The Mountain Goats/YMMV

• And the Fandom Rejoiced: As indicated by the page quote, there was a great deal of rejoicing when Darnielle started playing "Going to Georgia" live again.
• Archive Panic: seventeen studio albums, three compilations, numerous singles and EP releases, many tour-exclusive or otherwise rare, as well as multiple songs never officially recorded...
  • To add to it, Darnielle will occasionally do things like hold auctions to sell cassettes that have no copies to raise money for charity.
• Broken Base: A dwindling but still-vocal contingent holds the early super-lo-fi recordings above latter-day studio work.
• Covered Up: Some fans may not realize live favourite "Houseguest" is actually by keyboardist Franklin Bruno's other band, Nothing Painted Blue.
• Crowning Simile Of Awesome

In the way those eyes I've always loved illuminate this place Like a trashcan fire in a prison cell Like the searchlights in the parking lots of hell

• Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: San Bernadino.

We were safe inside And our new son cried, San Bernadino welcomes you

• Genius Bonus: John Darnielle is one of the most well-read singers in music. He's written songs about everything from HP Lovecraft to obscure boxing champs to minor Greek political events.
• Growing the Beard: The Hound Chronicles is considered (even by Darnielle himself) to be the beginning of the signature Mountain Goats style, while Taboo VI: The Homecoming is... rougher.
  • JD on Taboo VI: The Homecoming
• Magnum Opus: Tallahesse or The Sunset Tree
• The Masochism Tango: The Alpha Couple are the epitome of this trope.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • "Pure Love": "Hey, what are you doing, my love? / Hey, didn't i just tell you that such a thing would be over and above what's called for in this case? / Pull the ski mask away from your face. / It won't be necessary."
  • "Cut Off Their Thumbs" is about a hostage situation that almost surely will not end well.
  • "Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace": "Someone will need to mop this floor for me."
  • The live cover of Furniture Huschle's "Terror Song."
  • The last verse of "Autoclave":

I dreamt that I was perched atop a throne of human skulls On a cliff above the ocean, howling wind and shrieking seagulls And the dream went on forever, one single static frame Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name

• • "New World Emerging Blues"
  • "The Autopsy Garland"

"You don't want to see these guys without their masks on...or their gloves"

• • How is any of this "accidental"?
• Tear Jerker: Dozens.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks: See Broken Base.