The Story Behind The Song: Modest Mouse’s survival anthem ‘Float On’
Some of the happiest songs of all time don’t always need to be the most optimistic pieces in the world. As much as that sounds like an oxymoron, the biggest tracks that people use for a pick-me-up don’t often from people trying to blow sunshine up your ass in the hopes that it will make you feel better. It’s about trying to soldier on even when times look bleak, and when Modest Mouse created ‘Float On’, they made one of the greatest perseverance anthems of all time.
Because when you look at the state of the world when the song was being made, things were looking fairly dire. In the aftermath of 9/11, the US was about to face a massive war when invading Iraq, featuring evidence that was more than a little bit flimsy and under the supervision of George W Bush, which never sat well with half the population.
When looking at the charts, you would swear that everyone was ready to batten down the hatches and rally behind the flag. Patriotism was still in the air, and it looked like the nightmare everyone was about to undergo had its propaganda spread across the airwaves, with anyone who would say otherwise being thrown out without a care in the world.
This was the time for artists to raise their voices in anger, and rock was ready to follow suit. Compared to the Chicks, who got banned from country radio after calling out The President, everyone from Green Day to System of a Down was airing their grievances. Not Isaac Brock, though, who wanted to make something that would capture optimism even when things looked bleak.
When speaking about Good News for People Who Love Bad News, Brock said he wanted to create something that would provide a shot of light in the darkness, saying, “I was just kind of fed up with how bad shit had been going, and how dark everything was, with bad news coming from everywhere…I just wanted to make a positive record. I think we managed to make a quarter of the record positive, and the rest is either kind of dark or more just relaxing into things being how they are, resigned.”
That wasn’t just in the face of what was happening in the world, either. Throughout the production of the record, Brock came close to seeing his band crumble before his eyes. After trying in vain to get everyone on the same page, they really started to question whether or not they even had something to say anymore before moving from their setup in Portland to the East Coast with producer Dennis Herring.
Rather than try to polish the record they were working on that they hated, the next best thing would be to start from scratch. Instead of defining their work by the breakdown Brock had during the filming, this ‘Float On’ was an opportunity for them to completely restructure their approach, almost as if to prove to themselves that they could still function.
Since the band had also gone through a shakeup with different members leaving, ‘Float On’ feels like a story of survival. Even though the piece is one of the most optimistic rock songs of the 2000s, part of the reason why it works so well is because of how much it acknowledges how shitty life can sometimes be.
Looking at every one of the verses, Brock talks about one horrendous decision he made after the next, including backing his car into a cop’s cruiser, being scammed, and him and his partner losing their jobs on the exact same day. This kind of thing would be catastrophic for anyone else, but Brock knows that all he can do is just sit back and watch as the world floats on.
The best part of the song also comes from the fact that someone else is leading the way right beside Brock. While the track could work just as well with the line “I’ll float on,” the fact that it’s a “we” feels like an anthem for anyone who’s ever been wronged in their life as they proceed to watch the world float by regardless.
Considering how often artists have tried and failed to make songs to cheer up an audience, Modest Mouse’s track feels like a statement to every rock band that it’s possible to make great art out of creative tragedy. Things may look bleak, and it might not all work out all the time, but it didn’t kill you, so you may as well keep moving.
