The Releases: Bee Thousand (LP—Scat, 1994) / I Am a Scientist EP (EP—Scat, 1994) / Bee Thousand — The Director’s Cut (Compilation—Scat, 2004)
“It’s not really enjoyable to make music now. It takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of practice, you need to get really good at an instrument or really good at a piece of production software. And I think the majority of people don’t enjoy the majority of the time they spend making music.” — Mikey Shulman, CEO of Suno (January 2025)
“I never thought about what might happen with the album when we were recording the songs. I couldn’t have guessed that the record was going to be thought of as really important. I just knew that at that point in time I enjoyed playing a particular piece. Recording was always a joy. Bob [Pollard] really loved it and we loved it. If you enjoy something and what you’re playing seems right, then the song develops a good feel. You didn’t have to force anything—it all seemed so natural. I think that’s why Bee Thousand started attracting people . . . because it was so natural.” — Dan Toohey, Guided by Voices
“It was all about the music. It couldn’t be about anything else. I’m glad that we got to enjoy a little bit of recognition and it’s flattering that people actually like the records that we made, but the best thing for me was that I always liked them. That may sound a little selfish—maybe it is—but that’s really when it was the most fun, when we were playing for ourselves, when it didn’t matter what anyone else really thought. The music was fresh and we were having fun making it. And [Bee Thousand] turned out to be a record that people really connected with. I’m sure there are bands that go through their entire careers and never have that magic happen—and it is almost magical.” — Kevin Fennell, Guided by Voices
“We would be at [Pollard’s] house and after playing basketball or watching a football game, we’d take the freedom cruise. We’d all get into the car, go to the drive-through to get beer, and then cruise around blasting whatever version of [Bee Thousand] he’d been putting together. I remember that I heard “Echos Myron” for the first time on one of those drives and I just about lost my mind.” — Greg Demos, Guided by Voices
“We had a lot of respect for the songs [Pollard] wrote, the fact that he was doing it himself, and that he didn’t really care about what anybody else thought. Bob was making art totally for art’s sake. They would extend the loans and just keep recording so they could put these records out that they didn’t even send anywhere to be reviewed. We thought it was crazy, but at the same time, how cool is that? They make these great records and don’t even care if anybody likes them. There’s nothing more pure than that as far as I’m concerned.” — Don Thrasher, Guided by Voices
“It wasn’t like we were doing something that hadn’t been done before; we were just rehashing what we really liked about pop music from the sixties and seventies. We were doing what we loved to do and there was no way we thought it would become what it became.” — Tobin Sprout, Guided by Voices
“Making records is a spiritual thing.” — Robert Pollard, Guided by Voices
The old adage that begins “there are two types of people in this world…” has been used, misused, and outright abused in so many different ways that it’s hard to tell if resorting to it—even for the sake of irony—can be done with any degree of worth. However, allow me to indulge in a variation on the old cliché, in regard to the quote at the top of this week’s piece.
There are three kinds of people in this world:
A) Those who actually believe statements like the one that Mikey Shulman made on a recent podcast appearance. These people might be sociopaths, and—quite possibly—soulless. They probably grew up pulling the wings off flies. They are a concern, for sure, but they are (hopefully) relatively few in number.
B) Those who hear statements like Shulman’s and reject them. Within this group is a subset that recoils with visceral disgust when they hear opinions like this. The six men quoted after Schulman are most definitely in this subset. I am one of those folks as well. And, if you’re reading this piece, in this dimly-lit corner of the internet, you are almost certainly one of them too.
C) Those who make statements like Shulman’s—who probably don’t believe them—but do so for the purpose of profit. Their hope is that the more impressionable people in ‘Group B’ might hear such claims, and react in a manner that economically benefits those in ‘Group C.’ Shulman probably fits into this category, as the aforementioned podcast appearance coincided with Suno’s public attempt to legitimize the AI “music making” practices that the company is currently being sued over.
For a long time it felt like we stood at a serious inflection point, where political and social power teetered in the balance between the people in ‘Group B’ and ‘Group C.’ We’re not there anymore. Despite the vast manpower advantages of ‘Group B,’ the manipulative capabilities of ‘Group C’ have won out. They control our government, our laws, our institutions; and arguably even our own health, well-being, and economic security are in their hands. And now—thanks to people like Mikey Shulman—they’re even attacking human creative expression. I would say that we lost, but in reality, we let them win.
And now, it’s our task to climb out of another American Gilded Age. Like the last time, we have to put the fear of the masses into the hearts—if they exist—of the plutocrats. How do we do that though? I don’t specifically condone the actions of someone like Luigi Mangione, but I also can’t exactly condemn the collective shoulder shrug that the greets the death of a CEO whose entire business model is built upon a shocking disregard for humanity. However, if the purpose of the history that I teach in my ‘real’ job is for us to learn from its mistakes, I feel inclined to point out the fact that an event like the attempted assassination of Henry Clay Frick ultimately set the labor movement back, rather than forward.
So yeah, I don’t really know what to do collectively; but I continue to do what I can as an individual. I teach; and I hope that—through learning a real version of this country’s history—the reasonably-privileged students that I educate might actually pick up some empathy along the way. And I suppose I’ll even use the modest platform of Strange Currencies—and specifically the piece associated with Guided by Voices’ greatest and most famous record (ergo, the one likely to get the most views)—to do what I can.
What this means is that little of my allotted word count this week will actually be devoted to Bee Thousand. And I acknowledge that this may come as a disappointment to those loyal few who have been following The GBV Project for any portion of the past ten weeks. Obviously the fact that I’m engaging in this endeavor means that I love Guided by Voices, and I would have to be mad to not harbor a particular affinity for the band’s masterpiece; scroll down to the ratings if you need proof.
The thing is, there’s already a lot that has been written about Bee Thousand since its release in the halcyon summer of 1994. The two GBV/Pollard biographies that I’ve referenced in earlier pieces both devote several pages to the making of this very special record. There’s also Marc Woodworth’s entry in the 33 1/3 series; by the way, all of the above quotes from GBV members were sourced from this book, which can be purchased here. Like the album that it honors, Woodworth’s book is slightly unorthodox, but it’s a quality and revealing read nevertheless.
Finally, I’d like to encourage you all to share your own thoughts on Bee Thousand in our little-used comment section. I’ll happily reply with my own reflections on this one-of-a-kind album. As for now, I’ll leave you with some reminders of things that we all can do to help fix the mess that we’re in. They don’t (intend to) come from a position of self-righteousness (s0me of them are primarily reminders for myself); nor are they particularly novel ideas. Still, they’re actions that—especially in this moment—feel like they might mean something:
- Reject technofascists
- Avoid bad companies as much as you can
- Shop local when possible
- Read quality journalism
- Get involved in local politics
- Don’t be an asshole
- Don’t drive like an asshole
- Don’t vote like an asshole
- Listen to experts
- Speak truth to power
- Celebrate diversity
- Work for equity
- Practice inclusion
- Protect trans kids
- Protect the environment
- Don’t legitimize AI “art”
- Take a class
- Read a book
- Visit a museum
- Volunteer
- Build communities
- Love your family
- Love your friends
- Love your pets
- Love your city
- Love your hobbies
- Discover new music
- Discover old music
- Rediscover your favorite music
- Create art
- Create art yourself
- Create art for yourself
- Build a playground in your head
Ratings: Bee Thousand (10.0) / I Am a Scientist EP (7.7) / Bee Thousand — The Director’s Cut (9.0)
Bob-ism of the Week: “I am a lost soul / I shoot myself with rock & roll / The hole I dig is bottomless / But nothing else can set me free” (“I Am a Scientist”)
Next Week: GBV take a well-earned victory lap.
