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The GBV Story on WSYC-FM
On Sunday December 12th, WSYC-FM will be broadcasting a 3 hour tribute to Guided By Voices from 10 PM to 1 AM. The GBV story will include commentary from host Rusty Roberts on the brilliant career of Guided by Voices as well as feature GBV music from Forever Since Breakfast through Half Smiles of the Decomposed. You can hear the show on line at WSYC's website. Any one who wants to contribute and information or call in to parcipate contact Rusty at dandyman16@yahoo.com.
A Return to Conan
GBV will be making their second appearance on the Conan O'Brien show. GBV will be appearing on the December 2nd episode on NBC.
Austin City Limits Date Set
The satellite air date for GBV's Austin City Limits appearance is January 22nd. Local PBS stations may show the episode on a different date. More details to come.
Austin City Limits
On their recent Texas swing the band was invited to tape an episode of Austin City Limits in Austin Texas. The band played a 90 minute live set which will be edited down to an ACL's 30 minute show. Expect the show to air in early 2005. More details as they come.
Top Fifty Frontman
In the August issue of SPIN magazine Bob is named as one of the Top 50 Frontmen in Rock and Roll History. Bob comes in at #45 in their poll.
Half Smile Full Tracks
Here is the final track listing for GBV's next and last release Half Smiles of the Decomposed. The album is due out August 24th on Matador.

Everybody Thinks I'm a Raincloud (When I'm Not Looking)
Sleep Over Jack
Girls of Wild Strawberries
Gonna Never Have To Die
Window of My World
The Closets of Henry
Tour Guide at the Winston Churchill Memorial
Asia Minor
Sons of Apollo
Sing for Your Meat
Asphyxiated Circle
A Second Spurt of Growth
(S)mothering and Coaching
Huffman Prairie Flying Field
GBV on Wright State University Radio
This Monday, May 3rd from 2-5:00pm EST WWSU-Dayton (Wright State University) will be having a little GBV tribute radio show. No interviews or sneak previews of anything but you can catch it on the Internet at http://www.listen.to/wwsu.
GBV Do The Who
GBV make an appearance on a Who tribute record called Who's Not Forgotten. The CD put out by Face Down Records includes GBV's live cover of Baba O'Riley. Proceeds from the album go to HEAR (a hearing loss awareness charity started by Pete Townshend). The album also includes tracks from the Dipsomaniacs, Pat Dinizio amongst others. For more details on this album head to the Face Down Records website.
Bee Thousand: Director's Cut
The Scat Records re-release of Bee Thousand on vinyl has expanded to a 3 LP set that will attempt to recreate one of the original ideas Bob had put together for Bee Thousand before it got pared down to its single vinyl state. The track listing is available on Scat's website.
GBV and The Rovers of Mars
As part of NASA's history, each morning's mission begins with a wake up song that gets beamed up to the apporpriate unit. On March 6th, Mars rover Spirit had the pleasure of having GBV's Motor Away beamed up to start the day.
Scat Re-releases
From the folks at Scat Records: In celebration of its 10th anniversary, there will be a new vinyl pressing of Guided By Voices "Bee Thousand" album. This will be "Bee Thousand: The Director's Cut" (scat65), a gatefold double album. The cover will feature Bob's original art for the record rather than the one everyone is familiar with. Record one will contain the existing album, unchanged. Record two will contain outtakes (previously released in Box) and the 10 songs from the two Scat eps, long unavailable on vinyl. There will be one unreleased track, a version of "My Valuable Hunting Knife" recorded by Andy Shernoff at the Scientist EP sessions. The cd version of Bee Thousand will remain as is, unchanged. At the same time, there will also be a vinyl pressing of the Propeller album, in an extra thick old school jacket.
More Bob in 2004
Guided By Voices recently returned to Waterloo Studios (parts of Universal Truths and Cycles was recorded there) in Kent, Ohio to record songs for their next full length release. The band recorded 14 songs with Todd Tobias once again in the producers chair. The album should be out on Matador sometime during the summer.

Never the one to wait until the next GBV release, Bob was in Kent this past weekend working on his next solo album, Fiction Man. The album is due out on Fading Captain on May 3rd. In the same vein as Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department, Bob wrote all the songs, while Todd Tobias plays all the instruments.

Stay tuned for more details on both these albums.
2003 End of Year Lists
It's time once again to start assembling all of GBV's appearances on year end lists:

Human Amusements at Hourly Rates (Best of GBV) voted #9 compilation by MOJO readers for 2003.
Earthquake Glue finished #265 in the 2003 Village Voice Pazz and Jop Poll. Critics voting EQG in their top 10 were; Josh Davidson, Michael Goldberg, Matt Hickey, Katherine Spielmann and Jim Tremayne. The Best of Jill Hives finished #101 in the singles category with Dennis Cooper, Matt Hickey, J. Edward Keyes, Kevin Moreau, Jonathan Perry and Laurence Station voting it in their Top 10.
NPR's Christian Bordal of Day to Day lists Earthquake Glue in his top 50 of 2003.
Left of the Dial lists Hardcore UFOs as the top reissue of 2003.
Power of Pop lists Earthquake Glue at #4 in their Top 20 for 2003.
Toronto Star's Vit Wagner names Earthquake Glue #10 in his Top 10 albums of 2003
Sponic Zine has GBV all over their year end lists; John lists Earthquake Glue as his number 5 album of the year.
Also in Sponic - John lists GBV's Denver show #5 best concert of the year; Eric Pepple - Earthquake Glue #3; Chad Dezern - EG #6
Boston Herald's Brett Milano names Earthquake Glue #4 in his Top 10 of 2003
Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot puts Hardcore UFOs in his top box sets of 2003
MOJO names The Best of Jill Hives in their Top 5 songs of 2003
Georgia Straight - GBV show in Vancouver Top Concerts of the Year
Stuff Magazine votes Earthquake Glue #1 album of 2003
UK Times' Stewart Lee puts Best of GBV in his Records of the Year list
Measure Magazine's John Wenzel Top 5 of 2003 - Earthquake Glue/Hardcore UFOs
ArtForum's Dennis Cooper lists Earthquake Glue in his Top 10 of the year
Napster's Back and GBV is There
The new Napster has been launched and not only can you buy any GBV song for .99 cents (all GBV releases from Alien Lanes on are in their library), but GBV has done a special in studio session (4 songs) that you can download right now for .99 each.
GBV For 99 Cents
Matador Records has recently signed a deal with iTunes to make some of their catalog available for purchasable downloads. Tracks from Mag Earwhig!, Universal Truths and Cycles and Earthquake Glue are now available for .99 a piece at the iTunes store.
Another Logjam
GBV is back for another appearance in Phil Szostak's Logjam comic book. After being immortalized in issue #4 of Logjam the band returns for issue #5. As of right now, it is only available as a limited edition 3 dollar mini-comic, but a fully printed issue should be forthcoming. A preview from the issue is viewable here. As always, Logjam is available through the contact page of the website, through comic retailers served by Cold Cut Distribution, or Indianapolis' own home of great music- Luna Music.
Mascara Video
Chris Slusarenko and Off Records has put together an AMAZING video for the Phantom Tollbooth song Mascara Snakes. Besides checking out Chris' musical abilities playing bass on tour with GBV also check out Chris directing talents at Off Records.
A New Fifth
Guided by Voices would like to announce that Chris Slusarenko (Sprinkler, Svelt, Off Records) will be playing bass for the band on all the upcoming US tour dates and Sam Powers (Superdrag) will be handling bass duties for the upcoming European tour.
Do You Have A Golden Ticket?
The first 20,000+ copies of Earthquake Glue on CD will be numbered and contain a limited edition sticker. But that's not all folks, in the tradition of Willie Wonka 25 copies of the CD will contain a Golden Ticket, which will entitle the winner to a free copy of the GBV Box Set - Hardcore UFOs - to be released in the fall.
2002 Best of Lists
GBV and other Robert Pollard projects will surely make many lists for the best of 2002.

One of Mean Street Magazine's Top 20 Albums of 2002 - Universal Truths and Cycles
#9 in Sound and Vision's Top 10 of 2002 - Universal Truths and Cycles
#4 on Jessica Gluckman of St Louis Playback's Top 5 Albums of 2002 - Universal Truths and Cycles
Power of Pop's Top Albums of 2002 - Universal Truths and Cycles
#3 on Karen Graves of Swizzle Stick's Top 10 of 2002 - Universal Truths and Cycles
One of Magnet Magazine's Top 20 Albums of 2002 - Universal Truths and Cycles
#10 Rolling Stone.com's Gil Kaufman Top 10 of 2002
- Circus Devils - The Harold Pig Memorial
#3 Rolling Stone.com's Gail Worley Top 10 of 2002- Universal Truths and Cycles
#4 Sponic's Top 10 of 2002- Universal Truths and Cycles
#9 in the Winnipeg Sun's Top 75 of 2002  - Universal Truths and Cycles
#15 in MOJO magazine's Best of 2002 - Universal Truths and Cycles
#3 in neumu's Michael Goldberg's Top 10 of 2002  - Universal Truths and Cycles
Listen for Shane's Top 7 of 2002 - Universal Truths and Cycles
#3 in neumu's Neal Block's Top 10 of 2002 
- Universal Truths and Cycles
Slate's Top 5 Indie Rock Records of the Year for 2002
- Universal Truths and Cycles
#6 in Dennis Cooper from Art Forum's Top 10 of 2002 - Universal Truths and Cycles
#30 in Amazon.com Top 100 of 2002 - Universal Truths and Cycles
#3 in Cheap Trick's Bun E Carlos Top 10 of 2002 - Universal Truths and Cycles

PAZZ & JOP
Isolation Drills shows up at #30 in The Village Voice's 2001 PAZZ and JOP Poll. The following critics from the poll listed GBV in their Top 10 of 2001:

Andrew Bartlett, Kenny Berkowitz, Eric Broome, Dave Bry, Kevin Cole, Jim Connelly, Dennis Cooper, Stephen Deusner, Daniel Durchholz, Michael Goldberg, Rob Harvilla, Matt Hendrickson, Matt Hickey, Matt Houser, Dave Lindquist, Malcolm Mayhew, Eric T. Miller, Jonathan Perry, Bo Pogue, Parke Puterbaugh, Jack Rabid, Ken Richardson, Lee Scurry, Allison Stewart, Richard C. Walls, Gail Worley & Howard Wuelfing
Best of 2001
GBV.com expects Isolation Drills to wind up on quite a few best of 2001 lists. We will archive them all right here.

Gail Worley of StarPolish picks Isolation Drills as #1
Two writers from Cheap Muffin name ID in their Top 5 of 2001
3WK names Isolation Drills at #8 in his Top 20 of 2001
Jim Connelly of www.neumu.com names Isolation Drills at #4 in his Top 10 of 2001
Michael Corrigan of The Inlander names Isolation Drills in his Top 10 albums of 2001
Minneapolis Star Tribune writer Chris Riemenschneider names GBV's Stubbs show as his top live show of 2001
Austin American Statesman writer Josh Eells names GBV's Stubbs show as his top live show of 2001
Austin Chronicle critic Christopher Gray names Isolation Drills #4 in his Top 10 of 2001
Greg Kot if the Chicago Tribune names GBV's Empty Bottle show in February in his Top 10 live show of 2001
Daily Oklahoman names Isolation Drills #5 in its Top 10 of 2001
Dallas Observer has Isolation Drills in its Top 10 of 2001
Sound & Vision has Isolation Drills at #3 in their Top 10 of 2001
Georgia Straight (from Vancouver BC) writer Shawn Conner has Isolation Drills in his Top 10 of 2001
Winnipeg Sun names Isolation Drills in their Top 10 of 2001
Toronto Sun names GBV show as one of the ten best of 2001
Perfect Sound Forever's Jeff Arndt has Isolation Drills in his Top 10 of 2001
Michael Goldberg of neumu.com has Isolation Drills AND Airport 5 in his Top 10 of 2001
Rolling Stone critics top albums of 2001 - Isolation Drills #1 from two critics
Punmaster.com calls Isolation Drills simply the best rock record of 2001
Daily Iowan's
Richard Shirk lists ID #7 in his top 10 albums of 2001 - Isolation Drills
Fast n Bulbous Best of 2001 - Isolation Drills
Musicwhore.org lists ID #18 in their top 20 - Isolation Drills
WOXY top 97 of 2001 - Isolation Drills #4
Many staff members of Swizzle-Stick.com have GBV in their top picks of 2001
GadflyOnline names Choreographed Man of War #7 for 2001
Magnet Magazine Top 20 of 2001 - Isolation Drills
Amazon.com Top 20 of 2001 - Number 12 - Isolation Drills
Ink19 names Circus Devils #6 for 2001
Bob on Nevermind
In the September 21st issue of Entertainment Weekly there is an article on looking back at Nirvana's Nevermind album ten years after. Bob is quoted twice in the article.

 "I remember hearing it in a record store when it came out. It kind of kicked my ass" says Robert Pollard, leader of the still thriving indie stalwarts Guided By Voices. "Every song was really powerful - bam, bam, bam! I thought, This is going to be huge". Huge it was, and on its own terms. etc etc

Later in the article;

The Nevermind phenomenon, says Pollard, "didn't create something new and interesting. It started something that's kind of snowballed and escalated into what we have now, with fucking Matchbox Twenty and Creed and all those bands. It's become something really watered-down and tame".


U2GBV
In a recent interview with JAM!, The Edge from U2 mentioned GBV. In talking about the Internet and music he said - "I think the Internet could be an outlet for a lot of music that the major labels would just pass over. I think that is really positive. That stuff is what is going to be turning me on and a lot of other people. For every Britney Spears there's a Guided By Voices out there somewhere."
Picture Them Big Time
Isolation Drills became the first GBV album to crack the Billboard Top 200. It debuted at #168 with a bullet in its first week of sales.
Jim Sheppard Tribute
Bob has recorded the song Bristol Girl for the Jim Shepard tribute album called Matter Dominates Spirit. The album is a double LP put out by Meta Records. For more information on the album and how to order it....check out this page.
End of Year Lists
GBV is showing up on several end of year lists even though Suitcase was the only official GBV release of the year.

On Spin.com - John Doe named Suitcase in his Top 5 releases of 2000
The Ottawa Sun had GBV as #5 in their top shows of 2000
Sutcase made PopMatters Top 10 releases of 2000
Artist of the Decade
Shredding Paper magazine has named GBV as Artist of the Decade and released a special issue commemorating the event. Their January 2000 issue is filled with all sorts of great GBV articles.
 
Do The Collapse End of Year Polls
Do The Collapse is making it's way onto many end of year polls finishing at #5 in CMJ Radio's Top 200,  #13 in MOJO's best albums of 1999, in the Top 10 in Canada's Top 100 College Records of 1999, in several Spin.com editors Top 10 list (Kid Marine was in Spin Magazine's Publicity Director's Top 20), at #4 in Michael Goldberg from SonicNet/Addicted To Noise's Top 10, at #10 in Jack Rabid of The Big Takeover's Top 40, at #3 in the Indianapolis Star's Top 10, at #5 in the Salt Lake City Tribune's Top 10 of 1999, #10 in Gail Worley of Pandomag.com's Top 20, Columbus Dispatch's Rob Messinger's Top 5 of 1999, #6 in Stereo Review/Sound & Vision, in New Zealand's The Listener's Best Music of 1999 list, #4 on  the Canadian Music Critics Poll and on PJ Harvey's Top 10 list for the year.

Robert Pollard listed at #4 in Magnet Magazine's Artists of the Year for 1999

Bob's solo projects that wound up on year end lists:

Kid Marine was on Spin Magazine's Publicity Director Jason Roth's Top 20 
Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department was #8 in two of Addicted To Noise's editorial boards (staff editor Matty Karas & site contributor Steve Kandall) Top 10 of 1999
 

WOXY Y2K
6 GBV songs made Cincinnati's 97X's Y2K Top 2000 definitive modern rock songs of all time. The entire list was alphabetical with no numerical standing given to any song. The GBV songs on the list were: Bulldog Skin, I Am A Tree, Jane of the Waking Universe, My Valuable Hunting Knife, Sheetkickers & Teenage FBI .
Bob as Food Critic
From Time Out New York, 12/30/99, pg. 38 - "Taster's Choice" - Like a lot of out-of-towners, Guided by Voices singer Robert Pollard enjoys eating in Little Italy when in New York---specifically at La Mela (167 Mulberry St between Broome and Grand Sts, 431-9493), "You always get lots of food and lots of wine," says Pollard. "It's three hours of gluttonous bliss." .
Rocketing Good Year
In The Rocket's Year End Poll, GBV placed high in two major categories. In top Northwest shows of the year GBV's July 30th show at Berbati's Pan in Portland was #7 and GBV finished #5 in the Top 10 national artists for 1999.
Pollard on the Beatles
In Entertainment Weekly's 100 Greatest Entertainers (Issue 510) article they name the Beatles as the number one entertainers. Bob shows up in the article with two quotes about the Beatles.   "The obtuse, stream-of-consciousness lyrics that I write definitely come from the John Lennon stuff, especially around the White Album," says Robert Pollard, leader of the Fab Four-drenched indie band Guided by Voices. "Stuff that doesn't make any sense--just complete gibberish--is always more interesting." and later... "Every band, even when they don't want to admit it, has to be somewhat influenced by the Beatles," says Pollard. "There are some people who have a kind of anti-Beatles stance, but I just can't imagine that. Most people acknowledge that the Beatles were the greatest band of all time."

Bob's All Time Top Ten

From an upcoming issue of JANE

1. Beatles - White Album
2. Wire - 154
3. The Who - Who's Next
4. Alice Cooper - Killer
5. Cheap Trick - Cheap Trick
6. Big Star - Radio City
7. Devo _ Are We Not Men, We Are Devo
8. Genesis - Selling England By The Pound
9. REM - Murmur
10.Beatles - Abby Road

Bob's Top Ten of 1997
Here's a look at Bob's faves of the year:

1. Upper Crust
2. All the Ghost reissues
3. Mirrors/Electric Eels/Styrenes, Those Were Different Times
4. Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments, Straight to Video
5. Candy Machine, Tune International
6. Jim O'Rourke, Bad Timing
7. Tar'd & Further'd, Siltbreeze compilation
8. Jamboree tape (demo - no label)
9. Polvo, Shapes
10. (tie) Sleater-Kinney and Lynnfield Pioneers, Emerge