Serge Gainsbourg

Brief notes:. A fairly complete Guided By Voices discography is available.. In 2003, she wrote and recorded "La Chanson de Gainsbourg" as a tribute to the composer of some of her biggest hits. In 2004, during the band's final tour, many cities around the United States proclaimed a certain day to be "Guided by Voices Day" in that city. Some of them include:. One of the most frequent interpreters of Gainsbourg's songs was British singer Petula Clark, whose success in France was propelled by her recordings of his tunes. A 2nd box set of unreleased songs, with the working title of Suitcase II , is planned for December of 2005. His home at the well-known address 5bis rue de Verneuil is still totally covered by grafitti and poems. Several GbV works have future plans to be (re)-released, largely on vinyl.

Gainsbourg died on March 2, 1991 of a heart-attack and was buried in Montparnasse Cemetery, in Paris. His website, www.robertpollard.net offers updates and tentative future releases. The title of the latter demonstrates Gainsbourg's love of word play, which could sometimes be painful "Bowie, Bah Oui". Though the (current incarnation of the) band has separated, Pollard continues to produce solo material. His songs became increasingly eccentric, ranging from the anti-drug "Les Enfants de la Chance" to the questionable duet with Charlotte "Lemon Incest". Guided By Voices played their final show at the Metro in Chicago on December 31, 2004. Towards the end of his life, Gainsbourg became a regular feature on French talk shows, with perhaps the most famous outburst coming when he told Whitney Houston "I want to fuck you". They played the single, "Everyone Thinks I'm a Raincloud (When I'm Not Looking)" from the 2004 release, Half Smiles of the Decomposed.

During this period he released Love On The Beat and his last studio album You're Under Arrest, as well as two live recordings. Their last television appearance was on Late Night with Conan O'Brien on December 2, 2004. During this last decade he made a lot of TV appearances devoted to his controversial sense of humour and provocation. According to Pollard:. Next year saw him in the new look of Gainsbarre officially introduced in the song "Ecce Homo". In 2004, Pollard announced he was discontinuing Guided By Voices [1] (http://gbv.com/2004gbvannouncement.htm) following the release of the Half-Smiles of the Decomposed LP. He was able to reply to his critics that his version was in fact closer to the original as the manuscript clearly shows the words "Aux armes et cætera..." for the chorus. 2003 saw the release of Earthquake Glue, followed by the box set Hardcore UFOs and the greatest hits compilation Human Amusements at Hourly Rates.

Shortly afterwards, Gainsbourg bought the original manuscript of La Marseillaise. In 2002 Guided by Voices returned to Matador and released Universal Truths and Cycles, something of a return to their lo-fi roots. This song earned him death threats from right wing veterans of the Algerian War of Independence. Critics were kinder to 2001's Isolation Drills, due in part to producer Rob Schnapf, who was able to help the band capture their live intensity. In 1978 he recorded a reggae version of the French national anthem "La Marseillaise", "Aux Armes et cetera" in Jamaica, with Bob Marley's band, The Wailers. The following album, 1997's Mag Earwhig, continued with the band's trademark sound, but in 1999 Pollard left Matador Records, joined TVT Records, and released Do the Collapse, a Ric Ocasek-produced album that attempted a more radio-friendly sound for Guided by Voices, yet one which did not garner significant radio airplay. Next year saw the release of another major work L'Homme à la Tête de Chou (Cabbage-Head Man) featuring Marilou as a new character and somptuous orchestral themes. Shortly after the '96 release of UTBUTS, Pollard and Sprout had a falling out that resulted in Pollard firing most of the band and starting to work with Cleveland glam rockers Cobra Verde as the new Guided by Voices backing band.

Serge had worn the yellow star as a child in Paris. Tobin Sprout was a major contributor during this period, penning a handful of songs on all the albums through 1996. In 1975, he released the album Rock Around the Bunker the only rock album entirely written on the subject of the Nazis, recalling with black humour of how he and his family suffered during World War II. The next few years saw the release of Alien Lanes and Under the Bushes, Under the Stars, which, while still maintaining the lo-fi aesthetic (Alien Lanes was mostly recorded on a 4-track), saw their songwriting and performing gradually become more accessible. It has proven exceptionally influential with artists such as Air, David Holmes and Beck. The band soon signed with Matador. This concept-album arranged by Jean-Claude Vannier was mainly based on Nabokov's novel Lolita. Formed in Dayton, Ohio in the early 1980s, GbV released several albums on several independent record labels, and in 1994 they had a major release of Bee Thousand with Scat Records; distributed by Matador Records.

His most influential work Histoire de Melody Nelson was released in 1971. Many songs are 30 seconds long; often they end abruptly or are intertwined with odd and homemade sound effects. 1 in the UK chart. GbV has garnered much attention for its prolificacy, with a seemingly endless stream of releases. Its notoriety led to it reaching no. Over the years the band has seen many personnel changes, but always maintained the presence of principal singer/songwriter Robert Pollard, a former school teacher. Considered too "hot", the song was censored in various countries and in France even the toned-down version was suppressed. Drawing from pop, prog rock, punk and British Invasion music, and with lyrics tackling such issues as alien abductions, cinnamon-flavored skulls, latter day saints and twilight camp fighters, Guided by Voices is a part of the American alternative rock scene.

Originally recorded with Brigitte Bardot, it was released with a different female singer, future girlfriend Jane Birkin, when Bardot backed out. Guided by Voices (or GbV) is a lo-fi/indie-rock band. moi non plus, was vocally very erotic. Isolation Drills. His most famous song, Je t'aime.. Under the Bushes Under the Stars. moi non plus, Equateur, Charlotte For Ever and Stan The Flasher. Alien Lanes.

He directed himself four movies : Je t'aime.. Bee Thousand. During his career, he wrote the soundtracks for more than 40 movies. Chicago, Illinois - December 30. Gainsbourg wanted to break free from old-fashioned chanson and explore new musical grounds, influenced by British and American pop. New York, New York - December 5. His early songs were influenced by Boris Vian. Los Angeles, California - November 12.

moi non plus. Je t'aime.. Lemon Incest. Les Sucettes.