a funeral,” is an incredible visual to imagine.

   The second to last track on the album, “One Chance,” has lovely guitar instrumentation, and Brock’s vocals on the track are beautiful and relatable as he talks about the fear of losing people that are close to him. He says that we have one chance to get everything right in our lives, a message that I’m sure many people can understand. I like the ships sailing and sinking metaphor as well.

  Finally, the last track, “The Good Times are Killing Me,” featuring some more acoustic guitar strumming and a beautiful synth flute lead. “The good times killing me,” is a reference to the very lethal consequences of drug and alcohol use which is often glamorized by our media. “Have one, have twenty more “one mores”, is such a bleak and depressing lyric about the mentality of alcoholism. This last track ends the album on a strong note, and it’s another one of my favorite cuts off the record.

   Good News For People Who Love Bad News is a truly depressing listen. The themes of loneliness, death, and drug addiction aren’t new concepts to be talked about in music, but the way that the band approach the topics is a breath of fresh air. Some of these tracks made me question a lot of choices I’ve made in my own life, and made me reflect on the people I’ve lost and the memories I wish I could re-live. Even though, I’m not a fan of “Dance Hall,” and “Bury Me With It,” because of the yelling feeling sort of out of place in the grand scheme of the album, the majority of these tracks are darkly beautiful and truly engaging to listen to. This is the first Modest Mouse album I’ve listened to, and now I’m eager to check out more of their stuff. An album that makes you question your own life is a truly great piece of art.

Overall Score: 8/10

Favorite Tracks: “Float On,” “The World at Large,” “Satin in a Coffin,” “The Good Times are Killing Me,” “Bukowski,”

Least Favorite Tracks: “Dance Hall,” “The Devil’s Workday”

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTAud5O7Qqk

Genres: Alternative Rock/Indie Rock