You can probably say this every week, but it has been a tough week to watch the news. Wildfires have been raging in California for four days as of Friday and the devastation is breathtaking and heartbreaking. This week’s song isn’t topical so much as it is a distraction: Modest Mouse’s 2004 hit “Float On” provides a little bit of positivity in a difficult time.
Formed in 1993 in Issaquah, Washington, by singer-guitarist Isaac Brock, Modest Mouse gradually grew in popularity in the indie rock world of the late ’90s/early ’00s. Known for their quirky guitar pop, the band was still a fringe act until 2004, when the album Good News for People Who Love Bad News was released. “Float On” was the first single and it became the first Modest Mouse song to achieve mainstream popularity, hitting #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and #68 on the Hot 100 singles chart.
Brock said he intentionally wrote the song to be more positive than the band’s previous material and it worked. Rolling Stone named “Float On” as the 39th greatest song of the 2000s; the song was also nominated for a Best Rock Song Grammy award in 2005 but lost to U2’s “Vertigo.” The album was also successful, reaching #18 on the Billboard 200 and going double platinum.
Modest Mouse hasn’t been able to replicate the success of “Float On,” but the band is still releasing albums and toured last summer to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Good News for People Who Love Bad News.