The philosophical lyrics of Modest Mouse 

Haha wow! thank you so much for the kind words. It means the world :)

Every new album is always underrated and then it slowly grows on all the MM members. But you're absolutely right, especially in the context of being critical of modern society. It seems like that's often a theme, with novacain stain, back to the middle, and custom concern, we've got everything, etc just to name a few

@@CRuggles3 yeah even though their sound has kind of changed throughout the years they never lost the spark behind the lyrics of their song. Thats why i really like STO and don’t get why it’s hated on so hard. I feel like a lot of the songs off of that album have pretty deep meanings like Coyotes, The Tortoise And The Tourist, and Of Course We Know

Tangentially related, I really wonder if Modest Mouse has read or was inspired by Industrial Society and It's Future/Unabomber manifesto. They deal with such similar ideas in regards to modern society and the direction it's headed. I'd love for Issac to read it just for lyrical inspiration lol Guilty cocksespainial is probably the best song and it's the most underrated, no one even talks about it but it creates such great imagery of leaving nature only to run on a treadmill.

You may be right. But he has so many awesome lyrics. And after seeing them again last week with Pixies the new band and Isaac Are as good as ever!

You wasted life, why wouldn't you waste the afterlife?

Thanks a lot!

Agreed!

Thank you 😊

Thank you so much! 🙂

Thank you!

Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it 🙂

Thank you! much appreciated.

Thank you Jose!

You're very welcome. Thank you for the kind words!

Thank you! ✨

I think so too!

Thank you Ward :)

Thank you so much Sebastian. Very big mm fan here as well so knowing you appreciate this video means a lot!

Interesting, personally I've never felt like that should be a song for Isaac to write about. Already plenty of songs in the world about such a topic. Curious to know what it means to you?

@@withinmotion I just think he isn't one for cliches - as a rule, it's a good rule and you will always get a fresh sounding album. I was thinking today that Spilled Milk Factory might be about relationships, buts it's not romantic or mawkish. It's more about the pain that goes into partnering up and living together and all that.

Maybe the final verse of “Bankrupt on Selling”? Y’know, the one after Isaac has broken your heart with the first 3 verses, then utterly smashed your heart with the 4th verse (the one about going to college) and then he obliterates your heart with the last verse about when she was sober and he was kinder, and you go “good grief, who’s chopping onions in here?” and realise it might be the most beautiful sad song you’ve ever heard? That last bit might just be me though tbh…

@@raddimusmcchoyber3362 yeah Ive always suspected that explaination they gave on the Pitch Fork documentary was untrue - something harder to explain is what is behind that song. But even when he does write about woman; its not explicit that its about a past romantic relationship; "when she used to be sober and I was kinder" - could be about a mother just as easily. - I liked this video a lot but I am still not so sure what the difference between positive dialectic s and negative dialectics is - I asked chat gpt and I read the intro to the paper on JSTOR and both seemed a bit dense and hard to explain. As I understand it he explains feelings through things - kinda like Dylan does with "Last Thoughts on Woodie Guthrie" - and this is potent visualisation tool. To me Issac is just the guy that tells the truth. Things are never good or bad, they just are - amd he doesnt romanticise or idealise things nor does he preach virtues. "The good times are killing me" is an example when he is really literate about it because he want you to get the message on the first listen. With something like "Buttons to push buttons" he a lot more cryptic because he is unsure about what his view really is. I find MM instructive and humbling;.

@@SoSo-li6dn I think I have to respectfully disagree, in that I believe that he is talking about a romantic partner in the last verse on “Bankrupt...” What a brilliant, succinct way you use to describe IB’s lyrical approach by the way, the few lines in your comment starting “To me Isaac is just the guy that tells the truth”. That bit you wrote clicked perfectly in my head, “oh, this person has just brilliantly summed up what I find so compelling about ‘Long Drive’ and (especially) ‘Lonesome Crowded’”. And I totally agree that he doesn’t ever otherwise really write about women/romance etc. Similar to Joe Strummer in The Clash, never really wrote about relationships etc. I’d be interested to see if not writing about that is intentional on IB’s part, or if his creativity/muse just doesn’t move him in that direction.

seriously wtf does indie rock even mean

Well, they were indie in the '90s lol

They’re obviously alternative grunge pop

@@jr2904 yeah, they were an independent rock band but that doesn’t really explain their genre lol