Guided By Voices
Guided by Voices are a lo-fi/indie-rock band. Drawing from both prog rock, punk and British 60s music, and with lyrics tackling issues such as alien abductions, cinnamon flavored skulls and twillight campfighters, they are a quintessential part of the American alternative rock scene. Fronted by former school teacher Robert Pollard, commonly known as "Bonkers Bob", they have released some twenty albums in their long career.
Formed in the early 80s, they released several albums on several independent record labels, but it wasn't until 1994 that they hit the big-time with Bee Thousand, released on Matador Records. The next couple of years saw the release of Alien Lanes and Under the Bushes, Under the Stars, which, while still maintaining the lo-fi aesthetic (Alien Lanes was mostly recorded on a 4-track), saw their songwriting and performing gradually become more focussed.
Tobin Sprout was a major contributor during this period, penning a handful of songs on all the albums, but during 1996 he and Pollard fell out, causing Pollard to fire the rest of the group. The following album, 1997's Mag Earwhig, continued with the band's trademark sound, but in 1999 Pollard left Matador, joined TVT Records, and released Do the Collapse, a Ric Ocasek produced album that attempted a more radio friendly sound for GBV, a not entirely successful experiment. 2001's Isolation Drills didn't reverse the trend, but proved to be a much better album. In 2002 GBV returned to Matador and released Universal Truths and Cycles, something of a return to their lo-fi roots.
Key works: Alien Lanes, Under the Bushes Under the Stars, Mag Earwhig, Isolation Drills.
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Referenced By
Indie | Indie-rock | Indie music | Indie rock | List Of All Music Videos By Year | List of music videos by year | List of rock and roll albums 1990-1994 | Lollapalooza | Matador Records | Zwan
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