"I Am a Scientist"

Guided by Voices
(Scat/Matador, 1994)

So it wasn't Robert Pollard's catchiest song, or GBV's most daring recording. But "I Am a Scientist" was something more important -- a friggin' rock anthem, in an era that was far too cynical about friggin' rock anthems. Pollard may be more verbose than his '70s heroes, but it was evident that the meaning behind lines like "I am an incurable and nobody behaves like me" was something close to "Free Bird." Pollard actually wrote this by looking through his high-school yearbook and making up captions for graduation pictures, but the song took on a life of its own.

-- Brett Milano