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This Issue 07/19/2001

Also in this issue

• Underground Sound
• Post Geek?

Bob Pollard isn't mainstream, and neither is the music of Guided by Voices
(GBV) for that matter, but something about the band's recent song "Glad Girls"
has caught the ears of the populace.

"It's crazy," Pollard contends. "I mean it's just a pop song. I don't know how to
really write a hit from todays standards--I'm a sixties kind of guy.

Over the past twenty years nearly 40 different musicians have found their way
in and out of the indie band. The only steady fixture has been Bob Pollard, lead
singer, primary song writer and undisputed lifeblood of GBV, who only gave up
his day job as an elementary school teacher in 1994. Prior to then, finding a
GBV album at the local mall was nearly impossible. But seven years ago after
the production of Vampire on Titus and Bec Thousand, the ever-changing band
from Ohio has gained more mainstream respect than their humble beginings
portended.

Six albums, including a five disc box set, two new labels and some radio airplay
later, GBV still hasn't been inducted into the seemingly exclusive fraternity of
popular music.

Pollard mourns the path music has taken in the past decade -- the superficiality
and the lack of good lyricists among the most popular bands on the scene. His
consolation lies only in the fact that he truly and honestly believes that "There
will always be good rock in the underground, but people are going to have to
dig for it and be diligent consumers."

Though they may not be main stream, and they may claim they don't want to be,
Guided by Voices have a staying power and a strong enough following that
odds are they will be around longer than their colleagues playing the Y 100
festival, whom Pollard is none too fond of, but curious to investigate.

"I heard the new Weezer album, and well it is what it is--bubble gum pop, but
basically it sounds good. I want to check them out at the show and to tell you the
truth I'm not really sure who else is playing the festival with us.

He most likely won't be overjoyed with the line up of LifeHouse, Vertical Horizon
and G Love and Special Sauce. The whole line-up seems to fit the mold of
everything Pollard thinks is wrong with the state of rock and roll.

"I'm appalled by the kind of music on the radio today. For that generic wimp rock
to become something that sells the most records doesn't say much about the
state of the industry. I just want to see something better out there."

Yes, the current state of the music industry is something critics and musicians
love to debate, with little concrete evidence and a lot of back and forth episodes
of blame -- but Pollard isn't playing the blame game about the decline of good
music, or about the fact that Guided by Voices, though bathed in critical success,
has yet to gain significant attention. All Pollard wants is to find an album worth
listening to.