7. Sad Sappy Sucker (2001)

Released as a curio following the band’s major label success, Sad Sappy Sucker, recorded in 1994, is marketed as the ‘lost’ Modest Mouse debut, having been shelved in favor of This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About. Recorded by Calvin Johnson at Dub Narcotic, the album is as grating and undercooked as indie rock debuts come, full of indulgent studio experiments, half-assed sketches, and tunes that sound like a generic sadcore band’s demo cassette in high-speed dub mode. If there is any question as to the necessity of owning this album, the inclusion of Isaac Brock’s contributions to Dial-A-Song, a short-lived experiment in which in-the-know callers could hear exclusive song fragments by calling Brock’s answering machine, should tell the casual fan all he or she needs to know. Sad Sappy Sucker is almost irreconcilable with the Modest Mouse of The Moon & Antarctica or even This Is A Long Drive For Someone With Nothing To Think About, and fans of those sprawling, occasionally stupefying works will be left wondering if these brief songs, only two of which exceed three minutes, were ever actually intended for public consumption at all. Even given the few highlights — the jocund, irresistible “Birds Vs. Worms” and the Cap’n Jazz-y “Duke’s Up” — Sad Sappy Sucker asks the question: “How many Built To Spills do we need?”