The Bears For Lunch (studio album)
by Guided By Voices
Guided By Voices bestography
The Bears For Lunch is ranked 38th best out of 64 albums by Guided By Voices on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Guided By Voices is Bee Thousand which is ranked number 540 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 3,237.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Upcoming concerts
Listen to The Bears For Lunch on YouTube
The Bears For Lunch track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 76 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
The Bears For Lunch rankings
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 |  dihansse | Top 62 Music Albums of 2012 | 29/62 | 3 |
| 2023 | cmoshier | Top 100 Music Albums of 2012 | 64/100 | 2 |
| 2022 | cronadigallina | Top 100 Music Albums of 2012 | 71/100 | 2 |
| 2018 | blackflag29 | Top 63 Music Albums of 2012 | 62/63 | 0 |
| 2017 |  bertrandu | Best Alternative Rock Albums of 2012 | 26/50 | - |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 5 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 6 | |||
The Bears For Lunch collection
Showing all 5 members who have this album in their collection
The Bears For Lunch ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 14 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 03/12/2025 04:26 | PapaShiz86 | 10,913 | 79/100 |
| ! | 01/28/2023 10:23 |  Tamthebam | 22,861 | 69/100 |
| ! | 11/09/2022 13:09 |  Arthurknight | 9,595 | 72/100 |
| ! | 12/20/2021 18:32 |  Maxence | 12,622 | 61/100 |
| ! | 04/16/2020 19:03 | CosmicMicrowaveO | 384 | 85/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album has a Bayesian average rating of 69.1/100, a mean average of 66.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 66.8/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.9.
The Bears For Lunch comments
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Far and away the strongest album of GBV's reunion period (2010-2014). It's a shame they chose to release 3 albums (!) in 2012 instead of one really solid one. The first couple of times I listened to this I thought the songwriting was pretty weak and the production verging on un-listenable. But then I made a play-list of the more palatable tracks from Bears, Factory and Class Clown. Much to my surprise the result was actually really really good, and would rank among my favorite GBV albums were it an official release. Sometimes a whole really is greater than the sum of it's part's, and GBV have always been most successful when they bother to properly curate their work. I probably wouldn't rate Hot Freaks or Queen of Cans and Jars very highly if I'd first heard them as stand alone tracks, but in the context of Bee Thousand they're magic.
So here's my best of GBV 2012 playlist for those curious:
King Arthur the Red
The Corners are Glowing
Have a Jug
Hangover Child
Class Clown Spots a UFO
Chain to the Moon
The Unsinkable Fats Domino
Starfire
Jon the Croc
Doughnut for a Snowman
The Room Taking Shape
The Challenge is Much More
Waving at Airplanes
The Military School Dance Dismissal
White Flag
Keep it in Motion
She Lives in an Airport
Waking up the Stars
Your feedback for The Bears For Lunch
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