067: Guided By Voices - Bee Thousand (1994)
“I have an addiction to songwriting. You know, there are people who like to play softball all the time, or basketball, or darts, or whatever. I like to write songs, so when I'm here at home, I get up in the morning and make myself some coffee, and I just get my guitar and turn on my tape recorder.”
—Robert Pollard
This week, Dan, Mike, and Rich take a break from the usual state-of-the-art Discord & Rhyme studio, dust off the four-track, and head down to the basement with a case of beer for a no-frills chat about Guided by Voices. After percolating as 37-year-old school teacher Robert Pollard’s side hustle for over a decade, GBV (as we refer to them for 99% of the episode) suddenly found themselves on the radar of hip indie-rock tastemakers. 1994’s Bee Thousand captures this turning point for the band with a gloriously messy patchwork of 20 home-recorded songs that incorporate influences of what Pollard calls the Four P’s of Rock: prog, psych, pop, and punk. Jam along with us to these lo-fi anthems, and try to not pull a muscle while imitating Pollard’s signature stage kicks.
Miscellany
The performance on HBO’s Reverb that caught Dan’s attention has thankfully been preserved on YouTube.
As we mention in the episode, Robert Pollard’s catalog can be comically difficult to navigate, especially once you wander out of the Guided by Voices releases. A particularly handy compilation to sample some of his side projects is 2007’s Crickets: Best of the Fading Captain Series.
We pitched the cold open to Producer Mike as his chance to do his own version of the intro to the second LP of Todd Rundgren’s Something/Anything?, and he leapt at the opportunity.
Rich recognizes the double standard in making fun of Sting for referencing The Odyssey and praising Robert Pollard for referencing “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” and doesn’t care.
Other links
Marc Woodworth’s 33⅓ book on Bee Thousand (Bloomsbury)
Discord & Rhyme’s Bee Thousand playlist (Spotify)
Discord & Rhyme Roll Call
Dan Watkins (host)
Mike DeFabio (moderator)
Rich Bunnell
Bee Thousand tracklist
Hardcore UFO’s
Buzzards and Dreadful Crows
Tractor Rape Chain
The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory
Hot Freaks
Smothered in Hugs
Yours to Keep
Echos Myron
Gold Star for Robot Boy
Awful Bliss
Mincer Ray
A Big Fan of the Pigpen
Queen of Cans and Jars
Her Psychology Today
Kicker of Elves
Ester’s Day
Demons Are Real
I Am a Scientist
Peep-Hole
You’re Not an Airplane
Other clips used
Guided by Voices/Robert Pollard:
I'll Replace You with Machines
The Official Ironman Rally Song
Over the Neptune/Mesh Gear Fox
The Other Place
Hey Hey, Spaceman
Exit Flagger
Dusted
Buzzards and Dreadful Crows (Suitcase version)
Buzzards and Dreadful Crows (Live in Austin version)
Burning Flag Birthday Suit
Motor Away
Starfire
Hey Aardvark
Demons Are Real (Live in Austin)
I Am A Scientist (EP version)
Game of Pricks
Chasing Heather Crazy
And I Don’t (So Now I Do) (Robert Pollard and Doug Gillard)
Everywhere with Helicopter
Death of the Party (The Keene Brothers)
Cut-Out Witch
Dancing Girls and Dancing Men (solo Robert Pollard)
Math Rock
The Best of Jill Hives
Stifled Man Casino (Live in Daytron ? 6° version)
Others:
Genesis - Dodo (live)
Def Leppard - Animal
The Rolling Stones - Play with Fire
... And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory
The Modern Lovers - Pablo Picasso
The Flaming Lips - Smothered in Hugs
Yo La Tengo - Deeper into Movies
Local H - Smothered in Hugs
Electric Six - Getting into the Jam
The Jam - Little Boy Soldiers
Dinosaur Jr. - Pond Song
Big Star - Downs
Wire - Two People in a Room
The Fall - The Classical
The Who - Christmas
Band/album personnel
Robert Pollard – vocals, guitar, other instruments
Jim Pollard – bass guitar, feedback on "Demons Are Real"
Tobin Sprout – vocals, bass guitar, guitar, piano on "You're Not An Airplane", other instruments
Mitch Mitchell – guitar
Don Thrasher – drums and percussion
Dan Toohey – bass guitar
Kevin Fennell – drums and percussion
Greg Demos – bass guitar on "Tractor Rape Chain"
Randy Campbell – backing vocals on "A Big Fan of The Pigpen"
Credits
“Discord & Rhyme (theme),” composed by the Other Leading Brand, contains elements of:
Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
Amon Düül II - Dehypnotized Toothpaste
The Dukes of Stratosphear - What in the World?? ...
Faith No More - Midlife Crisis
Herbie Hancock - Hornets
Kraftwerk - Autobahn
Talking Heads - Seen and Not Seen
Guided by Voices - I Am a Scientist (this episode only)
You can buy or stream Bee Thousand and other albums by Guided By Voices at Rockathon Records, your local record store, or the usual suspects such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon. Follow Discord & Rhyme on Twitter @DiscordPod for news, updates, and other random stuff. Production and editing is by Rich, and special thanks to our own Mike DeFabio, the Other Leading Brand, for production assistance and original music. See you next album, and be ever wonderful.