Nostalgia: Story of A Sad Sappy Sucker

So, Pitchfork has released this 45 min biopic about the band Modest Mouse and being a fan of a lot of Modest Mouse music. So, I was intrigued but it took me a minute to get too.... Well, I just watched it and I wasn't entirely prepared for the palpitating nostalgia it gave me to watch this mini movie. It was like stepping back in time to that great early college era of my life. And, It made me feel a little OLD. Nostalgia for the late nineties early 2000's? Already!?!

I'll admit, I haven't listened to Modest Mouse in awhile. They dropped off my radar after I began hearing there music being played on the radio, Starbuck coffee houses, groceries stores and (gasp) malls. Not because I'm a huge snob and can't like anything "popular" but mainly because a) their music rages against that kind of thing and b) I had started to feel they had lost that gritty edge and honesty that I was so attracted to when I first became acquainted with them.

Well, slap me and call me a sad sappy sucker because watching this began to bring back all those warm fuzzies I'd once had for them. It made me remember what a great band they are. Not only that but along with it, this tide of nostalgia for those precious few times in one's life that you feel the truth and the clarity of what it means to really live it's fullest. And so as music tends to do it all came rushing back to me, raw and beautiful and bitter-sweet. We've all experienced it. That time of self discovery in youth. The realization of the breadth and width of what potential life has to offer and that yearning to harness it. That point in time when you are young and length of your time-line stretches out in front of you making you feel as though there can be no end and you invigorated by the idea of life itself. It's sad, because it seems that those times are few and only get fewer as life takes the awe and wonder out of us.  Sappy, because you should never live your life in the rear view mirror. And a sucker for thinking that I could resist the occasional glance back...

Anyway, back to the bio! It was worth the time. There is some great footage here of the late (great) Elliott Smith, and a cameo of an early Doug Martsch with his band Built to Spill. All of these bands I got to know around the same time in my life. It delves into Modest Mouse and their meager beginnings touring, and their early gigs.  They highlight all that raw gritty yelling and those amazing "dance-y" drum beats. Those early records I hold quite dear and I am sure one day will hand my kids a copy of  "There's Nothing Wrong With Love" (in whatever future form it comes it) and make them listen to it at least once.