2000 Great Songs #1278: Postal Blowfish

We've now got our 10th Guided By Voices track (12 with some stray Robert Pollard and Tobin Sprout tunes)--just shy of the 13 apiece from the Beatles and the Grateful Dead.(while the Stones hit a dozen just yesterday). Which seems... well, strictly on a relative volume basis, way too low.

Anyway, "Postal Blowfish" is the second GbV number here which started out as one of their trademark lo-fi recordings collected on 1995's King Shit & The Golden Boys collection but was later treated to a (relatively) shinier remake. The definitive studio version can be found on the soundtrack for the Kids In The Hall's 1996 film Brain Candy (the second selection here from a surprisingly great soundtrack from the otherwise forgettable/forgotten movie). It's almost the definitive GbV song--a jagged stop-start riff yet relentlessly catchy, Pollard's absurdist lyrics simultaneously making absolutely no sense yet seemingly deeply significant. Ultimately, just a near-perfect encapsulation of mid-90s indie guitar rock.

Raw early version:

Albert Hammond Jr. of the Strokes (about 2:50 into the clip):

School of Rock!

See the entire Top 2000 to date in a sortable database!