Guided By Voices

asianate · 03-22-2012, 12:24 PM

This may be a shot in the dark, but is anybody into or has anybody listened to Guided by Voices? Robert Pollard is the founder and is, in my opinion, a very unique songwriter.

youtube... .com/watch?v=5MTzCxFlT8g

(can't post links yet, just registered

)

He writes a lot of different styles of music, so if you don't like one album, then check out another album. His collection of written songs is mind-blowing. He has his fair share of ear-bleeding songs, but the good songs make up for it. One hell of an underrated musician through my eyes.

Surell · 03-26-2012, 09:49 PM

I need to get more sleep, on first glance i thought that post said something about written songs and blowjobs.

But Guided By Voices are deffff. a fantastic Indie/Noise Rock group, extremely catchy but really raw. I could definitely see where all the jangly feedbacky Indie Pop of today stems from. Also, they're pretty hot live, with their Bee Thousand lineup performing (what i'm familiar with now); great energy and sound.

Btw, can anyone see the Indie rock aesthetic GBV were going for being rooted in something like Captain Beefheart on "Troutmaskreplica (misspelling)"? I've been contemplating this for awhile.

Howard the Duck · 03-26-2012, 10:33 PM

i have most of their essentials

but i'm like, so over them, by now

i really ought to revisit the albums that I have

Black Francis · 01-31-2013, 09:55 PM

i like MOST of their songs, others i think are crap..
But they have TOO MANY songs..

ive noticed many ppl have said 'i am scientists' is one of their fav but i never liked that song lol

i prefer 'The Best of Jill hives' over it, never paid much attention to the lyrics until recently but they're great

When i first heard GBV i thought "That singer has an amazing voice"
And i still think so..

also, is it just me but in this song do they sound like Interpol? lol

OccultHawk · 04-29-2019, 07:49 PM

Wiki says they have 25 full length studio records. Over the past little while, around three months or so, I’ve been on a steady diet of one Guided by Voices record every two or three days. I just counted up the number of records I’ve listened to and it’s 35. According to wiki Pollard is a major contributor to 100 records now and has 2000 songs registered with Broadcast Music, Inc. It's my sincere intention to listen to everything he’s ever recorded because there is no one in the history of pop music with anywhere close to quantity of very very high quality songs. It’s insane. On those 35 Guided by Voices records it's machine gun fire great hooks and great melodies. He (and to a degree they) rip them out, and they have so many they’ve started the next one before you even know they threw the last one out.

Going through the discography is a must because it’s the magnitude of it that forces you to gape in awe of the beauty. It’s like hiking in the Grand Canyon. There’s gems of beauty around every corner but the astonishing thing is to look over the edge and let the incredible enormity of the thing wash over you. Guided by Voices is the Grand Canyon of rock’n’roll bands.

The lo-fi apparently unfinished approach isn’t rebellious, by the time of Alien Lanes, 20 years since the Sex Pistols there’s nothing to rebel against. They’re not commenting on earlier approaches they’re presenting the same product in musical shorthand. It works so well because we know the influences so well. They present you with the crucial emotional moments of Tommy or Revolver without all the fanfare but not because the fanfare is pompous. They understand the fanfare is great. They’re actually using all the production and buildup and bridges built by The Who and the Beatles to take us to the GBV moments of glory. It doesn’t need to be recreated because Tommy and Revolver are already imprinted in our DNA. Those hooks wouldn’t work if their predecessors hadn’t already guided us there.

No one else has done anything like this. It’s an extension of classic rock that seems like indie but it’s really classic rock because it can only be understood completely if your mind can fill in what’s not there. And you have to be very well versed in the music it’s built on to do that. You have to hear what isn’t there and it’s not there because you don’t need to hear it again. You got it.

WWWP · 04-30-2019, 12:20 PM

Nah man Pollard is a goat

Post-punk X-Man parked his fork-lift
Like a billion stars flickering from the grinder's wheel
Lower hybrid clad in metal
In subgroup tools
Excused from schools
To fathom hell

WWWP · 04-30-2019, 12:23 PM

Gbv got the quality and the quantity

WWWP · 04-30-2019, 12:38 PM

Tbh I only really listen to alien lanes and bee thousand these days so I feel you

OccultHawk · 04-30-2019, 12:48 PM

Quote:

how many albums can you make like that without risking some adventure

I’m speaking to the genius of 35 unassailable masterpieces.

OccultHawk · 04-30-2019, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WWWP

Tbh I only really listen to alien lanes and bee thousand these days so I feel you

That’s why I took the time to write up my thoughts like that. Nobody is going to keep the entire discography on rotation but it’s a journey I recommend taking at least once.

03-22-2012, 12:24 PM	#51 (permalink)
asianate Groupie Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Connecticut Posts: 1	Guided By Voices This may be a shot in the dark, but is anybody into or has anybody listened to Guided by Voices? Robert Pollard is the founder and is, in my opinion, a very unique songwriter. youtube... .com/watch?v=5MTzCxFlT8g (can't post links yet, just registered ) He writes a lot of different styles of music, so if you don't like one album, then check out another album. His collection of written songs is mind-blowing. He has his fair share of ear-bleeding songs, but the good songs make up for it. One hell of an underrated musician through my eyes.

04-29-2019, 07:49 PM	#55 (permalink)
OccultHawk one-balled nipple jockey Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Dirty Souf Biatch Posts: 22,006	Wiki says they have 25 full length studio records. Over the past little while, around three months or so, I’ve been on a steady diet of one Guided by Voices record every two or three days. I just counted up the number of records I’ve listened to and it’s 35. According to wiki Pollard is a major contributor to 100 records now and has 2000 songs registered with Broadcast Music, Inc. It's my sincere intention to listen to everything he’s ever recorded because there is no one in the history of pop music with anywhere close to quantity of very very high quality songs. It’s insane. On those 35 Guided by Voices records it's machine gun fire great hooks and great melodies. He (and to a degree they) rip them out, and they have so many they’ve started the next one before you even know they threw the last one out. Going through the discography is a must because it’s the magnitude of it that forces you to gape in awe of the beauty. It’s like hiking in the Grand Canyon. There’s gems of beauty around every corner but the astonishing thing is to look over the edge and let the incredible enormity of the thing wash over you. Guided by Voices is the Grand Canyon of rock’n’roll bands. The lo-fi apparently unfinished approach isn’t rebellious, by the time of Alien Lanes, 20 years since the Sex Pistols there’s nothing to rebel against. They’re not commenting on earlier approaches they’re presenting the same product in musical shorthand. It works so well because we know the influences so well. They present you with the crucial emotional moments of Tommy or Revolver without all the fanfare but not because the fanfare is pompous. They understand the fanfare is great. They’re actually using all the production and buildup and bridges built by The Who and the Beatles to take us to the GBV moments of glory. It doesn’t need to be recreated because Tommy and Revolver are already imprinted in our DNA. Those hooks wouldn’t work if their predecessors hadn’t already guided us there. No one else has done anything like this. It’s an extension of classic rock that seems like indie but it’s really classic rock because it can only be understood completely if your mind can fill in what’s not there. And you have to be very well versed in the music it’s built on to do that. You have to hear what isn’t there and it’s not there because you don’t need to hear it again. You got it. __________________ 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Member of the Year & Journal of the Year Champion Behold the Writing of THE LEGEND: https://www.musicbanter.com/members-...p-lighter.html

01-31-2013, 09:55 PM	#54 (permalink)
Black Francis Out of Place Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: in an abstract house Posts: 4,111	i like MOST of their songs, others i think are crap.. But they have TOO MANY songs.. ive noticed many ppl have said 'i am scientists' is one of their fav but i never liked that song lol i prefer 'The Best of Jill hives' over it, never paid much attention to the lyrics until recently but they're great When i first heard GBV i thought "That singer has an amazing voice" And i still think so.. also, is it just me but in this song do they sound like Interpol? lol