Last Updated on July 25, 2026 by Christian Adams
Discovery of the Week is a weekly series that digs through a box of 40 well-traveled CDs I’ve carried across the ocean for nearly two decades. Each disc has its own history—where I found it, why I kept it, and what it means to me. Some are classics, others are obscure relics, but all survived the endless purges and border crossings that come with long-term expat life.
Through these records, I’m tracing the soundtrack of a life spent in motion, and in a way, trying to explain how music, memory, and geography blur together when “home” is always somewhere else. Guided by Voices: Human Amusements at Hourly Rates is one of the few records that survived thousands of miles and countless reinventions.
Creating the Soundtrack
I had no clue what I was doing when I moved to Taipei, Taiwan, in 2008. However, I knew beyond all doubt that I understood the meaning of “being alone” for the first time in my life. Between the moments of chaos and anxiety, I found time to center myself with music. Guided by Voices. was one of the trustworthy artists who created what became the soundtrack of my experience.
I bought the 2-CD Human Amusements at Hourly Rates (2005) and The Cure’s The Top (1984) during the same record store visit in 2008, just as I moved into a new rooftop apartment in Taipei. I listened to nothing but Guided by Voices and The Cure for a couple of months. The GBV album remained on heavy rotation for a decade, and each song has a memory attached, which isn’t always a good thing.
The Luxury of Reflection
With the luxury of reflecting on the audacity of moving overseas without a clue, it’s important to reject all forms of nostalgia and/or romance.
Only a tiny subset of people will truly understand what I mean, but I had nothing to lose. No-thing. Never married, no kids. Zero dependents. A job that paid the bills. Nothing for me at home. Even my cat disappeared just before I left. I had freedom and a college degree, that’s it. All the signs were pointing toward, “Get the fuck out of here!” and there’s nothing to romanticize about that.
In my book, Year of the Rat, I described the feeling as “standing at the foot of a mountain, looking up. Whatever anybody might be searching for may or may not be at the top.” However, that’s missing an unspoken, polarized motivation. From the opposite perspective, I was perched at the top of a snowy peak with a pair of skis on my feet. I barreled into the experience with downhill abandon because I really didn’t care what happened. Up or down. Good or bad. Nothing to lose.
I don’t think that’s a practical reality for the average might-be expat, I mean, you probably shouldn’t go into it with such a cavalier attitude. To be clear, I’m not advocating this pattern of behavior. But there’s something to be said about people who just fuckin’ go for it, you know? That’s one reason why I’m so in love with Guided by Voices. They just go for it, man. They sound like they have nothing to lose, either.
Prodigious Amounts of Beer
I saw GBV live once at Slim’s in San Francisco in 2003. The band, particularly frontman Robert Pollard, had a well-known reputation for drinking heavily on stage. This was an integral part of their live performance “lore” and “experience.” Pollard was known to drink “prodigious amounts of beer” (often Miller Lite) and shots of liquor (tequila or Jack Daniel’s) throughout their long, multi-hour, 40–50 song sets. The drinking fueled Pollard’s energetic, “heartland rock theatrics,” including high leg kicks, microphone twirling, and spirited (sometimes slurred) banter. It also created a communal atmosphere with the audience, sometimes sharing drinks with fans.
Moments before the band took the stage at Slim’s, a roadie appeared and dragged an Igloo cooler to the front of the drum riser. A small cheer erupted from the crowd. The roadie pulled a beer from the cooler and tossed the bottle of Miller Lite to a guy in the front row. My buddy said, “Dude, that’s fuckin’ pro!”
We lost track of Pollard’s beer count about halfway through the two-hour show, but he easily tanked a 12-pack plus half a bottle of Jameson. He could barely stand through the encore. It was unbelievable.
Track Listing
| Title | Album | Length |
| “A Salty Salute” | Alien Lanes (1995) | 1:29 |
| “Things I Will Keep” | Do the Collapse (1999) | 2:26 |
| “Everywhere With Helicopter” | Universal Truths and Cycles (2002) | 2:38 |
| “I Am A Tree” | Mag Earwhig! (1997) | 4:40 |
| “My Kind of Soldier” | Earthquake Glue (2003) | 2:36 |
| “14 Cheerleader Coldfront” | Propeller (1992) | 1:31 |
| “Twilight Campfighter” | Isolation Drills (2001) | 3:08 |
| “Echos Myron” | Bee Thousand (1994) | 2:38 |
| “Learning To Hunt” | Mag Earwhig! (1997) | 2:25 |
| “Bulldog Skin” | Mag Earwhig! (1997) | 3:00 |
| “Captain’s Dead” | Devil Between My Toes (1987) | 2:01 |
| “Tractor Rape Chain” | Bee Thousand (1994) | 3:04 |
| “Game of Pricks” | Tigerbomb (1995) | 2:15 |
| “To Remake The Young Flyer” | Under the Bushes Under the Stars (1996) | 1:44 |
| “Hit” | Alien Lanes (1995) | 0:23 |
| “Glad Girls” | Isolation Drills (2001) | 3:49 |
| “Drinker’s Peace” | Same Place The Fly Got Smashed (1990) | 1:51 |
| “Surgical Focus” | Do the Collapse (1999) | 3:47 |
| “Cut-Out Witch” | Under the Bushes Under the Stars (1996) | 3:06 |
| “The Best of Jill Hives” | Earthquake Glue (2003) | 2:39 |
| “Hot Freaks” | Bee Thousand (1994) | 1:43 |
| “Shocker in Gloomtown” | The Grand Hour (1993) | 1:26 |
| “Chasing Heather Crazy” | Isolation Drills (2001) | 2:53 |
| “My Valuable Hunting Knife” | Alien Lanes (1995) | 2:01 |
| “The Official Ironmen Rally Song” | Under the Bushes Under the Stars (1996) | 2:49 |
| “Non-Absorbing” | Vampire on Titus (1993) | 1:35 |
| “Motor Away” | Single (1995) | 2:16 |
| “Teenage FBI” | Wish in One Hand… (1997) | 1:38 |
| “Watch Me Jumpstart” | Alien Lanes (1995) | 2:25 |
| “Exit Flagger” | Propeller (1992) | 2:19 |
| “Back to the Lake” | Universal Truths and Cycles (2002) | 2:34 |
| “I Am A Scientist” | Bee Thousand (1994) | 2:24 |
| Total Length: 77:13 | ||
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