When Guided By Voices released Space Gun way back in 2018, MAGNET had the brilliant idea to have some patsy rank all of the band’s LPs, as that one was Robert Pollard and crew’s 25th proper album, not counting collections, “postal rock” efforts, etc. Since people love lists—i.e., bitching about them—things went about as well as expected. (“This list seems … wrong.”)
With three GBV records released this year, the number of full-lengths since the creation of that original amazing list is 13 and the career total 38. (Math wizards, feel free to confirm.) So in celebration of this year being both GBV’s 40th anniversary and MAGNET’s 30th birthday, we figured we’d revisit the rankings with the post-list baker’s dozen included and see what abuse we can receive for undertaking this exercise again. (Enjoy this one, because we’re damn sure not doing another in five years.)
We’ll remind you of the original disclaimer: A low spot on the list doesn’t mean the LP isn’t good. And we are, as always, with you in your anger.
—Matt Hickey
1. Bee Thousand (1994)
2. Under The Bushes Under The Stars (1996)
3. Alien Lanes (1995)
4. Same Place The Fly Got Smashed (1990)
5. Universal Truths And Cycles (2002)
6. Mag Earwhig! (1997)
7. Propeller (1992)
8. Vampire On Titus (1993)
9. Welshpool Frillies (2023)
10. Mirrored Aztec (2020)
11. Zeppelin Over China (2019)
12. Nowhere To Go But Up (2023)
13. Please Be Honest (2016)
14. Space Gun (2018)
15. Devil Between My Toes (1987)
16. Earthquake Glue (2003)
17. Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia (1989)
18. Half Smiles Of The Decomposed (2004)
19. Surrender Your Poppy Field (2020)
20. Isolation Drills (2001)
21. Warp And Woof (2019)
22. August By Cake (2017)
23. Tremblers And Goggles By Rank (2022)
24. Do The Collapse (1999)
25. Class Clown Spots A UFO (2012)
26. Sweating The Plague (2019)
27. Styles We Paid For (2020)
28. Sandbox (1987)
29. La La Land (2023)
30. The Bears For Lunch (2012)
31. Cool Planet (2014)
32. How Do You Spell Heaven (2017)
33. Let’s Go Eat The Factory (2012)
34. English Little League (2013)
35. Motivational Jumpsuit (2014)
36. Earth Man Blues (2021)
37. It’s Not Them. It Couldn’t Be Them. It Is Them! (2021)
38. Crystal Nuns Cathedral (2022)
Photo for MAGNET by Christian Lantry
