The bottom 20
Smothered in HugsGold Star For Robot BoyTractor Rape ChainThe Goldheart Mountaintop Queen DirectoryEchos MyronI Am A ScientistYours to KeepPimple ZooGame Of PricksMy Valuable Hunting Knife(I Wanna Be a) DumbchargerMotor AwayOver The Neptune/Mesh Gear FoxWeed KingQuality of ArmorLethargyTeenage FBIThe Best of Jill HivesSubspace BiographiesUncle Dave
I'd be sad if Uncle Dave doesn't place
― ℓ٥ﻻ ﻉ√٥υ (CaptainLorax), Thursday, 29 September 2011 00:16 (twelve years ago) link
this is the other song i was referring to btw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8FMsWjiG7Y&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLB3A7A33B08123042
― Art Arfons (La Lechera), Thursday, 29 September 2011 00:17 (twelve years ago) link
that album cover makes my heart hurt
Alien Lanes back cover photo: who is on the far left?
― calstars, Thursday, 29 September 2011 01:06 (twelve years ago) link
jim greer
― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 29 September 2011 01:23 (twelve years ago) link
(i think!)
None of my Isolation Drills songs have placed yet not looking good for them.
― Jeff, Thursday, 29 September 2011 01:29 (twelve years ago) link
yeah :(
― minge beat (electricsound), Thursday, 29 September 2011 01:36 (twelve years ago) link
great poll so far, am excited for the rest of the results. i wonder if my favourite gbv song "drag days" will place.
― marc iv, Thursday, 29 September 2011 02:13 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― mookieproof, Thursday, 29 September 2011 02:25 (twelve years ago) link
One of the ones in my guess for the top 20 already placed. I'll replace Subspace Biographies with Kicker of Elves
― ℓ٥ﻻ ﻉ√٥υ (CaptainLorax), Thursday, 29 September 2011 02:44 (twelve years ago) link
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...
― ColinO, Thursday, 29 September 2011 07:38 (twelve years ago) link
Don't Stop Now, Official Ironmen Rally Song, Exit Flagger, and If We Wait should all make the top twenty. And probably Drinkers' Peace...
― ColinO, Thursday, 29 September 2011 07:56 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― ArchCarrier, Thursday, 29 September 2011 08:11 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― ledge, Thursday, 29 September 2011 08:35 (twelve years ago) link
LET'S DO THIS
20. "The Brides Have Hit Glass" (Isolation Drills, 2001) [327 points, 13 votes]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4b-syoEgrU
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 29 September 2011 13:49 (twelve years ago) link
tbh this song has never stood out to me in any way at all, so I was very surprised when all the votes for it started rolling in.
Nice song, like a lot of "Isolation Drills" it's a post-divorce heart-tugger
― Juice Should Be Sterliized (Tom D.), Thursday, 29 September 2011 13:52 (twelve years ago) link
xp to archcarrier -- That's interesting about the universality of that song -- I've honestly never thought about it as anything but extremely specific to (for lack of better words) a place and a point in time :)
― Art Arfons (La Lechera), Thursday, 29 September 2011 13:52 (twelve years ago) link
Nice drums in "Brides Have Hit Glass"
― Art Arfons (La Lechera), Thursday, 29 September 2011 13:53 (twelve years ago) link
19. "Hardcore UFO's" (Bee Thousand, 1994) [331 points, 14 votes, 1 #1 vote]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2ICvSl2b38
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:01 (twelve years ago) link
First GBV song I ever heard. As I imagine it was for many.
― Jeff, Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:04 (twelve years ago) link
really like the guitars during the chorus on "Brides" but see where JF is coming from. There's also a weird dissonance running through that keeps it interesting.
― skip, Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:04 (twelve years ago) link
I wish I had gotten bee thousand at the time. too wrapped up in middle school KROQ stuff to know it even existed.
― skip, Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:05 (twelve years ago) link
my first GBV song tooevokes driving aimlessly through the countryside by myself in my white escort, smoking ciggies and wondering what's going to happen to me
"build a playground in your head" -- words i have always really taken to heart
maybe i'm just sleep deprived but i feel like a weepy sap this morning!
― Art Arfons (La Lechera), Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:12 (twelve years ago) link
don't stop now!
― Euler, Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:14 (twelve years ago) link
Already 2 songs that out of all the guesses so far were not guessed. Great fun!
― justfanoe (Greg Fanoe), Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:15 (twelve years ago) link
does robert pollard have AA experience
― thomp, Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:16 (twelve years ago) link
18. "Gold Star for Robot Boy" (Bee Thousand, 1994) [344 points, 14 votes, 1 #1 vote]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmO48lOXVe4
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:16 (twelve years ago) link
i ask bcz i'd never seen the lyrics to 'a salty salute' before -- actually at first i thought that song started 'dibs on the setlist' which i thought was a great opening line, tho' perhaps in retrospect a bit british -- and then i heard it as something about "dicks and the sexless" which i thought was awful, and which i couldn't make make sense with the rest of the song, so i gave up on the song, and the band, guided by voices, by extension
sorry, i should stop cluttering up this poll
― thomp, Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:17 (twelve years ago) link
Here's one that I voted for. One of the catchiest melodies on Bee Thousand and great lyrics too!
― justfanoe (Greg Fanoe), Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:17 (twelve years ago) link
Really digging "The Brides Have Hit Glass". Staccato guitar strongly reminds me of something - prob some faceless late 90s band or death cab for cutie or something :/
― ledge, Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:19 (twelve years ago) link
Metropolitan Brewery did a beer called Gold Star for Robot Boy. Sad I was never able to obtain some
― Jeff, Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:27 (twelve years ago) link
Hardcore UFO's was my first GBV song too, I think
― Young Swell (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:35 (twelve years ago) link
"Hardcore UFOs" is not one of my favorites on its own, but it is a great opening track on Bee Thousand. I easily could have voted for it.
― justfanoe (Greg Fanoe), Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:40 (twelve years ago) link
17. "Teenage FBI" (Wish in One Hand 7", 1997 / Do the Collapse, 1999) [345 points, 15 votes]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM2ujKKN66k
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:41 (twelve years ago) link
Catchy, like ebola, but not in my Top 20
― Juice Should Be Sterliized (Tom D.), Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:45 (twelve years ago) link
GBV at their best pure pop moment, I think.
― justfanoe (Greg Fanoe), Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:46 (twelve years ago) link
Feel like the crux of the whole song really is the title line, which is just thrown away in the middle.
― ledge, Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:47 (twelve years ago) link
I like the Do The Collapse version more: the synths work very well.
― Euler, Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:47 (twelve years ago) link
I still like Liquid Indian better if we're choosing DTC songs -- right after "are we there yet?" at like 0:56 the skips and flips kick in and it's so good. You can kind of try to forget about "born again bootstomping witchhumper by the 2:00 mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IUYZjr2pMM
― Art Arfons (La Lechera), Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:50 (twelve years ago) link
Fun to wooeeewooweeeoooo.
― Jeff, Thursday, 29 September 2011 14:51 (twelve years ago) link
is it too late for Surgical Focus? that's the best hi-fi GBV jam by far imo
― ciderpress, Thursday, 29 September 2011 15:04 (twelve years ago) link
My DTC song still hasn't placed. I'd be surprised if it does.
― Jeff, Thursday, 29 September 2011 15:05 (twelve years ago) link
i also voted for Wormhole but that's not gonna make it i'm afraid
― ciderpress, Thursday, 29 September 2011 15:06 (twelve years ago) link
16. "Weed King" (Propeller, 1992) [358 points, 15 votes, 1 #1 vote]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfH9-MgouFs
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 29 September 2011 15:09 (twelve years ago) link
hopefully not too late for Surgical Focus!
― skip, Thursday, 29 September 2011 15:10 (twelve years ago) link
never really sat down and listened to the album version of Teenage FBI until now. Very cheesy but I like it.
― skip, Thursday, 29 September 2011 15:13 (twelve years ago) link
Voted for "Surgical Focus" too
― Juice Should Be Sterliized (Tom D.), Thursday, 29 September 2011 15:17 (twelve years ago) link
But, never mind that, yay "Weed King"!