NATN's Wholly Subjective Top 100 GBV Songs Of All Time
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Well, it is what it says it is.
NATN contributors Troy Carpenter, Jonathan Cohen, Ryan Everitt, Matt Frampton, Ben French, Sammy French, Mark Groeschner, Western Homes, Mister Senor and Tyson Lex Wheatley put their heads together virtually and compiled thoughts about our 100 favorite songs from the band's career.
We haven't stuck to semantics like what actual band name is on the album, and didn't care to put them in any other order but chronological.
Thoughts?
"Dog's Out"
Devil Between My Toes, 1987
2:09
Bob Pollard pens a song about his dog escaping and the begging and pleading that goes into convincing his canine to come back home. This is the genius of Guided By Voices: instead of transporting you somewhere with their songs, they keep you in your bland existence and create a soundtrack to your most pedestrian activities, making them epic. -MS
"Captain's Dead"
2:00
Psychedelic jangle-rock from back when Pollard was channeling Michael Stipe and Pete Buck. With its vaguely anti-militaristic lyrics and '60s sheen, it's probably the only song from the GBV catalog that would fit on the Byrds' 5D. -MF
"Chief Barrel Belly"
3:16
GBV incubated in Dayton for years before the world at large took notice, and the early albums (handily collected on the 1995 Box set) tend to be half-baked affairs spiced here and there with a few nuggets that live up to what the band would eventually become. "Chief Barrel Belly" is one, mired in sludgy sound like much future material (and precious little before this). Staccato verses, faux-English-accented lyrical posturing, and an anthemic chorus -- "she said love / is the one / thing we needed in this world / to be happy" -- are combined to delicious effect. -TC
"Airshow '88"
2:12
Let's face it: GBV is to beer as the Grateful Dead is to LSD. In kicking off the drinking concept album Same Place The Fly Got Smashed, we get an early peek at this obsession. A fucked-up tape collage opening leads to a highly inebriated Pollard screaming the off-key tale of an alcohol-soaked day at the Airshow. Some of the material on the group's early albums lacks the fervent, searching-for-ultimate-rock attitude of GBV's best work, but here, inhibitions presumably shattered, we catch a glimpse of the band's destiny. Bob's delivery may not yet be ready for the world, but it's becoming clear that rock and roll (and rolling rock) flows through his veins. -TC
"Drinker's Peace"
1:51
It's funny that we as listeners take the woeful ballads of rock stars seriously -- as if these guys really have anything to cry about. Pollard rarely writes melodramatic tearjerkers, but here he gets quite sentimental and apparently autobiographical. Even the song's most playful lines seem serious. But Pollard carries the weight quite well and makes you carefully ponder his prayer, right down to the final line: "When I feel sick, you're an anti-biotic / Organize my world. My world's pointless and chaotic." -BF
"Back to Saturn X"
4:52
Back to Saturn X? More like back to 1975. Your uncle played this song when he was a long-haired teenager, smoking doobie in your grandparents' basement whilst staring longingly at pictures of Farrah Fawcett. Something about the line "You're never too old forever" made him cry. And erect. -BF
"Over The Neptune/Mesh Gear Fox"
5:42
The blades of the Propeller. The GBV experience is encapsulated in this song, which starts with the unforgettable studio-created sound of introduction and adulation and combines two songs in one epic blast. The group's signature shows in the creativity of the mash up. On its own, "Mesh Gear Fox" wouldn't be nearly as special: it stays in its own tinny key for a few minutes and features pretty cheesy lyrics. But tacked onto the end of "Over The Neptune," with all its T-RExish posturing and arena-rock nonsequiturs ("The fun's just about to get started, so throw the switch: it's rock and roll time!"), it's a postcoital smoke that balances out the former's angularity and leads into a hazy exploratory guitar solo in the fade-out, making you wonder exactly how much this band is capable of. -TC
"Weedking"
(b/w "The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory")
2:39
The first time I heard GBV, I couldn't get past the British inflection. (Cue: "Don't hide, the snake can see you!") I mean, seriously, let's not forget: This is a man from Dayton, Ohio, not medieval London. But after a little more exposure, I came to realize that pretentious singing mixed with alcohol is pretty much the greatest thing ever. In fact, "Goldheart Mountaintop" might be the greatest drinking tune of our era -- an era sadly missing good drinking songs as well as drunken singing. This song should be taught to grade school choirs. "Weed King" is more raucous, quite like Ween's "Buckingham Green." It just builds and builds before giving way to grand ominous declarations and one long jammed-out classic rock finish. One might be inclined to dismiss these songs as Hobbit-rock. But seriously, beware, the snake can see you. -BF
"Exit Flagger"
2:19
D, Db, B, G. Come on and sing along: "Exit Flagger! Exit Flagger!!" Simplicity is the key here. Thankfully revived for the group's farewell tour. -TC
"Quality Of Armor"
2:37
Mysteriously excised from GBV set lists following the 1996 demise of the classic lineup, this is Midwestern power pop at its best, lame rhyming couplets included (intelligence/belligerence, car/far). Cheap Trick should have written this one. Pretty much a blueprint for "Glad Girls." -MF
"Postal Blowfish"
2:12
One of the simplest-constructed tunes in the repertoire, this item became an early live favorite and holds up only on the strength of its ebullience. A perfect vehicle for Bob's emphatic teacherly posturing: "Hold your tongue!" -TC
"Wondering Boy Poet"
0:59
This whole record is GBV Limbo. Between Propeller (they thought it would be their last, but finally people started paying attention) and Bee Thousand (the true coming-out party and acknowleged masterwork), Vampire On Titus finds the group stripped down to Bob, Brother Jim and Tobin Sprout, downloading a severe racket onto the four-track. Still, it has a handful of notable cuts, including this relatively un-murky Bob-n-Toby duet. "Dream on, child of change." -TC
"Big School"
2:26
For a time, every article on GBV was required by law to mention Bob's past as a Math and Social Studies teacher. But even if they didn't, we probably still could have figured it out. He did treat live concerts like rock and roll classes ("This is called 'Do Something Real' with your lives, boys and girls!") and then there are the lyrical allusions: "the textbook committee," "the history book has lost its binding," and of course "I've got my notebooks and I'm going back to Big School!" -TC
"Hey, Aardvark"
0:51
"Oh, I would like that," indeed. Here is a great example of the Pollard-penned "mini-song." There is no chorus to this song, no verse, or bridge or any real traditional element that you would find in say, a Burt Bacharach classic. In fact, many would consider this item just a "part" of a song. But no, it's complete. It's fully formed, lyrically, and while musically there's not much there, you can tell this acoustic barstool ballad is a keeper. -TC
"Buzzards And Dreadful Crows"
Bee Thousand, 1994
1:43
Buzzards and dreadful crows, two birds that wait and pick on the carcasses of the deceased. In a world that is so wasteful, these two use every scrap to their advantage and survival, much like the Pollard boys, who have crammed more hooks in just over a minute and half than anyone can imagine. There is something in this deal for everyone. -MS
"Tractor Rape Chain"
3:04
Every time I listen to this song, I get a mini heart attack when Bob bursts into the chorus ("Parallel lines!") for the first time. But it's a happy heart attack, an unexpected minor thrill. So even though I still don't know what the hell he's talking about -- what is a tractor rape chain anyway?? I can't resist that unexpected jolt of nonsensical energy. -BF
"The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory"
1:35
(see "Weedking" review, above) -BF
"Hot Freaks"
1:44
You're a naughty little bitch, aren't you? Well don those leather chaps and break out the lube, cause here's your soundtrack to S.E.X. Adorned with explicit crooning ("with a wet spot bigger than a great lake ... she told me 'liquor'"), the well-paced groove seduces the imagination. Thankfully, "This one is better than ever." -TLW
"Smothered In Hugs"
3:00
Pollard's eerie re-telling of the Pied Piper of Hamlin. A mysterious stranger comes to town, and has a strong impact on the community. After being shunned by "the judges and the saints, and the textbook committee," the scene is now set for the Piper to punish the town by leading the children away, and the narrator, for one, is ready to follow. "But I believed you / No need for further questioning / I'm gonna leave with you/ You can teach me all you know." The meaty guitar hooks, haunting vocal performance, and overall muddy production help weave an ominous vignette that leaves the listener wanting more. -MG
"Echos Myron"
2:42
This song is like a mild intoxicant or endorphin enhancer. The sort of tune you can belt out at the top of your lungs while driving around alone in your car. "And shit yeah, it's cool." -BF
"Gold Star For Robot Boy"
1:39
Bee Thousand, to many ears the band's finest achievement, seems to invite the listener to glimpse the embryonic process of crafting a rock and roll classic. Half-formed songs and bits of esoterica are spliced right into the track list, and tunes like this one start without a proper intro, giving the probably accurate impression that blissful rock music was being made constantly in Pollard's basement throughout the early '90s, and someone just happened to stop by and click "record" on a hand-held at the right time to capture this nugget. -TC
"Demons Are Real"
0:48
The most epic 48-second song ever written. This 'un also doubles as an epilogue to a Hardy Boys-like adventure -- you know, the one where the culprit is caught red-handed so he expresses his dying wishes, and confesses why and how he committed the crime, and he would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for those meddling indie kids! -MG
"I Am A Scientist"
2:24
Possibly Pollard's most autobiographical song, this tune was also instrumental in introducing the band to a larger audience, with some modest MTV airplay. The muted hook supports lyrics that seem to search for a rocker's place in society -- is he a journalist because he writes to us to show us, or is he a scientist because he seeks to understand himself? Really, he's "a lost soul / i shoot myself with rock and roll / the hole i dig is bottomless / but nothing else can set me free." -TC
"Do The Earth"
2:42
Surely one of the most-loved B-sides of all time (at least in this household), here's a perfect example of why any GBV collection must include more than the full-length albums. You'd almost believe it's a dance. A foot-stomping, head-shaking romp. But no, this is something different. An aim to commune with nature. A yearning to run through the opium fields, and to play tricks on the invasion boys. -TC
"Shocker In Gloomtown"
1:25
Who else has 85-second songs covered by platinum-selling colleagues and serving as live set cornerstones? Birthed on an EP, no less. It's probably the unmistakeable drum-roll intro, and once again you can't really tell what's going on, but you can't deny the delicious rockuledge: "So tell me: how the hell did we miss it? Bared his ass for all to see / and no one got to kiss it." -TC
"My Impression Now"
2:08
Pollard in full aviator-captain mode: "You told me you'd give your soul to the cause and run to the edge of the war zone." This item brought down the house at fourth-to-last show, Irving Plaza 12/4/04. -TC
"A Salty Salute"
1:29
As potent a call to arms as exists in the band's canon. "This is a flag," Bob explains from the stage, holding aloft his Bud Light and displaying its rectangular label. "Hoist 'em up!" Proud brothers, do not fret. GBV has taken the stage. The club is open! -TC
"Watch Me Jumpstart"
2:24
Musically, it's a call to arms. Lyrically, Bob does his Dylan impression, where each deftly turned phrase could get into Bartlett's: "Hidden longings no longer concealed," "Each new sensation just blows me away," "I'm supernova, erect and white hot!". To the end, this song epitomized the band's energy. The mosh pit would sway, smiling and shouting in unison until "film finished: fade into black." -TC
"As We Go Up, We Go Down"
1:37
The first sign on this most memorable album that pleasant pop will sit alongside spastic out-of-tune yearnings and raucous drinking songs. And yet the calm is undermined by its most poignant line: "I speak in monotone: leave my fucking life alone." -TC
"Game Of Pricks"
1:33
According to GBVDB.com this is the most played live song in the GBV catalog, but beneath the surface of this upbeat rocker is a sad tale of a cheating spouse and the lover that is resigned to set him (or her) free. -MG
"Motor Away"
2:06
This song is like the Indy 500. You can actually feel the cars flying by in the guitar strums. Maybe "Motor Away" has more crashes than your average Brickyard race, but that's what happens when you end each verse line with an open E chord. Those notes played in unison spill forth the essence of classic rock. The lyrics push the vibe even more as Pollard goes for broke and offers up his version of "Thunder Road." The car's outside. Jump in. Speed on. -BF
"My Valuable Hunting Knife"
2:00
An undeniable sparkling treasure in the vast fields of the catalog. And valuable, to boot! As infatuated as Bob is with "Nuggets"-type '70s psych-rock, he needed a fey, handclap-driven single to really cement GBV's place with the lo-fi crowd. And here it was, and it was pretty cute. And the record-store clerks were happy again. -TC
"Ex-Supermodel"
1:06
Clean her up, and behold: a melodically delicate beauty. But, dashed and soiled, used and blotted, she offers something strangely heartbreaking and inevitably more beautiful. -RE
"Blimps Go 90"
1:40
Little Bobby Pop reminisces about his younger days pouring punch for the franchise to earn his knighthood. Can this album get any better? Of course; on with the show. -TC
"Little Whirl"
1:46
And in this corner, Tobin Sprout. Here he turns in another sugary chestnut, folding it into the many layers of strata of this 28-songs-in-40-minutes album and leavening some of the group's deliberate oddities. Extra points for the dissolving harmonies: by the final chorus, multiple tracks of vocals weave in and out of each other, whipping up a joyous cacaphony. -TC
"Dodging Invisible Rays"
2:37
Where do these songs come from? Technically speaking, this one is off the Tigerbomb 7" EP (1995). But what I really mean is: Just how many perfect three-minute pop songs can one band write? It's as though GBV cornered the market on economic indie-rock crack sometime in the late '80s and they've been revealing their stockpiles song-by-song ever since. But we mustn't forget that this band has more than one gifted songwriter. Tobin Sprout is like the George Harrison of GBV and this song is just one of his many oft-overlooked gems. -BF
"He's The Uncle"
1:41
Another great thing about the GBV live experience was how they turned you on to their catalog in concert. When Doug Gillard told me in October that one of his favorite songs to play live was "He's The Uncle," I had to admit I had never heard of it. Of course, it's great. This melodic gem (with a tasty dentist-drill breakdown Gillard must have loved) could fit right in with the group's "hits," and it was presented as just that down the stretch of the band's Electrifying Conclusion tour. -TC
"The Key Losers"
2:14
Bob opens his back pages to his days as a star high-school basketball player, penning a paean to the bench-warmers. "The part-time players; the scrubs." Not a slam-dunk, but an endearing b-side that isn't easily forgotten. -TC
"Quicksilver"
1:06
Gather around kids, time for a sing-along! What's that? You say you are too old for sing-alongs? You say you have grown wise, jaded? You say you have grown up? Stick around, boys and girls, and I promise this tune will wipe away your twentysomething pretensions, turn you wide-eyed, and make you believe, if only for a minute and six seconds, that the urgency of adolescent love of might be the truest sentiment you ever knew. -RE
"Girl Named Captain"
2:02
Accept no substitutes. The drum beat kicks in and you're lost in reverie. Also, one of the best Pollard lines ever closes this baby out: "Raise the dead / A girl named Captain said: / 'I'm not in your dream / get out of mine.'" -TC
"Psychic Pilot Clocks Out"
4:02
In the vein of "Over The Neptune," this live barnstormer features a heady buildup to a triumphant climax, and it helps give Pollard's first "solo" effort a crucial presence in the man's catalog. The four-minute tune doesn't hit its chorus until 3:16 in, after Bobby's done beating you over the head with the verses. In the Suitcase liner notes, one can see these lyrics under the heading "God Bless The Monument Club," and it makes sense. The cut is a tribute to the backyard beer blasts that spawned Guided By Voices and how important they are to its leader. "Service time is lonely / Live it up before you pass away." -TC
"Cut Out Witch"3:04
I had barely heard of Guided By Voices when I first saw them live. I thought, "who are these middle aged SOBs jumping around guzzling beer?" They had ripped through 20 or 30 songs by the time they reached "Cut Out Witch." And though I didn't know the name, I knew I was hearing something life-changing. I bowed my head in reverence, and started tapping my foot on the sticky floor. The simple twangy chord progression hooked me instantly, then BOOM, the sonic assault kicked in. The echoing chorus of "do you think she could change your life?" reached deep into my hopeless romantic psyche. I looked up at the stage and thought "just who are these mother-puckers who came to give my sorry ass the rocking it so desperately needed?" It was my gateway drug, and I still haven't kicked the habit. -TLW
"The Official Ironmen Rally Song"
2:48
Pollard has been known to write song titles first, lyrics and melody later. Some of these songs, such as the Middle Earth-tinged "Kicker of Elves," would come off as mere genre exercises. But with lyrics like "To dine alone / to build a private zone / or trigger a synapse / to free us from our traps," "Official Ironmen" marks a point in time when he started injecting his obtusely titled theme songs with more introspective and poignant lyrics. -MG
"To Remake The Young Flyer"
1:43
Toby's is a different kind of melancholy reflection. It's blurry from reverb, but the emotion is clear. Who or what is this young flyer? We may not know, but we feel for him/it nonetheless. Maybe it's Mr. Sprout himself, whose personality this band will soon expunge, forever doomed to miss "the glory days" of his tour of duty. -TC
"Bright Paper Werewolves"
1:14
At one point in time, Pollard announced his intentions to release his own book of baby names (you know, the kind of list-book that expecting parents flip through to help them decide what to christen their baby). Pollard's volume, however, would be of band names. "Then they finally got recognized, so they left in obscurity and misery." Bright Paper Werewolves could easily have been a tertiary Elephant 6 band, and this is their ballad. -MG
"Lord Of Overstock"
2:34
I just love it when Bob screams stupid shit. Here he seemingly pontificates on capitalism: "But if you've got the money to burn, Then you will be in! Always good faith! For what you are worth! In heaven on earth!" How very lordly of him. -BF
"Acorns & Orioles"
2:12
Bob once spent a summer under house arrest while his friends traveled to Europe. His probation officer, Barrett, would let him make short trips to the grocery store. Once, instead of shopping, he drove out to an abandoned ballfield and smoked a joint. In the distance, he could hear trains migrating. And he wrote this song. Or something like that. -TLW
"Underwater Explosions"
2:02
A lesson in how to write two-minute pop songs. Open with rolling bass line -- man, that Jim Greer sure could play! -- toss in a few lines of lyrics for an obligatory first verse, then get to the chorus as fast as possible. Repeat, then watch the kids sing along with their beers hoisted in the air. One of Bob's simplest, but one of his best. -MF
"Atom Eyes"
1:42
The last of Toby's great mid-'80s-indie-inspired pop tunes -- think dBs, Let's Active, pretty much anything with Ric Menck on drums -- from the last album on which he'd play a major role. Over the years since, Pollard's released some incredible records, but they've all missed Toby's deft hooks, which once provided the perfect complement to Bob's anthemic ones. -MF
"Don't Stop Now"
2:39
Once slated as the closer for the aborted Power Of Suck album, "Don't Stop Now" is the prime directive of GBV's stamina. References to "cock o' the block" and "King Shit and the Golden Boys" aside, what else would you want to hear in the encore of a 3-hour, 52-song show, after two cases of beer have been emptied, but "Don't Stop Now!" -TC
"Drag Days"
2:51
Classic lineup, classic tune. This record's full of 'em, but certainly something special about this one. Everybody's seen drag days, and we know how to escape them too ("within the walls of our fidgety hearts where we hide"). But who else has described them with beautiful bass triplets -- thanks, Jim Greer -- and such an infectious coda? Hm? -TC
"Sheetkickers"
3:18
The last six songs on Under The Bushes are remnants/leftovers of "big-studio" sessions with Steve Albini and Kim Deal. Yeah, real Phil Spector-type characters there. But back in the day, this stuff sounded anathema to what was making GBV famous (the lo-fi, tossed off sound of the two previous albums). So after most of UTB was re-REcorded in Dayton, these items were left off the back cover and presented as afterthoughts. Listening years after the fact, however, it's hard to see how a cut like this doesn't get top billing. An underrated anthem "hidden" on an album chock-a-block with killer tracks. -TC
"If We Wait"
2:53
Again, most modern groups would not be able to pull this off. With arguably their greatest album, Under The Bushes, Under The Stars, just having hit the market with a whopping 24 songs, and being in the midst of a major dissolution/breakup, GBV somehow manages to turn around and drop a 10-song EP on the masses, featuring more than a couple excellent tunes. This is the best of the bunch, an undulating epic whose hazy production doesn't keep its verses from breaking like breathtaking waves. -TC
DON'T STOP NOW...
The list continues with songs from 1997 to present.
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