Album · Modest Mouse
The Lonesome Crowded West by Modest Mouse
The Lonesome Crowded West is an album by Modest Mouse, released in 1997. 5 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 10 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Polar Opposites”, on 6 lists with a best position of #55.
The Lonesome Crowded West, Modest Mouse's second album, came out on Up Records on November 18, 1997, and it's a sprawling, jittery record with a scruffy aesthetic that has been tagged as white trash, the towers of The Westin Seattle staring out from its cover. Isaac Brock yelps, sneers and mutters over guitars that twang one minute and shred the next, while Eric Judy's bass and Jeremiah Green's drums keep the whole ramshackle machine lurching forward.
Critics loved its scrappy, down-at-heel feel, and it has shown up on plenty of lists of the best albums of the '90s. "Polar Opposites" is the one rock radio's countdowns keep returning to, with "Teeth Like God's Shoeshine", "Heart Cooks Brain" and "Trucker's Atlas" all getting their turn. Brock reissued it on his Glacial Pace label in 2014.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from The Lonesome Crowded West on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Polar Opposites | 6 | #55 | – | 1998–2019 | |
| 2 | Teeth Like God's Shoeshine | 1 | #125 | – | 2024 | |
| 3 | Heart Cooks Brain | 1 | #750 | – | 2023 | |
| 4 | Trucker's Atlas | 1 | #792 | – | 2010 | |
| 5 | Baby Blue Sedan | 1 | #1847 | – | 2020 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.