“Yeah, we sold out… we sold out every show, every night.”

February 23, 2005


How did Modest Mouse sell out?

Maybe I’m just being too sensitive, but here’s something I don’t understand. I’ve never gotten the idea of trashing a band because they’ve gotten big, because they’ve become popular, just for that sake. I’ve never really figured out the reasoning behind this – maybe I never will.

I bring this up primarily because I like to gripe about things, and now, with this new fancy electronic medium I have at my disposal, I can gripe to more people than just Kerrie, who’s really probably tired of it anyway.

Anyway, this weekend we are going to Minneapolis to see Modest Mouse, a band that initially was an underground novelty which blossomed into indie-rock darlings, and now, after 5 years of buzz, has broken into the mainstream, if only for a little while. Their newest album, which is their second major-label release, is consistently on sale at Best Buy, is referenced by all of the major “independent” sources (Spin, AP, and commercial “indie-rock” radio), and, for a while, was a major force in the MTV Buzz Bin genre. Everybody who was everybody listed Good News For People Who Love Bad News as one of the top ten albums of the year, and, hell, they’re selling out two shows per city in the larger clubs.

Which, of course, means they sold out as a band as well.

This is what I don’t get, how a band suddenly changes when they are exposed to the larger populace, as if they have some sort of appendage that sprouts from their waists whenever they reach a fan base of 4 million people. Sometimes this is true. Some bands go the Filter/Jimmy Eat World route, where they become progressively more and more pussy as their careers progress, like they’re entering the “twilight” years of their recording catalog. But most bands don’t – this is just an indie-myth. Four extra tracks in the recording studio and flashy new packaging does not change most bands, in fact, most of these bands continue to produce the same music and flounder because of it… suddenly they are NOT the next big thing, suddenly they are that “quirky band that MTV loved for a few months.” Ask The Killers, or Bright Eyes. They’re riding the same wave that Modest Mouse rode just six months ago, and that Beck, Ween, Blur, and other various “legends” rode in the years before that.

I mean… come on! Listen to me… rambling on and on about the independent sanctity of a Seattle band that nobody used to care about. Everyone has a favorite obscure band…sometimes that obscure band is their favorite band… and everyone wants to see that band succeed. Everyone tells their friends about that favorite band, and everyone is pretty excited and kind of shocked when that favorite band hits the mainstream for the first, if not the only, time. And everyone secretly wants their favorite band to stick it in the craw of those other established bands. I want to see bands like Bright Eyes, Interpol and Modest Mouse standing alongside U2 and Metallica, basking in the glory of their new-found popularity while flipping the bird to the established acts in the process. Hell, those small bands will be ground down again soon enough, so I say good for them while it lasts.

I hate to sound so “un-punk-rock” about this, but I don’t really see any problem with a band doing well on a national stage, as long as they do it their way. Modest Mouse is still playing the same quirky, non-radio friendly music they have in the past, it’s just that the radio culture seems to be enjoying something the rest of us enjoyed years ago.

I’m glad that Modest Mouse is making money doing what they like to do. And I’ll be glad when they put out their next album to little praise, and to no fanfare, and they have to go back to selling out just one First Ave. show, instead of four in seven months.

Then, maybe, it will be cool for us to admit we like them again.

Tags: Concerts, Music |

Comments

5 Responses to ““Yeah, we sold out… we sold out every show, every night.””

  1. Wick on February 24th, 2005 333 am

    I get modest mouse and Franz Ferdinand mixed up all the time. On the topic of U2, I think I’m the only one who is sick
    of them. I wouldn’t mind if they dug a grave for themselves and the new metallica and laid to rest.

  2. eric on February 24th, 2005 807 am

    corey, sis this start because i was bad mouthing modest mouse? here’s my take, i didn’t like the new album before anyone actually liked it. then a few months later i heard them on the radio and i thought it was funny. being on the radio doesn’t mean they sold out, hell i even forgave them for the whole car commercial and beer commercial thing a couple years ago. but c’mon dude, the kidz bop thing is disgusting. that IS selling out. there is no way around that. it makes me want to puke. almost as much the vikes trading randy for no one
    herschel walker. (eric)

  3. eric on February 24th, 2005 807 am

    “sis” means “did”

  4. Corey V. on February 24th, 2005 1234 pm

    Kidz Bop 7 doesn’t need the consent of the bands to cover their music… they just need to pay the rights to use it. Therefore, how can that be selling out? That can be blamed more on a bad record deal than anything else.

    Anyway, I kind of like kids singing a song about drugs without knowing that’s what it’s about.

    And, no, it mainly started becasue my friend Doug was bad mouthing Modest Mouse, and then what you said compounded it, and I took too much offense becasue I hate when people don’t like what I like and give me shit about it (like Doug was).

    I’m kind of a sensitive puss, remember?

  5. CLinke on February 28th, 2005 241 am

    I agree whole-heartly with your rant about selling-out. I’ve often wondered why that happens, why people throw that label around so often when a “indie” band finds success. But Jimmy Eat World becoming pussies…surely you jest. (U2 rules.)

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