Guided by Voices
“The Official Ironmen Rally Song”
1996, Matador Records
I don’t have ONE favorite Guided by Voices song. I’m also not one to make lists of favorites. If you ask nicely, I could cough up a list for you, but when left to my own devices, I’m not a big list-maker. I think that the guy from High Fidelity is deranged.
Your humble servant here just wants to throw a bunch of records on the floor, open a bottle of wine and chill out. I don’t carve pronouncements onto stone tablets. I just drink too much and talk too much and if I like to spout off about history or analysis from time to time, I try to never stray far from the state of simply blissing out by the stereo, records tossed about like unswept confetti after a party.
What I’m trying to say is that we here at The Constant Bleeder are real INFORMAL. We’re loose and disheveled. We forget to put on pants before we answer the door. We don’t always get the wine and cheese pairing right. We’re stranded in the combat zone. We walk through Bedford-Stuy alone. We ride our motorcycle in the rain. We quote Billy Joel hits at odd times. We have a bad habit of referring to ourselves in the “editorial we” even though there’s zero reason for us to do that on our personal website in which we are the only writer.
I’m not organized enough to have a favorite GBV song, I guess. And my list of top ten GBV songs has about 127 songs on it that change daily depending on my mood and the direction of the wind and whether or not Venus is in Gemini.
However, if the Devil comes up to me one day and demands that I name one favorite GBV song or else I’ll be forced to watch every Logan Paul video on Youtube in an endless loop for all eternity (or some other cruel fate like that), I’d go with “The Official Ironmen Rally Song”.
It’s the first single from GBV’s Under the Bushes Under the Stars album. It’s also my all-time favorite song about the escapist power of rock music, whether one is listening to it or making it. As a band who put out six records on their own and in total obscurity, not playing any music business games, not making any money, not even playing live gigs, GBV understand that music is one of the best worlds in which to hide out from life’s big shit show. Music is a life force. Here, they celebrate that. This is a song for the down-and-out. The kicked-around. The dregs. You know, people like me.
“The Official Ironmen Rally Song” is powerful, but never pretentious. It’s constantly ascending, but never too high. You can still reach up and touch it.
It’s also the conclusion to the unofficial and very likely unintentional story arc of the first three Guided by Voices singles.
In the lyrics of “I Am a Scientist” from 1994, Robert Pollard is a compulsive songwriter who pecks away at it because he must. Fame and money aren’t even in the equation.
Then, in 1995’s “Motor Away“, Pollard finally achieves recognition for his work and he’s ready to jump out of his skin from excitement. His band is now a part of the conversation about rock music. People are listening and record companies are writing checks. The thing that he once did for a good time and a release is now his job. The dream has come alive and Pollard is unashamed to be ecstatic about that. He’s also seasoned enough as a writer to make it a killer song that anyone can adapt to their own personal triumphs.
Now, it’s 1996 and Guided by Voices are out of the basement and in the studio and in “The Official Ironmen Rally Song”, Pollard settles into his music career. He directly addresses his new audience in the very first lines. His voice is big, booming and double-tracked, coming off like the voice of God as it echoes off of mountaintops. The guitars are crisp and the drums have presence. There’s some new polish on the chrome. The band have graduated from cassettes to professional tape reels that you can’t buy at Target. Meanwhile, from his pulpit Pollard tells the gathered to not take his abstract lyrics too seriously, just “join in on this song” and “hum it all day long”. He also promises to stay true to his vision (“You won’t see me turn my back…“) and, if you ask me, over twenty years later, he’s stayed the course.
It’s a beautiful song that’s been lifting me up for over two decades now.
If you listen to this and somehow still miss old scuzzbucket lo-fi GBV, the three B-sides are here for you. They approach Vampire on Titus levels of fuzz and fuckery, but they’re also good songs.
If you have the vinyl, flip over the record and change your turntable’s speed from 45 to 33 to hear…
“Deaf Ears”. It’s a fine little tension-and-release song that recycles a whole bunch of lyrics from “Do the Earth” and that addresses the fear of no one ever hearing your final words.
Smack in the middle is my favorite, “Why Did You Land?”. It’s a righteous anthem about people who give up on their dreams and lose their fire and all that Pollard can do is ask “why?”. Pollard doesn’t know how to stop. Still doesn’t. I think he’s genuinely curious here about how you do that.
The biggest throwaway of the batch is closing track “June Salutes You!”, but it’s still good. Sometimes Pollard can’t help being melodic anymore than I can help being a pottymouthed scumbag. Kim Deal sings barely audible backing vocals while the lyrics name check her then-new side project band Tammy & The Amps. A reason to work with Kim Deal seems to be the main reason why the song exists. Either that or its infectious chorus (“Come and intercept our love“, ringing in my head forever). I accept both. It’s a B-side. My defenses are down for it and this song plows straight through.