Robert Pollard - Genius or Whackjob?

Cafe Society
1

I’ve recently been turned on to Robert Pollard and his band, Guided By Voices. Although I like MUCH of what I have heard so far, some of the stuff leaves me scratching my head. Pollard will write a song that sounds like it would be a hit no matter who recorded it(Glad Girls comes to mind) then the next song, he sounds like he’s making up totally idiotic poetry/drivel and strumming random chords on his guitar.
So which is it? Is he a tortured genius that we won’t begin to appreciate until after he’s gone? Or is he just some crackpot with a guitar that people are making into a power-pop god?

Chris W

PS the albums I have heard so far are
Mag Earwhig!
Isolation Drills
Do the Collapse
Not in My Air Force(Pollard solo)
Waved Out(Pollard solo)

2

Genius. Get thee a copy of Bee Thousand. It will remove all doubt.

3

Yes, get “Bee Thousand” and “Alien Lanes” and enjoy the non-stop pop rock assault. (I am one of those curmudgeons who thinks everything went downhill after “Alien Lanes”)

But then go rent the GBV documentary, “Watch Me Jumpstart.” This video drastically altered my opinion of Robert Pollard, and not necessarily for the best. Neither genius or whackjob, Pollard comes off as just a highly creative (and energetic) individual who tends to think very. very highly of himself. Not with an obvious pomposity, but with more of a subtle, “every story I tell is incredibly interesting, and words fall from my lips like so much spun gold.” He’s got no inner filter, he can’t separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. I can’t imagine having to be stuck in a tour van for months on end with the guy - he’s the spitting image of a number of annoying-yet-talented musicians I’ve known (and no, I’ve never met Pollard, although I could tell you some stories about that prissy prick Calvin Johnon from K Records…)

He’s also got Robyn Hitchcock Syndrome, which manifests itself as an incredible love of true musical whackjobs and/or geniuses (e.g., Syd Barrett, Arther Lee, Peter Gabriel [Pollard is supposedly a huge prog-rock fan, including, I think, early Genesis]) combined with disturblingly self-conscious desire to emulate said artists. In other words, he’s just trying too damn hard to be weird.

The end came when GBV stopped being just a bunch of friends hanging out, drinking beer, and making a rocking mess (if it ever truely was so) and became just an anonomous vehicle for Pollard’s rock-star dreams (two words: Cobra Verde).

Rent “Watch Me Jumpstart” and bask in the irony of the band camraderie documented in a film which ultimately captures the final moments of said band’s existence (uh, if that make sense). For some fans, the experience is akin to watching one of those “don’t drink and drive” advertisements in which the viewer is shown thirty seconds of birthday-party/national-holiday/wedding/etc home movie footage, followed by a disclaimer e.g., “Timmy was killed by a drunk driver on May 2, 1998.” Here we are, enjoying the behind-the-scenes pallin’ around with Sprout, Greer, Mitchell, etc, and - bam! - here comes the video for “Bulldog Skin.” That sad, hollow feeling comes over you: “I can’t believe they’re dead! They were so full of life!”

Oh, and pick up a copy of the post-GBV Tobin Sprout (you’ll appreciate him after “B1000” and “Alien Lanes”) CD, “Carnival Boy.” It’s worth it for “The Last Man Well Known to Kingpin” alone.

Thanks for posting this thread which then allowed me to ramble on like this…

4

Huh? Hours later, I think this finally posted-couldn’t even preview…Spelling errors and all…“Calvin JOHNSON” and “ARTHUR Lee” and some others…

BTW, also check out http://www.terrascope.org/gbv.html for a Pollard interview…

5

Thank you ArturoBandini for that enlightening rant. I remember listening to Alien Lanes when it first came out and being disappointed. I’m a HUGE power-pop fan and at that time was told they were the next big thing in beatlesque power-pop. Again, extremely disappointed to the point of selling the CD to the local CD exchange.
Recently, I was combing through the library when I saw a copy of Mag Earwhig!. After taking it to work and listening to it there(I am a truck driver, and i have a personal CD player I plug into the tape player in my truck)I was amazed at how much I enjoyed it. I couldn’t believe this was the same band.
I can easily believe RP is into pop AND prog-rock. One of the drawbacks of prog-rock(which i LOVE, btw)is that it has a tendency to take itself WAAAY too seriously sometimes. Much of RP’s lyrics sound like self-important poetry. But when all the elements are in place, it’s truly good stuff.
I have ordered B1000, Alien Lanes and Under the Bushels, Under the Stars from the library. I am interested to see what the rest of it sounds like.

Chris W

6

I dislike his habit of cranking out reams and reams of minute-long fragments. He seemingly writes like he were getting paid per song title.

7

Under the Bushes, Under the Stars fairly reeks of genius, as does many songs on earlier releases. Beyond the music, I have no idea.
And I also quite like the artwork he’s done for some of the covers.

8

Well, I’ve pretty much listened to everything from Bee Thousand and up(haven’t heard Universal Truths and Cycles yet) and while there are definitely some inspired moments on Bee Thousand, I still feel that Mag Earwhig! is their masterpiece with Isolation Drills a close second.

BTW, ArturoBandini, I don’t quite get your comment about appreciating Tobin Sprout after B1000 and AL. Is the murkier guitar sound his doing, and if so, is that good?
Also, what is wrong with Bulldog Skin? It’s no goofier or inscrutable than anything else in the GBV catalogue, at least what I’ve heard so far. If anything it sounds like GBV doing a fairly clever parody of arena-rock.

Any further thoughts?

Chris W

9

My favorite GBV is Vampire on Titus, which no one has mentioned yet.

And the short answer to the OP: He’s both wack job and genuis.