POLLSTAL BLOWFISH - ILM Artist Poll #8 - Guided By Voices - ReSuLtS!!!

52 ballots received (and, it appears, at least three ballots not received...a deadline's a deadline). Today we'll begin with the top ten albums list and pick up the tracks rollout Tuesday morning.

http://i.imgur.com/FaG83.jpg

Fuck yeah!

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vtbFqfFAZnM/TgXYMvLPkbI/AAAAAAAAAVU/J_dWpGhVHa8/s320/pollard.jpg

For the albums, I just assigned 5 points to your first choice, 4 points to your second, and so on. A total of 23 different releases received at least one vote, many of them by just a single voter. Here are the top ten.

http://i.imgur.com/Ywknr.jpg

10. FAST JAPANESE SPIN CYCLE EP / 1994 (4 points)

I remember buying that one. I think I got it at Best Buy?!?

Seriously? I don't think I've ever seen GbV at a Best Buy, except the TVT stuff right when it came out.

My Best Buy was pretty cool! I had a friend who worked there. I got Boss Hogg and Sebadoh cds there too iirc.

lol 90s

That's pretty awesome. I honestly wonder if there are ways in which Best Buy employees were (they clearly don't anymore) able to have in stocking certain music, because I remember certain stores being much more well-stocked in certain genres than others. For example, there used to be a Best Buy out near Wheeling by an old office of mine that was really, really well stocked on metal stuff, even semi-obscure stuff.

Yeah, I had a pretty cool Best Buy too. Lots of indie cds bought in the 1993-97 range before I started getting online and ordering from labela/distros.

http://i.imgur.com/6B4gt.jpg

9. TONICS AND TWISTED CHASERS / 1996 (5 points)

^^ sign of quality voters imo

When it got issued on cd in 1997, I think it was one of the first things I ordered/bought online...direct from Rockathon.

Man, still going to have so much listening to do! Didn't vote for favorite albums, cause my votes would have been fairly worthless. More interested to see what others have to say about most things GBV.

damn, forgot to include an album ballot ;_; I think I'm gonna regret it if Same Place won't place

Also forgot the album vote. No prob though.

too busy to vote but can't wait for the spotify playlist.

V79 i can assure you that at least one person voted for it

http://i.imgur.com/HqqC6.jpg

8. SAME PLACE THE FLY GOT SMASHED / 1990 (7 points)

(this always happens in polls! people start talking about something and it's the very next thing to come up.)

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay

hard to pick my favorite song from this album, but hard way -- drinker's peace -- mammoth cave -- when she turns 50 is a great string of songs. excellent album to sing the hell out of on a road trip.

The 5 albums list was tough because I could pretty much argue for any of them on any given day, depending on what type of Pollard mood I'm in that week - pop Pollard? proggy Pollard? etc etc etc

what's that you're eating?
could be midleading.

oof

MISLEADING

you don't wanna know

:))) thanks LL! (and everyone else who voted for this one)

and you're OTM about that great string of songs. and then there are, of course, Local Mix-up and the closer!

i've always thought of it as a hit parade
also i would like to reiterate that mammoth cave is an excellent tourist destination and everyone should visit it. hiking, history, nature, mammoth underground caves.

I meant to go there several times when I lived in Nashville (where it was reasonably nearby), but never did. :(

oh, so it's a tourist destination? so nice to know

2004, second trip to mammoth cave, something fucking stinks in here
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6166/6185047123_e9dfa14aa5_m.jpg

it's a national park!

http://i.imgur.com/uGx5s.jpg

7. ISOLATION DRILLS / 2001 (10 points)

Ok, too low. I think Isolation Drills is a very underrated album.

Same Place the Fly Got Smashed is really good. Really glad to get turned on to it.

Really like some of the unhinged Pollard moments. He really sings the hell out of some of these songs.

they've got at least 10 albums better than ID. it's good, but misses greatness to my ears. most boring show i saw by them was on that tour.

Disappointed that "Mammoth Cave" the song isn't included in this list of music composed in the honor of Mammoth Cave (the place)
http://www.nps.gov/maca/photosmultimedia/sounscapes.htm

Still, one of the oldest tourist attractions in the US -- began tours in 1816!

I also agree that Isolation Drills shows were dull. I felt like they had drank a bit too much Kool Aid at that point.

yeah. gillard was always good, but the rest of the band, it sort of felt like they had picked a few fans out of the crowd.

xp hey thanks, the more you know!

re ID, I just hope for a good placing of "Chasing Heather Crazy". like, top 10 would be nice enough

ID was my #3. Love it.

The show I saw for that tour was pretty good. Pretty debauched. I think that was Pollard's tequila stage. I will agree that the lows on that album are pretty low but 'Glad Girls'? 'Run Wild'? 'Chasing Heather Crazy'? 'The Brides Have Hit Glass'?

well, yeah, those songs are great!

I don't really like any of them tbh -- esp Glad Girls. I don't have a lot of negativity about GBV to offer, but that song always felt really lame to me, kinda lowest common denominator "give them what they want" boring rock song. Maybe it sounds half-hearted/uninspired? I dunno.

If there is anything I've learned about GBV fans over the years it's that there are as many different types as there are types of GBV songs.

Hmm, I voted for "Glad Girls", it possesses a certain steam-rollering quality imho, the song "drives" to my ears.

http://i.imgur.com/uuwFO.jpg

6. VAMPIRE ON TITUS / 1993 (12 points)

i dunno, i was all for GBV making a polished, radio-friendly rock album and ID comes closest to that. but there's just too much boring stuff on there -- i mean, if pollard had taken the hits from speak kindly of your volunteer etc. and put them on there, he'd have a classic, maybe?

Don't rate ID among their best at all though.

Not much to say about VoT really. I could spend twice as much time with it as I have and still not know it that well, though when I hear individual songs from it I think "hey, that's a really good one!"

http://i.imgur.com/iAoGP.jpg

5. MAG EARWHIG! / 1997 (13 points)

(perhaps not my favorite GBV album, but definitely my favorite GBV album cover.)

yeah, that's a nice one

If you want to know what lurks in the mind of the Tobin Sprout hater: GBV's best moments, for me, are their most desperate--the poster child being for that strain being Vampire--and Sprout tends to mar that mood with his whimsical doings (see: "Gleemer"). Of course now I'm taking a closer look at the credits and he's all over the rest of the damn thing, so...

Aside from Bulldog Skin, never understood the love for this album. But then I like Isolation Drills.

Not much to say about VoT really. I could spend twice as much time with it as I have and still not know it that well, though when I hear individual songs from it I think "hey, that's a really good one!"
otm

I had the VoT/Propeller combo cd and I'll admit that I skipped to Over the Neptune/Mesh Gear Fox at least 2/3 of the time. It's not that I don't like it, but I never really gave it a full chance. How could it have a chance next to Propeller?!

i think mag earwig is a bit too much of a hodge podge (not that bob can't make a masterpiece out of a hodge podge). again, great stuff on here, but not terribly consistent.

I like the hodge podginess - I just don't feel particularly moved by most of the songs. The "get wild!" part of Bulldog Skin is enough to buoy me through a bunch of boring songs.

did not in my airforce come out the same year as ME? i think i ended up liking that one better.
the cobra verde-era live shows were pretty great though, even if it was initially disappointing that the classic lineup was gone.

I think Airforce came out in 96 (the same day, or maybe month, as Tobin's Carnival Boy). We didn't find out until 97 that they weren't going to be working together in GBV anymore.

Aside from Bulldog Skin, never understood the love for this album.

― righteousmaelstrom, Monday, September 26, 2011 5:29 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark

This is the opposite for me! I don't like Bulldog Skin (anymore ~ it's like Nada Surf's 'Popular', for a lot of people "that one song by that one band that had a cool video"), but man are there some gems on ME. 'Learning to Hunt', 'Not Behind the Fighter Jet', 'Choking Tara', 'I Am A Tree'...

Well, I think I voted for songs from ME the most, didn't keep count.

Yeah, I definitely like a lot of songs on ME!, but Bulldog Skin isn't one of them.

so many lovely ballady things on ME.

^^ yeah I'm a sucker for those introspective GBV moments. At least more than all GBV aficionados I know. Lol melancholy soul.

I'm a right sucker for GBV's moments of spleen

http://i.imgur.com/GM1pm.jpg

4. UNDER THE BUSHES UNDER THE STARS / 1996 (39 points)

ahaaa, here's one i voted for. classic through and through (including the amazing bonus ep)

my #1; not the first i heard (that was alien lanes), but the first i bought and imo a perfect sweet spot between the early period chaos and late period fm radio friendliness.

Sometimes I'm pretty sure this is my favorite.

the record that linked between gbv lo to hi fi

Had I got my ballot in, UTBUTS would have been my #1

It's a really warm record, both in recording techniques and in the songwriting. I wear it like a blanket.

would love an expanded version of this record --seems like there are a bunch of tracks from the albini sessions floating around? at least those few that greer has posted.

Just fwiw, #3 only beat #4 by a single point and #1 only beat #2 by a single point...so some real tight races. #3 coming up...

http://i.imgur.com/qG1B1.jpg

3. PROPELLER / 1992 (40 points)

Sorry if I've not been paying attention, but are the "most hated tracks" calculated in the countdown song list?

I didn't vote for "hated" tracks tbh

There wasn't enough consensus of any kind to even bother with a hated tracks countdown. The (optional) exercise was all for naught.

Thanks.

i wonder what the top 2 will be ;)

hmmm

Universal Truths and Sandbox, of course. oops! Spoiler!

still holding out for Do The Collapse here

but yeah, propellor! i remember getting that one after bee thousand, alien lanes, various EPs, and just thinking before listening, this one can't be that good, how could one band be so good! of course, propellor is just like one peak after the next. it's ridiculous.

We all know the top two. Should I post them together and then let them both be discussed at once, or do them one at a time?

just roll em both out

xp Propeller is probably their most idea-heavy record and the first time which the big ideas were successfully translated into listenable recordings. I love the crap out of that record.

Like the Vampire On Titus/Propeller CD, put them together. My introduction to GBV was a friend putting one on one side of cassette and the other on side B.

http://i.imgur.com/5TgQT.jpg

2. BEE THOUSAND / 1994 (88 points)

http://i.imgur.com/CE5Be.jpg

1. ALIEN LANES / 1995 (89 points)

haha, almost a tie!

haha I flipped Bee Thousand from #1 to #2 and put Alien Lanes #1 right before I sent my ballot in o_0

I forgot about voting in the albums, just got too focused on the tracks and it slipped my mind. Would have voted Alien Lanes at #1 though so all is well.

wow! genuinely shocked that B1000 came in second!

At one point behind, it's not that shocking.

i like bee thousand a bit more but yeah it really doesn't matter either way

I think the right album won. I've always like AL slightly more than B1000.

I didn't submit my own albums ballot, but it probs would've been UTBUTS/Propeller/Alien Lanes/B1000 and then something else in 5th place (Half Smiles? Earthquake Glue?).

alien lanes is better because its longer

here's my claim to GBV semi (not really) fame. i'm in the crowd here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnyEJ36rmDc
pumping my fist wildly.

used to be no way I would ever consider putting anything above Bee Thousand but Alien Lanes crept up kinda the same way Crooked Rain is my favorite Pavement now over Slanted

I voted for King Shit & the Golden Boys in fifth

Alien Lanes 	89
Bee Thousand 	88
Propeller 	40
Under the Bushes, Under the Stars 	39
Mag Earwhig! 	13
Vampire on Titus 	12
Isolation Drills 	10
Same Place the Fly Got Smashed 	7
Tonics and Twisted Chasers 	5
Fast Japanese Spin Cycle EP 	4
Do the Collapse 	3
Earthquake Glue 	3
Universal Truths and Cycles 	3
Crying Your Knife Away 	2
Half Smiles of the Decomposed 	2
King Shit & The Golden Boys 	2
Live at the Wheelchair Races 	1
Not in My Airforce 	1
Sandbox 	1
Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia 	1
Suitcase 	1
Sunfish Holy Breakfast EP 	1
Waved Out 	1

wow, splendid. Alien Lanes would obv be my no. 1 too, had I submitted an album ballot. but honestly speaking, they're both sides of the same coin to me - B1000 is the weird indie rock one, while AL is straight up powerpop, a shameless hookfest, almost a medley of 28 hooks.

Damn, I really need to listen to Propeller. I got into GBV with Bee Thousand, and never listened to the earlier albums until Box came out. But VoT and Propeller weren't included in that box set, so I never got around to those two albums. Putting them on my iPod right NOW.

Propeller's really dope, "Quality of Armor" was #21 on my ballot, a close shave

Propeller is awesome. It is on the vinyl version of Box but not the CD version (I guess because Scat had put that double-CD out by then).

GBV! GBV! GBV!

Cool, the top 5 albums was my top 5 - except I had Propeller and Under The Bushes... swapped over. Propeller has gone up in my estimation after revisiting it for voting purposes, definitely feels to me like a massive jump in quality from the earlier records.

who else voted for crying your knife away!!?
high 5, homie

Never even heard of that one!

crying your knife away is so good. that's actually where i heard a lot of those songs first -- i think i bought it pretty soon after i got bee thousand (pre Alien Lanes!), didn't even know it was a bootleg. was crazy to hear the beautiful, real version of if we wait after the insane singalong on CYKA.

It was just you. The #4 album on people's album ballots got 2 points.

I'll high 5 you anyway, tho.

oh man
thanks for not leaving me hanging

CYKA is the one where GBV cover "Invisible Man"

*off to youtube*

i have listened to that so much that i sing along with the ridiculous stage banter

WHERE'S MIKE HUMMEL

youtube came up short :(

yeah! and the way they start playing postal blowfish, but some lee hazlewood song is still playing in the background!

and the breeders cover!

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ZEKpC0lkL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

crying your knife away has such a classic album cover. I was stoked when I first got it. never listen to any of the live albums any more though. Jellyfish Reflector is probably the best one I think.

I think you HAVE to be drunk to listen to CYKA all the way though. they are so wasted.

I mean that cover makes my eyes light up with Ohio pride, for reals. The whole album does, but the cover looks like home. (I have gone for a ride in the Goodyear blimp btw, it's awesome)

album's comin out on scat matador records
you gotta say matador cuz it's more ~prestigious~

we should all pile into a bus and go on a massive gbv singalong road trip across the midwest
how embarrassing would that be

The "official" countdown is from 50-1, but I've got a little bit of spare time today (that I wasn't anticipating) if you guys are interested in a 60-51 bonus round!

Considering the amount of GBV songs, seems like 60 is warranted to me

a roll-in would be much appreciated, of course

TIE 60. "My Kind of Soldier" (Earthquake Glue, 2003) [110 points, 5 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NaiQYgaSSw

that's a good lighthearted little song

This is a pretty late period track in the 90s mold. Others I like more on Earthquake Glue (especially The Main Street Wizards), but I totally understand why this one got a few votes tossed its way.

i think it goes without saying that i will participate in discussion of 60-1 with as much irritating zeal as 50-1.

i like the phonemic compatibility of soldier/shoulder; Pollard's appreciation of word sounds has always impressed me

TIE 60. "Chicken Blows" (Alien Lanes, 1995) [110 points, 5 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH3GkxqrwQQ

I guess there's not much sense in shouting "TOO LOW" every time an AL cut shows up, is there

I didn't vote for anything from Earthquake Glue but 'My Kind Of Soldier' is one of my two or three favourites on there.

I love the backing vocals in 'Chicken Blows'.

I love the way my kind of soldier ends. It's very satisfying.

I was coincidentally singing this one just a few minutes ago. I also love how trippy the slowed down snippet on "Back To Saturn X Report" sounds like

i wonder when chicken blows was actually recorded, since it shows up in fragmentary form on back to saturn x. ha xpost
such a gorgeous, weird song.

58. "Postal Blowfish" (outtake, 1993) [111 points, 5 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uZJaVWWuks

This was the only version I could find on youtube. Can anyone confirm or deny that this is the re-recorded Brain Candy version? Because I remember the original being a little more "shambling".

this sounds like the brain candy version to me.
is there a version on king shit and the golden boys? that one iirc is more lo-fi.

when I fist heard "Chicken Blows" it wasn't that beautiful, nautical strangeness of recording that struck me first. what I noticed was how it blatantly references The Beatles with it's oh-ed backing vocals. yeah, I know

xp as far as I remember from Spotify that's the re-recorded version

57. "Bulldog Skin" (Mag Earwhig!, 1997) [116 points, 6 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFqBp3rfTTc

^ don't think I'd ever seen that video before today. Uh, cute.

#1 will be Dragons Awake! i am calling it right now

Hah, two of mine already showing up. And I thought mine would be obvious high-placing songs (which I am sure a lot of them will be). I had Postal Blowfish pretty high (love that version above). Just one of those songs I never get tired of for some reason.

Likewise. Kind of embarrassing, I think, but w/e. Song sounds way better without the Wonder Years footage.

Ha, I really don't like 'Bulldog Skin' at all.

Same here.

Chicken Blows is like the best bootleg White Album demo ever

Same here, don't like it. Thought it was a candidate for "hated tracks" but found I really couldn't create a "hated songs"-list of GBV

60th seems about right for "My Kind of Soldier" and "Chicken Blows" which are both fine but never really close to making my ballot. Not crazy about the other two.

is there a version on king shit and the golden boys? that one iirc is more lo-fi.

yes. and yes more lo-fi.

actually think of the blowfish from crying your knife away as definitive.
fun song to cover. so easy! (and a lot of GBV songs are deceptively difficult -- pollard uses strange chords).

56. "Key Losers" (outtake, 1995) [124 points, 5 votes, 1 #1 vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emIlqw1xMjE

This one I actually vote for, though fairly low on my ballot. Was hoping to see it make the top 50, too bad.

Man, I had no idea that Doug Gillard had recorded I Am a Tree before joining GBV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06LeARpYqo0&feature=related

Really thought Postal Blowfish was more loved (not to beat a dead horse here). Love the build up at the end, especially in that Brain Candy version, lots of cool guitar parts. Guess that's all Gillard?

Brain Candy version would've been pre-Gillard.

fun song to cover. so easy!

I have an mp3 of the Grifters covering it live

and yeah I thought the song the *poll was named for* might place higher? I voted it pretty high.

yeah i think the postal blowfish on brain candy is still "classic lineup" gbv? could be wrong.

non-album track etc etc

I thought the song the *poll was named for* might place higher

The song the Led Zeppelin poll was named for didn't make the countdown at all. To be honest, top 60 is a pretty good result when there were 80 million songs to choose from.

I like Postal Blowfish but it's not one of my favorites.

yeah i think the postal blowfish on brain candy is still "classic lineup" gbv? could be wrong.

I think so. There were a lot of songs around then that had a lo-fi and hi-fi version like Motor Away and I Am a Scientist but most of em all had the same guys playing on them

Would anyone be terribly offended if I asked if there are any other female voters here? Just curious.

55. "Huffman Prairie Flying Field" (Half Smiles of the Decomposed, 2004) [125 points, 4 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGYvY2unqVo

(Until the news that there would be upcoming GBV material, this would've been the final album track ever released by the band. A fine sign-off imo.)

Oh man I tooooooooooooooootally love this song. Quintessential GBV.

The song the Led Zeppelin poll was named for didn't make the countdown at all.

A good pun trumps all.

i'm happy then you didn't call this one, say, Tracks Poll Rape Chain

"Polled hands, touching my face"

Buzzards and Dreadful Polls

Club POLLuska

Robert POLLard

54. "Big Boring Wedding" (Under the Bushes Under the Stars, 1996) [125 points, 5 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKGprtQJwSY

woo!

Great track. Scraped my top 20, but I just couldn't make room for it.

53. "Everybody Thinks I'm a Raincloud (When I'm Not Looking)" (Half Smiles of the Decomposed, 2004) [130 points, 6 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MTzCxFlT8g

^ Another near miss from my ballot. Given a second draft now, it likely would be on there.

52. "Gleemer (The Deeds of Fertile Jim)" (Vampire on Titus, 1993) [131 points, 6 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvsGMlgK0fs

That's a good one.

could this be a brand new low? a brand new love? what is he saying?
either way, so nice, maybe my favorite song on VOT.
kind of long for a gbv song, but i wish it was longer!

Last one for today. The "official" countdown begins tomorrow (50-36, then 35-21, then the top 20 on Thursday)...

51. "Little Whirl" (Alien Lanes, 1995) [136 points, 6 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1H0_NhJar8

"chicken blows" was in my most-hated tracks

None of my picks in those. Looking forward to the rest of the list.

my favourite Tobin song off of Alien Lanes. it's just so euphoric with its waves of overdrive, masses of compressed sounds. I can't shake off the feeling that Sprout sang this one with a huge smile on his face.

For stragglers:

TIE 60. "My Kind of Soldier" (Earthquake Glue, 2003) [110 points, 5 votes]
TIE 60. "Chicken Blows" (Alien Lanes, 1995) [110 points, 5 votes]
58. "Postal Blowfish" (outtake, 1993) [111 points, 5 votes]
57. "Bulldog Skin" (Mag Earwhig!, 1997) [116 points, 6 votes]
56. "The Key Losers" (outtake, 1995) [124 points, 5 votes, 1 #1 vote]
55. "Huffman Prairie Flying Field" (Half Smiles of the Decomposed, 2004) [125 points, 4 votes]
54. "Big Boring Wedding" (Under the Bushes Under the Stars, 1996) [125 points, 5 votes]
53. "Everybody Thinks I'm a Raincloud (When I'm Not Looking)" (Half Smiles of the Decomposed, 2004) [130 points, 6 votes]
52. "Gleemer (The Deeds of Fertile Jim)" (Vampire on Titus, 1993) [131 points, 6 votes]
51. "Little Whirl" (Alien Lanes, 1995) [136 points, 6 votes]

it's my only pick (#12 on my ballot) so far to show up

man 3 of my top 20 already knocked out in there

Chicken Blows just missed the cut for me. And of course, Bulldog Skin was on my ballot.

Bulldog Skin was on mine as well. Just makes me happy.

This was one track I voted for ("Key Losers") and a whole bunch of tracks that were fine but I never really considered voting for. I guess that's about right for 60-51

Spotify playlist: http://open.spotify.com/user/sp10000/playlist/5QWljGgTEhj3DPiXtmkYU7

Little Whirl and Big Boring Wedding both made my lists. The chicks are back!

lol "brand new low" never even occurred to me, but I thought "Captain's Dead" started thusly:

Captain's dead, the woman -- she has fled

haha

ha, i really did not know, but i looked it up

I'm sitting on 2 heads
"Some seat" I heard some said
Just waiting for Sunday
Four days after Wednesday

The higher clouds are closing in
To hide the deeds of Fertile Jim

Could this be a brand new low
One that we can't talk about
One that we can't live without
One that we can join in now

I'm standing on 2 feet
Now buried in concrete
Just waiting for sundown
So as to be not found

The higher clouds are closing in
To hide the deeds of Fertile Jim

Could this be a brand new low
One that we can't talk about
One that we can't live without
One that we can join in now

The only one I voted for today was "Bulldog Skin" : such a power rocker. I thought about voting for "Gleemer" but 20's a tough # to fit with this band.

Was listening to a fairly random GBV playlist on my way into work. Only one track I voted for was on the selection, but realised that if I hadn't done an instant top-of-my-head 20, I could have been there all week trying to winnow it down. So many good songs.

Too bad that 'Key Losers' isn't better known. If it had been included on one of the '94-'96 albums, it would have placed MUCH higher. BTW, who had it at #1? It was my number 3.

Kicking it off for today in 3...2...1...

50. "As We Go Up, We Go Down" (Alien Lanes, 1995) [138 points, 8 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7FqlArPFwI

(My friend Danny actually made this video for it, so yeah.)

Good start.

49. "I Am a Tree" (Mag Earwhig!, 1997) [150 points, 6 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV1fPyh53Ik

definitely my most listened GBV song, all time guitar lick

Just realized I should have voted for Kicker of Elves.

I almost voted "Kicker of Elves"! It's a ridiculous song that I find myself singing for a laugh all the time.

I swear that Doug Gillard ripped off the first part of the main riff from 'I Am A Tree' from some 70's hard rock band (I wanna say it was Head East but it's not). I will find it someday. Definitely the most "classic rock" of their songs.

voted "I Am A Tree" pretty high too

48. "Closer You Are" (Alien Lanes, 1995) [150 points, 8 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTEcNruLS3Y

Seeing these Alien Lanes songs come in that I did not vote for makes me realize that I could have just voted the first 20 AL songs with an exception here or there and been pretty happy with my ballot.

Yeah, we've had here 2 Alien Lanes songs that didn't make my ballot but very easily could have (ended up with 4 AL songs on my ballot, easily could have been 8 or so)

One of mine finally made the list!

ha, i think "as we go up" is the first song i voted for that's shown up. so beautiful and seemingly effortless.

47. "Everywhere With Helicopter" (Universal Truths and Cycles, 2002) [152 points, 9 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRMobFKG-a4

The number 47 already getting 9 votes can only mean: monster poll. Love it.

Woo! One of the songs that shows not the transformation from lo-fi to hi-fi, but the transformation into a band capable of rocking so tight and hard.

the only AL song i voted for hasn't showed up yet, but i know it will. i woke up this morning trying to remember the name of the song that contains the lyrics "under the bushes, under the stars".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-uZAwh7KLk

9 votes with 152 points means a lot of people had this at the bottom of their ballot. I myself voted for it, at number 15. I've always thought it was the best song on Universal Truths & Cycles.

Yay, Helicopter. Best part of that song is ROOF TO FLOOR.

Even more than "I Am a Tree," I think "Helicopter" is their most fully put-together big rawk song. I used to love it originally, but now I'm a little over it. What it makes up for in flash and sound quality, it lacks in some of the other things I like about GBV. Gold bless Doug Gillard, but he's no Mitch Mitchell.

I love Gillard's solo on Helicopter ... Not usually a fan of solos.

The live version is better than the original imo. Rates pretty high on the "makes me flip out when I hear it" scale. I can't really say that for, I dunno, "Chicken Blows".

great track. The guitar solo reminds me of late 90s Bad Religion.

46. "Do the Earth" (I Am a Scientist EP, 1994) [154 points, 7 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIC2mqWerR0

Great song. Just missed out on my ballot.

At the risk of offending some people, I've got to admit that Doug Gillard's overplaying ruins a lot of late-period GBV for me - not that he does it all the time but nonetheless...

the only AL song i voted for hasn't showed up yet, but i know it will. i woke up this morning trying to remember the name of the song that contains the lyrics "under the bushes, under the stars".

― some lady (La Lechera), Tuesday, September 27, 2011 2:53 PM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark

Bunco Men from the first Suitcase also contains the "under the bushes under the stars" lyric. It was suppose to be on UTBUTS but apparently they misplaced the tape it was recorded on. Great song.

So far three of my songs have appeared in the countdown including the 60-51 bonus portion. (Big Boring Wedding, Gleemer, and Do The Earth)

And like justfanoe, I easily could have included Closer You Are and As We Go Up We Go Down but I already included a handful of Alien Lanes' tracks. Just too too many damn great songs...

45. "Girls of Wild Strawberries" (Half Smiles of the Decomposed, 2004) [156 points, 7 votes, 1 #1 vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oahhlvwZKk

I'm pleased with the amount of love some songs from Half Smiles have gotten so far. I didn't vote for this one or Raincloud, but I did for Huffman Prairie and a couple others. Def an underrated album.

(xpost) that's a good one. I didn't vote for anything past Isolation Drills but yesterday I was thinking this one could/should have made it. or maybe Back to the Lake.

Wild Strawberries is a good melody - I always wanted to hear it with a more energetic tempo. boomp boomp boomp boomp zzzzzzz

I totally expected As We Go Up We Go Down to be top 20

This came on my iPod this morning, and I was struck by how brilliant it was. Didn't vote for it, mind.

Seeing these Alien Lanes songs come in that I did not vote for makes me realize that I could have just voted the first 20 AL songs with an exception here or there and been pretty happy with my ballot.

sooo much OTM right there. an the start I actually wanted to pull this one off as a kind of a joke (a joke that still would be pretty close to the truth)

44. "Acorns and Orioles" (Under the Bushes Under the Stars, 1996) [157 points, 6 votes, 1 #1 vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxVmVJ2ZGd4

*swoons*

wth was i doing putting it at only #13?

My #03! Love love love it so

Number 1 voter come forth and be praised

I can't believe only 6 people voted for it.

i can't believe i forgot about it!
i'm ashamed

what a great song

Yeah, especially freakin' great on headphones, with that constant threatening droney sound in the background

I thought this would finish higher but, then again, I didn't vote for it either so I guess I can't complain.

oof yeah i should've voted for acorns & orioles!

So basically it would've been the number one if so many people hadn't forgotten to vote for it! I suspect that will happen with more songs in this poll :)

Great song, sorry to omit it! Always loved the Peel wersion of "Cut-Out Witch" with the "I can't tell you anything" refrain stuck in at the end.

I've never heard that version, or session. Was it officially released?

43. "Unleashed! The Large-Hearted Boy" (Propeller, 1992) [157 points, 8 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM8JTHgOfRM

yaaaay "do the earth" and "U!TLHB"

I'm away for two hours and we're already at 43! Just wanted to mention that 'Everywhere with Helicopter' was the only song on my ballot that I hadn't heard before this poll and that I added thanks to the voting thread.

xxxp the bootleg called To Trigger A Synapse has these, suppose they weren't released officially?

"Unleashed" bassline intro reminds me heavily of a similar intro in JD's "Disorder"

LBI: only know it through less-than-legal downloads, but it's on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVz7RhAkiDE

Hey thanks!!

"Acorns and Orioles" always makes me think of R.E.M.

42. "Man Called Aerodynamics" (Under the Bushes Under the Stars, 1996) [159 points, 7 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PFlJ0hapXM

(see also, the BBC session youtube posted above...it's the second track.)

This song is a force of nature, btw.

"Unleashed" bassline intro reminds me heavily of a similar intro in JD's "Disorder"
― V79, Tuesday, September 27, 2011 6:19 PM (14 minutes ago)

'Digital'?

xp the bassline also (kinda) resembles the Pachelbel canon, which is a popular chord movement after all. but I assure you, the moment I first heard "Unleashed" it made me think of "Disorder" :)

This song is a force of nature, btw

The way this song starts it sounds like you're in the middle of a tornado. No matter how many times I listen to it, it still takes me a second or two to get my bearings.

Brilliant record opener, and OTM about the tornado effect. Sounds like a few seconds were cut off on the master tape.

BTW: I always thought that instead of a 'book mobile' he was talking about this thing :)
http://images.wikia.com/mafiawars/images/c/ce/Popemobile_Real.jpg

don't know if he gets called out too much but kevin fennell can be a pretty impressive drummer -- the beat on aerodynamics is relentless.

The whole song, for me, is a frantic build-up to the moment Pollard sings the song's title and stretches out the "aeeeroooo-dy-namics".

I feel like I just won the lottery by the time he gets to it.

I suddenly realised what the bassline of 'Unleashed' reminded me of:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OArdM4Cb-ho

41. "Peep-Hole" (Bee Thousand, 1994) [164 points, 6 votes, 1 #1 vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUjzXV9bIGA

Gotta admit I don't get "Peep-Hole" being this high, much less getting a #1.

now that's a hell of a crazy tune.

^^^ well that's the GBV - even the strangests of cuts have their own charm, that few may find very appealing

i voted for peephole, just one of those gorgeous melodies that sounds effortless, but is actually pretty complex/strange.
christ it's a cluttered mess!

This song is fine but it just seems too slight to rank on a top 20 list.

I voted for "Cigarette Tricks", I can understand anything that happens in this poll

Man Called Aerodynamics is such a great song! Listen to the demo version first, and then the full version and it's like getting a blast of wind in the face. Head clearing!

Haha. xp

It and the Sprout song after it are like lagniappes. Nice, but not essential.

"It" being 'Peep-Hole' xpost

Yeah, it is an oddly underwhelming way to end the album.

there was a cracking electrified live version of peephole i had on mp3 from somewhere. maybe from gbv.com?

yes! http://gbv.com/sounds/peephole.mp3

actually a ton of cool live stuff here: http://gbv.com/music.html

40. "Your Name Is Wild" (Under the Bushes Under the Stars, 1996) [183 points, 8 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HKCwYjt5eY

I love this one even if no one else does.

I might name my firstborn "Wild".

i think i voted for it? great side two opener.
about his daughter, I think? did i make that up?

seven other people do! (including me, i voted for it)

'closer you are' is one of my favourite i'm-having-a-bad-day songs. "you try to be nice and look where it gets you aaaah aaaah"

"Stoned at the Alamo" tonight

Wild Strawberry Fever <-- nice name, kid

Guessing that the "Peep-Hole" naysayers are "I Am A Scientist" fans who think of it as the natural climax to the album? The appeal--Pollard drawing back the curtain at the end of the album with a fairly legible lyric--is pretty much the same. Though the lyric in "Scientist" is a lot more evolved, I always thought the melody of "Peep-Hole" worked better, and I love the inarticulate scatting at the end. (But then, I am the mentalist who voted it #1.)

I love this one even if no one else does.
that's how i feel about "Liquid Indian"
i just LOVE it for no apparent reason

xp hey, did you forget of "You're Not An Airplane"? no hard feelings, I can't really recall this one either tbh

39. "Subspace Biographies" (Waved Out, 1998) [184 points, 7 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U5BWlCBNS0

xp
Nah, just that the album seems to resolve at "I Am A Scientist" (or "Peep-Hole," depending on your taste) and that what follows is for lagniappe, like righteousmaelstrom said.

xp yes!
some of my favorite pollard lyrics, so berzerk

super chuggy too

that one came up on shuffle the other day and oh man

i dropped all the solo pollard tracks from my ballot though since it was the least agonizing way to get it down to 20.

xp yeah, I see (I was also kind of joking)

Subspace was my #2. Thought it would come in higher.

hey, did you forget of "You're Not An Airplane"? no hard feelings, I can't really recall this one either tbh

You will be eating your words when "You're Not An Airplane" finishes #1.

i will have to rep for 'Far-Out Crops' some other time

Waved out isn't on spotify :(

I voted for "We've Got Airplanes" does that count?

Faaaaaar Ooooout Croooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooops that song rules

Only three more for today. I'll do them when I get back from lunch!

I put "Peephole" second. Almost put it first. It's this great love song to his (now-ex-) wife, disarmingly straightforward. Some of his most touching lyrics and melody, I think. It only seems slight if you accept the notion that a song only a minute or so long is necessarily slight - a perspective I can't imagine reconciling with being a Pollard fan. Then again, I voted for "The Ascended Master's Grog Shop". And two tracks off the Get Out of My Stations 7", which I'm sure people think of as a slight release (I would have put it on my albums ballot if I had counted it as an album).

it only seems slight if you accept the notion that a song only a minute or so long is necessarily slight

Nah, the #1 song on my ballot is about the same length as "Peep-Hole" so that's not it. It's a fine song, but the melody just never grabs me. Actually, I've always found it to be very forgettable.

I just got idea we also should have voted for our favourite Pollard track & album names (I like the ring of "Get Out of My Stations")

Peep hole was one of the last songs to be cut from my list. Subspace biographies was quite high on mine.

xp
Yeah! "Deathtrot and Warlock Riding a Rooster" would place high, I hope.

cock of the block

i've had my fingers crossed for "don't stop now"
kinda bummed that i am going to be in class tomorrow during the countdown :(

i've owned you for centuries

Voted Subspace! Such a simple but great rock song. Almost dumped it to stick to GBV stuff, but just found that I still loved it.

Have to think that "Don't Stop Now" will make it. I am holding out for quite a few UTBUTS songs, none of mine have placed yet.

I had 2 UTBUTS songs on my ballot and I would be shocked if they don't both place.

38. "Dusted" (Vampire on Titus, 1993 / Fast Japanese Spin Cycle, 1994) [185 points, 7 votes, 1 #1 vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwUgou8yaRQ

amazing song, i had it pretty high up there.
if i drank enough rolling rock, i'd probably argue that FJSC is the best album of the 90s. And it's not even an album.

good vocal quality on "dusted"

I had 5 from alien lanes. Didn't even notice while I was making my list. No other album has more than 2 for me.

tangentially related -- rock n roll hall of fame first-time eligibles this year but not nominated include Crowded House, Guided by Voices, the Jayhawks, Lyle Lovett, Salt N Pepa, Soundgarden, They Might Be Giants, and Yo La Tengo.

Would be surprised if any of them ever make it in.

Soundgarden will, someday.

had never heard the amazing FJSC version, definitely pushed it into my ballot

Mu number nineteen.

Mu My

37. "Jane of the Waking Universe" (Mag Earwhig!, 1997) [190 points, 8 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5cNgnHUevU

Subspace Biographies is awesome. Was hoping to hear some solo/outtake stuff that I was not familiar with.

Really glad this one made it. I think I knew at one point that it was one of the "classic lineup" final recordings, but had forgotten until it was mentioned in the voting thread. ANTHEMIC!

Here's another song I voted for (at around #12 or so). Def. my favorite on Mag Earwhig!, one of the very best Pollard choruses actually.

Didn't vote for 'Jane' but absolutely love that "And undulating always like the tide..." bridge.

i didn't vote for jane either, but the vowel sounds in that song are strange and interesting

Last one for today...

36. "Hot Freaks" (Bee Thousand, 1994) [202 points, 9 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5fB6AyGes8

Too low!

About "Jane," I always liked the structure of that song -- I guess it's chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/solo/chorus, but since the verse only comes in once, it's like the bridge is just a second, completely different verse.

hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot!
freaks!

Don't like the recorded version of Hot Freaks much, but it always kills live.

I thought this would place higher.

I love the story about when Pollard was laying down the vocals for Hot Freaks in Tobin Sprout's basement while Sprout's wife was trying to run a garage sale at the same time.

Haha!

"hi, i was just wondering how much this lamp is?"
"this one is on the hoooooooooooouse"

looooooooooollllllllllllll

I don't love Hot Freaks enough to vote for it, but it's a good album track. I sure like it a lot more though if that story about the garage sale is true. That's amazing.

I was also at the show Darin mentioned in the polling thread where half of the audience stormed the stage to sing Hot Freaks. It was awesome.

TIE 60. "My Kind of Soldier" (Earthquake Glue, 2003) [110 points, 5 votes]
TIE 60. "Chicken Blows" (Alien Lanes, 1995) [110 points, 5 votes]
58. "Postal Blowfish" (outtake, 1993) [111 points, 5 votes]
57. "Bulldog Skin" (Mag Earwhig!, 1997) [116 points, 6 votes]
56. "The Key Losers" (outtake, 1995) [124 points, 5 votes, 1 #1 vote]
55. "Huffman Prairie Flying Field" (Half Smiles of the Decomposed, 2004) [125 points, 4 votes]
54. "Big Boring Wedding" (Under the Bushes Under the Stars, 1996) [125 points, 5 votes]
53. "Everybody Thinks I'm a Raincloud (When I'm Not Looking)" (Half Smiles of the Decomposed, 2004) [130 points, 6 votes]
52. "Gleemer (The Deeds of Fertile Jim)" (Vampire on Titus, 1993) [131 points, 6 votes]
51. "Little Whirl" (Alien Lanes, 1995) [136 points, 6 votes]

50. "As We Go Up, We Go Down" (Alien Lanes, 1995) [138 points, 8 votes]
49. "I Am a Tree" (Mag Earwhig!, 1997) [150 points, 6 votes]
48. "Closer You Are" (Alien Lanes, 1995) [150 points, 8 votes]
47. "Everywhere With Helicopter" (Universal Truths and Cycles, 2002) [152 points, 9 votes]
46. "Do the Earth" (I Am a Scientist EP, 1994) [154 points, 7 votes]
45. "Girls of Wild Strawberries" (Half Smiles of the Decomposed, 2004) [156 points, 7 votes, 1 #1 vote]
44. "Acorns and Orioles" (Under the Bushes Under the Stars, 1996) [157 points, 6 votes, 1 #1 vote]
43. "Unleashed! The Large-Hearted Boy" (Propeller, 1992) [157 points, 8 votes]
42. "Man Called Aerodynamics" (Under the Bushes Under the Stars, 1996) [159 points, 7 votes]
41. "Peep-Hole" (Bee Thousand, 1994) [164 points, 6 votes, 1 #1 vote]
40. "Your Name Is Wild" (Under the Bushes Under the Stars, 1996) [183 points, 8 votes]
39. "Subspace Biographies" (Waved Out, 1998) [184 points, 7 votes]
38. "Dusted" (Vampire on Titus, 1993 / Fast Japanese Spin Cycle, 1994) [185 points, 7 votes, 1 #1 vote]
37. "Jane of the Waking Universe" (Mag Earwhig!, 1997) [190 points, 8 votes]
36. "Hot Freaks" (Bee Thousand, 1994) [202 points, 9 votes]

i suspect my top two will place somewhere but probably not my #3, at this rate

I had hopes that FJSC Dusted would finish higher. It was my #1

i wonder whether any of my others will place
if weed king doesn't make it, i'm gonna go bazonkers on you people

"hi, i was just wondering how much this lamp is?"
"this one is on the hoooooooooooouse"

hahahaha

If I had made a worst list, I prob would have put hot freaks on it. Song just really annoys me.

I love the story about when Pollard was laying down the vocals for Hot Freaks in Tobin Sprout's basement while Sprout's wife was trying to run a garage sale at the same time.

haha. I think Pollard told that one at the most recent Brooklyn reunion show.

agree Hot Freaks is way too low

if weed king doesn't make it, i'm gonna go bazonkers on you people

I did my part, voted Weed King #4 (Hot Freaks was 3)

why does Jeff hate GBV

If I hate them I sure have spent a lot of money on stuff I hate!

I don't really love "Hot Freaks", it works really good in the context of Bee Thousand in terms of adding in to the overall oddball atmosphere. I don't really feel the necessity to listen to it as a standalone track

i had two songs on my hate list, both from b000, and hot freaks was one of them. (i'll let you know the other when it comes up on the countdown, which i'm pretty sure it will!) the longest minute and a half in the gbv catalog for me. i could probably deal with it in a funny/strange hard-rock/metal kinda way if it weren't clogging up side 1 of my favorite gbv album (for an intolerably long minute and a half!) and if they didn't play it in every damn show they ever did. is there any song they played live more than that one?

lethargy?

Yeah I'm not really a fan of "Hot Freaks" either.

I've had 3 of my list place. I still expect the vast majority of my remaining 17 to show up. We'll see I guess.

xxp of course there is - http://gbvdb.com/gig_report.asp?AlbumIDs=&tour=&all=true&sortcount=true

"Dusted" is great btw. Didn't vote for it but would have been in my top 25. Hopefully "My Impression Now" will show up later on.

i had two songs on my hate list, both from b000, and hot freaks was one of them. (i'll let you know the other when it comes up on the countdown, which i'm pretty sure it will!) the longest minute and a half in the gbv catalog for me.

I can only deduce that this is Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory.

I think I've only had 3 of mine place so far in the top 50. At this point I've given up on seeing 'It's Like Soul, Man' show up. I do have a bunch of songs on there that they play live so I'm assuming they'll be placing but this won't be like the Zep poll where unless you were picking stuff off of Presence or Coda you could see pretty much everything place.

"hi, i was just wondering how much this lamp is?"
"this one is on the hoooooooooooouse"

― Art Arfons (La Lechera), Tuesday, September 27, 2011 9:15 PM (47 minutes ago) Bookmark

<3

2 of mine have placed. I bet my other 18 will be the top 18.

only one (1) of mine have placed so far (as the shameful #51) and I suspect no more than 10 others are going to show up later. guess my ballot sure was an unconventional one, oh well

yeah i don't think a lot of mine will place either (if they haven't yet) because i just voted for personal favorites and they are all over the place. oh well. if anyone gets a chance, listen to "earful o' wax" -- it's a great plane-taking-off song and has a great solo at the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYPo0BYmuRk

does anyone have cartooning skills?
4 panel cartoon of that recording session/garage sale:

panel 1 -- dayton oh, 19 something and 5 -- greeting customers at sale, offering lemonade la ti da
panel 2 -- the boys downstairs with bubbles and beers and guitars jamming and belting out hot freaks woo hoo
panel 3 -- lady asks about lamp, bob replies from the basement
panel 4 -- mrs sprout makes a face :-/

Man, that's a really cool song. Thanks!

I can only deduce that this is Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory.

nope

Another good old one that will never make it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FNIzF7mFkY

If I had ever had a radio show, it would have been called "trust the wizard".

35. "Wished I Was a Giant" (Vampire on Titus, 1993) [203 points, 9 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdhNN3WrtkI

I used to have that scooter promo picture up on my wall in lolcollege.

A guy here in Charlottesville, Virginia, had a great radio show called "Trust the Wizard"! WTJU!!!

i figured there were a bunch of them -- it seemed cliche at the time, but now no one would know wtf i'm referring to

btw i know this is asking a lot, but juanito could you drag this out as long as possible? please? i have class til 12:15 and shameful though it is, i've been looking forward to this. i thought the countdown was going to be yesterday!

I just realized yesterday that I am actually gonna be offline tomorrow through Monday, so I am gonna miss the top 20 countdown. It will of course still be fun to read the thread, but sad to miss the event itself.

I certainly didn't know what "Trust the Wizard" referred to, so probably only a cliche to big GBV fans. Pretty easy to love the obviously-lovable aspects of GBV though, as in every college station should have a radio show called "Trust the Wizard", it would be fucking cooler of they did.

My college radio show was not called "Trust the Wizard". What a missed opportunity.

By the way, should this be ""Wished I Was a Giant""?

"Wished I Was A Giant" is one of my very favorites

34. "A Good Flying Bird" (Alien Lanes, 1995) [207 points, 9 votes, 1 #1 vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkltkwCsyPk

at last, a song I voted for! whoever you are, who placed it as his #1, I salute you.

As memory serves, I had this one in my top 10. One of the most energetic and catchiest songs in their catalogue.

33. "Glad Girls" (Isolation Drills, 2001) [211 points, 10 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQa1_PAPbks

that's hell of a trippy video

so catchy

"Glad Girls" wore thin on me after listening to it beaucoup times upon release. it opens great! but the "they're all right" repetition is brutal. & the song could stand to be an old-style quickie, 2 minutes & out.

also I dunno why but I found the album's backstory about the dissolution of his marriage sad & found the album (& this song) a bit too personal to enjoy the pumped up kicks. it's less abstract to me & kind of a downer. still love "Chasing Heather Crazy" though

here's glad girls as an old style quickie from 93
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl4c_85kgOQ

It's got a Moment, though - "the light that passes through me". Love the combination of chords and words at that point.

32. "Buzzards and Dreadful Crows" (Bee Thousand, 1994) [220 points, 10 votes, 1 #1 vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGZT82PrbKs

also I dunno why but I found the album's backstory about the dissolution of his marriage sad & found the album (& this song) a bit too personal to enjoy the pumped up kicks. it's less abstract to me & kind of a downer. still love "Chasing Heather Crazy" though
― Euler, Wednesday, September 28, 2011 11:08 AM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark

Euler, or anyone else, is there a good bio or book about GBV? Thanks in advance...made a playlist of the countdown songs so far last night and it is soooooo f-in' amazing. This is one of the best poll ideas yet as it really distills down the greatest of the great

Well, my #1 didn't make the top 50 (or 60), so it's not as great as it could be. ;)

spotify link is also being updated: http://open.spotify.com/user/sp10000/playlist/5QWljGgTEhj3DPiXtmkYU7

xp Jim Greer's "Hunting Accidents" comes first to mind, and people have been saying good things about it upthread.

My son was about 2 around the time of Isolation Drills. We'd be listening to the album in the car and he'd be in the back seat singing along to 'Glad Girls'. But we had to be careful playing that song around other people since he would sing "Hey, Hey, glad girls!/I only want to get you high!"

That's another way of saying "too low."

xp it's a weird book, lot of cool stuff, but a lot of inside baseball stuff that isn't of too much interest. inside baseball almost literally -- there's kind of an interminable amount of space devoted to the pollard bros' high school sports career.

Man love "Buzzards and Dreadful Crows", it's just a continuous hook.

Just listened to it 3 times in a row.

Glad Girls one of my least favorites :(

Love Buzzards

31. "My Son Cool" (Alien Lanes, 1995) [235 points, 10 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdY-sjG8-vk

(Volume is really low on the clip, but I remember watching the show when they appeared!)

The problem with "Glad Girls" is that it goes on too long, which should never happen in a GBV song.

This has been a bad day for me, only one song I voted for and none of the other songs that made it are really anywhere close to my favorites.

there's something really haunting about "My Son Cool" (esp. about the coda) and I can't put my finger on it. those three closing songs AL stand out from the rest of the album in a way I can't really explain

yeah i love my son cool -- decide now!!!!

30. "My Impression Now" (Fast Japanese Spin Cycle, 1994) [241 points, 9 votes, 1 #1 vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4_2rjFkPcI

yay

It's another good one... but not better than "My Son Cool"

The first time I heard Glad Girls was at a show in Athens, GA. They were playing through the entirety of ID and after Glad Girls, they decided to play it again! I'm sure that would annoy some people but it was awesome at the time.

... maybe they ran out of songs

^ GBV fan's joke

in those rare events, when GBV run out of songs onstage, they just take a 5 minute break and come back with premiere material

29. "Redmen and Their Wives" (Under the Bushes Under the Stars, 1996) [247 points, 10 votes, 1 #1 vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__q87LmkD8Y

Unlike Glad Girls which goes on way too long, I'd be fine with Redmen and Their Wives going on another 3 or 4 minutes.

yeah that one's got some nice catharsis

28. "Chasing Heather Crazy" (Isolation Drills, 2001) [248 points, 11 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7KiLRCxt58

Hooray!

I like this track a lot more now than I did at the time the album was new. It's a remarkably slow burn for such an uptempo GBV song.

isolation drills really came at a low point of my GBV fandom, but i couldn't deny this song.

27. "Blimps Go 90" (Alien Lanes, 1995) [249 points, 12 votes, 1 #1 vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU4NJnK1pvk

Great song.

The rusty violin is a nice touch. Also, Mary Lou Lord had a nice cover of this on one of her albums (can't remember which).

nooooo, "Heather" is criminally TOO LOW :( that was my #2, I seriously thought it's a lock on for a top ten...

Hey, here's 2 songs I voted for, and two of GBV's prettiest tunes. I love the harmonies on "Chasing Heather Crazy" so much.

I almost voted for 'Chasing Heather Crazy' but couldn't really decide whether or not 'Unspirited' does a similar-ish thing better... In the end neither made my final ballot anyway.

yay "my impression now"!! escort you safely away
hey

hey hey

for the record, what i don't like about "Glad Girls" is the same thing I don't like about "Girls of Wild Strawberries" -- plodding undynamic unremarkable generic song about "girls"

26. "Shocker in Gloomtown" (The Grand Hour, 1993) [262 points, 10 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_GO0i0ohbw

(bonus Breeders cover with GBV cameos)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FqhOQLD3t0

yaaaay

love the breeders cover!!!!!

yeah that is a great version. first time i saw gbv, kim miraculously appeared to sing on that and goldheart mountaintop.

According the youtube uploader, that GBV vid is from just earlier this month and was the final show of the tour (maybe the final show ever? well, probably not that.)

how the hell did we miss it
bared his ass for all to see
and no one got to kiss it

The more I think about it, the more I think this song came in too low (I realize that #26 out of a zillion is pretty high, but still...).

Definitely too low.

Glad Girls -- but I was really torn between that and Motor Away.

― righteousmaelstrom, Thursday, June 21, 2007 2:01 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark

Haha. These are neither my #1 or #2.

25. "Cut Out Witch" (Under the Bushes Under the Stars, 1996) [264 points, 14 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjkJIy2vZ2I

This one almost made my ballot and I could have picked one of the lower tracks and replaced it with this one pretty easily. Always great live.

cut out witch is awesome

Gloomtown does feel too low. So much crammed in those 90 seconds.

Cut out witch totally great. Pretty good showing.

Great song!

love the structure of Cut Out Witch - sounds so easy but other bands could try for years and fail to come up with something as snappy and well formed as that.

24. "14 Cheerleader Coldfront" (Propeller, 1992) [281 points, 14 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFvonufcz8A

No love?

Lotta love! I voted for this. Just really busy at work today, so I'm limited in my time for deep thoughts.

Overall I'm pleased that my #1 is still yet to come. Unless ILM will shame me by shutting it out completely.

I don't really like 14 Cheerleader Coldfront very much tbh. It has never really moved me.

It's so delicate, especially in the midst of what's around it on Propeller. It's swoony.

I love this one. I think I had it tops among all the pre-Bee Thousand songs. I am totally out of touch with the greater GBV community, so actually I had no idea everybody else loved it too. I thought it was an unconventional pick on my ballot.

See, for me, Circus World is swoony. 14 Cheerleader -- I dunno -- it just doesn't soar, it doesn't drive, it doesn't even plod -- it just kinda sits there harmonizing like a forgettable pair of strummers singing a coffee shop duet.

I would never get into this much detail with people who hadn't already spent this much time discussing the minutiae of GBV songs, but we have, so I did.

I get what LL is getting at wrt "14 Cheerleader Coldfront", but I voted for it because they always seem to be able to breathe new life into it on-stage.

If I'm in a wistful mood this is the ticket - great lyrics

stay close to locker rooms

23. "A Salty Salute" (Alien Lanes, 1995) [302 points, 14 votes, 1 #1 vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX6vRwEZFrM

C'MON C'MON C'MON!

I still cringe at "no coin meters there"
I guess I'll never really love that song.

Anyway, PROOOOOOUD BROTHERS

One of the great album openers ever. Not surprising that they chose this to start off the 'greatest hits' CD too.

^^ so OTM

ha, i actually thought this'd be #1
greatest bassline ever.

'Blimps Go 90' FAR TOO LOW.

erg, i don't think i voted for that. but yeah, A+ opening track

An almost perfect GBV song, just admire all the lyrics:

Disarm the settlers
The new drunk drivers
Have hoisted the flag
We are with you in your anger
Proud brothers
Do not fret
The bus will get you there yet
To carry us to the lake
The club is open
Yeah, The club is open
Hey, the club is open
A-come on, come on, the club is open
C'mon, c'mon, the club is open
C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, the club is open...

Yeah, since this poll I've been paying more attention to the lyrics, and some of them are so great. 'Atom Eyes' is my fave atm.

in retrospect i clearly threw most of my votes into the trash, but i think there will be at least 7 more that make it to the top 20

Love 14 Cheerleader Coldfront. A Salty Salute the first GBV song I ever heard. A great album opener.

I wonder if my #1 will show. It's not one of their bigger songs but one I think they've played every time I've seen them -- usually during the 1st or 2nd encore.

still laughing at that joke about "this one is on the house" from upthread

22. "Watch Me Jumpstart" (Alien Lanes, 1995) [306 points, 12 votes, 1 #1 vote]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRkntM8IFFY

A++++ run here

i love the sway/chug on watch me jumpstart!!!

I'm glad this one did not make the top 20. It's fine, but I've always found it to be a bit overrated, probably like my 10th favorite song or so on the album, maybe less.

Great live song, like it much better than the album version

that was my #2 i think? it's kind of a gbv litmus test sound-wise, some people just hear sludge, but the chorus hook is undeniable imo

i love to make up my own harmonies and doot doot doots to "watch me jumpstart" -- been singing the same ones for years, no idea why

'Cause I'm a supernova erect and white hot

tmi

21. "Dayton, Ohio—19 Something and 5" (Tonics and Twisted Chasers, 1996) [317 points, 14 votes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C6AhgMYiRg

re "Watch Me Jumpstart": my #8. GBV at their most anthemic. well, of course the same can be said about "Salty Salute".

this top 30 is gonna be about as good a compilation as you can make

the chord change into "cause i won't be around, as you run...etc." so great

A++++ run continues

ooh didn't know people rated that one so highly. it's nice

and shoooooooot me dowwwwwwwwnnnnnnn

That's all for today. Top 20 rolls out tomorrow, so get ready.

TIE 60. "My Kind of Soldier" (Earthquake Glue, 2003) [110 points, 5 votes]
TIE 60. "Chicken Blows" (Alien Lanes, 1995) [110 points, 5 votes]
58. "Postal Blowfish" (outtake, 1993) [111 points, 5 votes]
57. "Bulldog Skin" (Mag Earwhig!, 1997) [116 points, 6 votes]
56. "The Key Losers" (outtake, 1995) [124 points, 5 votes, 1 #1 vote]
55. "Huffman Prairie Flying Field" (Half Smiles of the Decomposed, 2004) [125 points, 4 votes]
54. "Big Boring Wedding" (Under the Bushes Under the Stars, 1996) [125 points, 5 votes]
53. "Everybody Thinks I'm a Raincloud (When I'm Not Looking)" (Half Smiles of the Decomposed, 2004) [130 points, 6 votes]
52. "Gleemer (The Deeds of Fertile Jim)" (Vampire on Titus, 1993) [131 points, 6 votes]
51. "Little Whirl" (Alien Lanes, 1995) [136 points, 6 votes]

50. "As We Go Up, We Go Down" (Alien Lanes, 1995) [138 points, 8 votes]
49. "I Am a Tree" (Mag Earwhig!, 1997) [150 points, 6 votes]
48. "Closer You Are" (Alien Lanes, 1995) [150 points, 8 votes]
47. "Everywhere With Helicopter" (Universal Truths and Cycles, 2002) [152 points, 9 votes]
46. "Do the Earth" (I Am a Scientist EP, 1994) [154 points, 7 votes]
45. "Girls of Wild Strawberries" (Half Smiles of the Decomposed, 2004) [156 points, 7 votes, 1 #1 vote]
44. "Acorns and Orioles" (Under the Bushes Under the Stars, 1996) [157 points, 6 votes, 1 #1 vote]
43. "Unleashed! The Large-Hearted Boy" (Propeller, 1992) [157 points, 8 votes]
42. "Man Called Aerodynamics" (Under the Bushes Under the Stars, 1996) [159 points, 7 votes]
41. "Peep-Hole" (Bee Thousand, 1994) [164 points, 6 votes, 1 #1 vote]
40. "Your Name Is Wild" (Under the Bushes Under the Stars, 1996) [183 points, 8 votes]
39. "Subspace Biographies" (Waved Out, 1998) [184 points, 7 votes]
38. "Dusted" (Vampire on Titus, 1993 / Fast Japanese Spin Cycle, 1994) [185 points, 7 votes, 1 #1 vote]
37. "Jane of the Waking Universe" (Mag Earwhig!, 1997) [190 points, 8 votes]
36. "Hot Freaks" (Bee Thousand, 1994) [202 points, 9 votes]

35. "Wished I Was a Giant" (Vampire on Titus, 1993) [203 points, 9 votes]
34. "A Good Flying Bird" (Alien Lanes, 1995) [207 points, 9 votes, 1 #1 vote]
33. "Glad Girls" (Isolation Drills, 2001) [211 points, 10 votes]
32. "Buzzards and Dreadful Crows" (Bee Thousand, 1994) [220 points, 10 votes, 1 #1 vote]
31. "My Son Cool" (Alien Lanes, 1995) [235 points, 10 votes]
30. "My Impression Now" (Fast Japanese Spin Cycle, 1994) [241 points, 9 votes, 1 #1 vote]
29. "Redmen and Their Wives" (Under the Bushes Under the Stars, 1996) [247 points, 10 votes, 1 #1 vote]
28. "Chasing Heather Crazy" (Isolation Drills, 2001) [248 points, 11 votes]
27. "Blimps Go 90" (Alien Lanes, 1995) [249 points, 12 votes, 1 #1 vote]
26. "Shocker in Gloomtown" (The Grand Hour, 1993) [262 points, 10 votes]
25. "Cut Out Witch" (Under the Bushes Under the Stars, 1996) [264 points, 14 votes]
24. "14 Cheerleader Coldfront" (Propeller, 1992) [281 points, 14 votes]
23. "A Salty Salute" (Alien Lanes, 1995) [302 points, 14 votes, 1 #1 vote]
22. "Watch Me Jumpstart" (Alien Lanes, 1995) [306 points, 12 votes, 1 #1 vote]
21. "Dayton, Ohio—19 Something and 5" (Tonics and Twisted Chasers, 1996) [317 points, 14 votes]

Thanks Johnny! Cannot wait for tomorrow.

"Isn't it great to exist at this point in time?
Where the produce is rotten but no one is forgotten"

O_O

wonder how much overlap there will be with the official GH compilation.

Man, really unfortunate that I am going to miss out on tomorrow.

i thought it was "no one's forgotten strawberry philadelphia drive"

"the smell of fried food and pure hot tar" is one of my favorite descriptive lines, pure ohio, gives me chills

like no one HAS forgotten
rather than no one IS forgotten

because it is very ohio to hold a permanent grudge

exercise in contrasts:

"Dayton, Ohio"

+

"Other Place"

One is grim and real but also tenderly affectionate; the other is sunny and rings like a strange jangly clown mask
both are talking ostensibly about the same place

yes i have thought about this a lot

Dayton, Ohio-19 Something And 5 was so great live. Just an incredibly evocative and nostalgic song, I had it at #17.

Only 5 of my songs have shown up so far. I love how when each new song is unveiled I'm like "damn that one could have easily made my list..."

I love how when each new song is unveiled I'm like "damn that one could have easily made my list..."

Yeah, this. Only three of mine in so far but it's still been a great list.

Got six landed so far .

My next 14 will land. Surely?

There are some songs on here that I need to revisit / didn't realise they existed.And I have the rekkids.

I am a bad man and poor listener

9 so far here. I probably will see 7 more place. Would be surprised if anything else off of ID shows up (I only have one song left from that one).

Gosh darn I missed 35-21, and will prob miss the final showdown tomorrow. Curse you americans with your weird time system!

anyway 5 or 6 of mine placed so far inc. my #1, redmen and their wives, had to go for the melancholia. wonderful cathedral-organ atmospherics of the second guitar when it comes in, and then after the understated first half they bust out some traditional gbv slow n heavy rock, almost a redemption even as the lyrics descend from resignation to despair.

"breadwinner and klutz" is a lovely "two types of people in the world" binary.

Ledge . I mean this is the problem for me and it's a very exciting one. I Had never listened/or even heard to 'Redmen...' ever. and I thought I was a big fan of UTBUTS . i didn;t get beyond "Rally" "witch" and "Don't Stop".
What a tit. I am not GBV hardcore firm obviously.

ha i am so not the hardcore fan, i only had four albums in my top five. hoping to find some hidden gold in this poll meself but utbuts is standing firm as my personal sweet spot of unpolished melodic wonderment.

The bottom 20

Smothered in Hugs
Gold Star For Robot Boy
Tractor Rape Chain
The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory
Echos Myron
I Am A Scientist
Yours to Keep
Pimple Zoo
Game Of Pricks
My Valuable Hunting Knife
(I Wanna Be a) Dumbcharger
Motor Away
Over The Neptune/Mesh Gear Fox
Weed King
Quality of Armor
Lethargy
Teenage FBI
The Best of Jill Hives
Subspace Biographies
Uncle Dave

I'd be sad if Uncle Dave doesn't place

this is the other song i was referring to btw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8FMsWjiG7Y&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLB3A7A33B08123042

that album cover makes my heart hurt

Alien Lanes back cover photo: who is on the far left?

jim greer

(i think!)

None of my Isolation Drills songs have placed yet not looking good for them.

yeah :(

great poll so far, am excited for the rest of the results. i wonder if my favourite gbv song "drag days" will place.

dept. of had i voted:

'i am a tree' would be higher
'little whirl' would be higher
'the enemy' would maybe have placed?

lamely,
-m.

One of the ones in my guess for the top 20 already placed. I'll replace Subspace Biographies with Kicker of Elves

No way in hell Uncle Dave is gonna place. That's a REALLY obscure choice only found on the Grifters' split single and never played live. Pretty good song though...

Don't Stop Now, Official Ironmen Rally Song, Exit Flagger, and If We Wait should all make the top twenty. And probably Drinkers' Peace...

xxxxxpost about the lyrics to 'Dayton': yes, you're probably right about HAS vs. IS.
Too bad, I liked the universality of IS - like in this internet age everybody leaves traces of their existence online, so no-one is really forgotten anymore, but despite all the technology we eat bad food ('rotten produce').
Never been in Ohio, so I don't recognize the specifics of the descriptions.

thoughts on cut-out witch: wonderfully weird images conjured up by the lyrics, like something out of struwwelpeter or a jan svankmajer film. although the witch herself doesn't seem at all malign so there's a nice form/content tension there.