My Guided By Voices Soundtrack

It’s probably no coincidence that my favorite band happens to be from Dayton, Ohio. These are the songs from throughout the Robert Pollard universe (The Pollardverse?) that have meant the most to me personally over my years of listening. As with all of Robert Pollard’s music, I can’t be 100% sure what any song is about, but I apply my own context and just go with that.

Learning to Hunt – Mag Earwig! (Guided by Voices)

What I hear in the first half of this song is someone making amends with their inner child and the inner child answering in the second half of the song. It’s definitely something I’m trying to work on, too.

Things I Will Keep – Do The Collapse (Guided by Voices)

My high school bestie and I went on our senior year spring break adventure to visit my family in Mansfield, Missouri and while there, we explored a ton of winding country roads in the middle of nowhere. At one point we were VERY lost* but listening to this song on repeat kept us optimistic. We still text the other one when this comes up in shuffle here and there!

*For my younger readers, in the days before smartphones with data plans, we didn’t have free access to GPS. There was a feature on our flip phones called VZ Navigator, but when you opened it, even by accident, it charged your parents’ wireless bill $25, which meant you were better off taking your chances possibly succumbing to the elements in the Ozark wilderness.

Everybody Thinks I’m a Raincloud (When I’m Not Looking) – Half Smiles of the Decomposed (Guided by Voices)

I remember being 18 and in NYC with a school trip and binging hard on this album over and over. It was an album I was listening to on heavy rotation during that big chapter ending/beginning of life, going from high school to college, so naturally it’s burned in there a bit.

Dancing Girls and Dancing Men – From a Compound Eye (Robert Pollard)

I happened to fall in love with Guided by Voices riiiiiight as they were calling it quits in 2004. It was sort of bittersweet for me – I knew I had a huge pile of albums and EPs to get caught up on but it was a bummer thinking I would never get to see them live (except for X-Fest ’99, but I wasn’t paying enough attention, not realizing this would become my favorite band). So, when Robert Pollard started touring on his solo albums around this time frame, I was overjoyed. He was playing with other people I really liked, too, namely Jason Narducy of Verboten and Jon Wurster of The Mountain Goats. This song reminds me of all those great concerts following them around that tour.

I Am a Scientist – Bee Thousand (Guided by Voices)

I put Bee Thousand above but for me this is a song from the X Fest ’99 CD. There are three songs on the CD from GBV’s performance: Teenage FBI and My Valuable Hunting Knife are the other two. And either one of them could have been the one I picked, I just like how this song in particular deals so much with self reflection.

X Fest ’99 (September 14, 1999) and the weeks leading up to it were my first exposure to GBV. Ahead of the festival, WXEG (The X @ 103.9) played Teenage FBI especially heavily and the other two songs quite a bit, too. I remember seeing them on stage and being surprised they were all older than I imagined. But they were also more energetic than just about any other band that day and a lot more fun to watch.

The Brides Have Hit Glass – Isolation Drills (Guided by Voices)

Isolation Drills is my favorite GBV album and I especially love The Brides Have Hit Glass. One of my favorite concert memories is at the 2016 show at Oddbody’s because Robert Pollard’s sisters wanted me to be in the front with them so I could see (I’m 5’0”). It was such a fun experience and I had mentioned I was especially hoping to hear The Brides Have Hit Glass, so when it came up in the set list, they were jumping up and down with me to celebrate. Bob noticed us all freaking out and pointed at me – it was such an unexpected and exciting thing to happen at a show I was just happy to be at in the first place. Plus, being able to actually see the band at a concert is a rare treat for someone my height!

Want to hear more great songs? Check out this list. Learn more about Robert Pollard’s record label, Rockathon Records, in my exclusive interview.

Many thanks and much love to GBVDB for being there to help me get my thoughts together for this and all of my GBV-related articles.