The Releases: Class Clown Spots a UFO (LP—GBVi, 2012) / Keep It in Motion (Single—GBVi, 2012) / Jon the Croc (Single—GBVi, 2012) / Class Clown Spots a UFO (Single—GBVi, 2012)
In discussing Let’s Go Eat the Factory last time out, I spent a bit of time establishing how that record fit into the context of the reunited classic Guided by Voices lineup. That context largely remains the same for its follow-up, Class Clown Spots a UFO. Despite coming out in different calendar years, the six months that separated the two LPs was the shortest length between GBV records up to that point; even though it arrived in December of 2011, Factory is generally regarded as one of GBV’s three 2012 albums, given its originally-scheduled release date of 1/1/2012.
But while little had changed in the GBV universe between record releases—at least from the perspective of an outside observer—plenty had changed within my own; and even more was about to. As I mentioned last week, Let’s Go Eat the Factory arrived during my last winter in Northern Arizona. By the time of Class Clown‘s release—although I remember this one dropping early as well—my final year of teaching in Flagstaff had concluded. I was applying for jobs in Oregon. I had said my goodbyes to my coworkers, despite not officially resigning my job just yet. In my mind, I was leaving Arizona.
In reality, I was attempting to find a very specific public sector job, within a narrow geographical range, during one of the toughest times for such things in memory. The Great Recession had hit the already tragically-underfunded school districts of Arizona hard. That spring I received my third R.I.F. notice in four years. I had been ‘hired back’ in the previous two instances, and was assured that this most recent one was only out of an abundance of caution, and that I would be recalled once again.
But I was completely over putting up an annual fight for a job that didn’t even cover half of my family’s expenses. The value of the home that my wife and I had purchased four summers earlier had plummeted. We were somehow falling deeper into debt every time we got paid. We had spent the previous two years covering the ever-growing gap between our wages and bills by maxing out the student loans that I could get while earning my master’s degree. And that summer was the last chance to get out of Arizona before things got really bad.
But things weren’t all that much better in Oregon. That spring, Beaverton School District laid off hundreds of teachers, setting off a mad scramble for jobs across the Portland metro area. I applied for every single secondary social studies position that was posted, from Salem to Vancouver to Gresham to Forest Grove. In total, there were only about half a dozen. I made personal calls to every human resources director for those districts, and effectively heard the same coded “An out of state candidate? Good luck with that…” response from each one of them—albeit in the comforting tone that tends to come from someone working within a public education system.
There was one opening that I was particularly focused on: a high school position in the suburbs of Portland. The posting specified that it would include teaching AP U.S. History, which I had done during the previous three school years. I called the district office. I called the school. My principal in Flagstaff even made a call on my behalf, knowing that if I got the job, he’d have one less teacher to lay off. I eventually learned that over two-hundred candidates applied for that job. And I was the only one to get an interview.
Needless to say, I didn’t have a ton of bandwidth to devote to the new Guided by Voices record—especially since I was still trying to finish an album with my own band, before I left town. I remember a specific listen to Class Clown on the ride back up from Phoenix, after my daughter’s tenth birthday party. I remember the title track standing out as the definite highlight. And I remember the band sounding a good bit more forceful and confident than they had on Factory—especially on some of the louder moments like “Jon the Croc,” “Billy Wire,” and “No Transmission.” Still, Class Clown Spots a UFO was undoubtedly the ‘GBV 2012’ album that I spent the least amount of time with, but at no fault of its own.
And finally spending some concentrated time with it this week reaffirmed a few things. Those highlights that stood out thirteen years ago are still my favorite tracks on the album—though “Keep It in Motion” and “All of This Will Go” each deserve a shout-out as well. I’m also confident in giving Class Clown a slight edge over Let’s Go Eat the Factory, as I did in my 2021 Catalog Crawl feature—despite the fact that I have a lot more good memories associated with Factory. Finally, listening to Class Clown this week also reminded me that I really like this first phase of the classic lineup reunion.
And ultimately, we’ll see how Class Clown stacks up to the last of the GBV 2012 albums—The Bears for Lunch—next time out. As I remember it, that one was easily my favorite of the three at the time. But then again, perhaps that could have been a product of regularly listening to it during a commute for a new job in a new town: one that I worked myself half-crazy in order to get, and one that—especially in the middle of a summer far more relaxing than that one thirteen years ago—I’m still pretty happy to have.
Ratings: Class Clown Spots a UFO (7.8) / Keep It in Motion (★★★★) / Jon the Croc (★★★★) / Class Clown Spots a UFO (★★★★1/2)*
*Singles are star-rated by their A-side; albums and EPs use the “Russman Reviews” scale.
Bob-ism of the Week: “You want to flip, but you don’t know how / They’re poking fun at a five-legged cow / Yeah, but it all works out for the best / Solemn places, Billy Wire, Billy gadget / Miles on the faces of the task force / Laser grids, open my lids / Humble thyself to the king of the kids” (“Billy Wire”)
Next Week: GBV releases their third album of 2012.
