Latest Release
- OCT 25, 2024
- 13 Songs
- Surfer Rosa (2007 Remaster) · 1988
- Doolittle · 1989
- Doolittle · 1989
- Bossanova · 1990
- Doolittle · 1989
- Surfer Rosa (2007 Remaster) · 1988
- Doolittle · 1989
- Doolittle · 1989
- Head Carrier · 2016
- Doolittle · 1989
Essential Albums
- The Pixies mapped the expansive boundaries of their sound on 1988’s Surfer Rosa—surf music, punk, rockabilly, and more—and then, with 1989’s Doolittle, they filled in the color and made it all more accessible. Frontman Black Francis had more hooks and weirdly catchy melodies than he knew what to do with, and his lyrical concerns were by turns surreal and inscrutable. But the inherent logic and integrity of his songwriting was undeniable—each tune offered all the pleasures of pop in a noisy and aggressive package, a combination of virtues that would have huge resonance when the Pixies' influence spread through alternative rock in the '90s. Doolittle brought the Pixies a wider audience by countering every unusual turn with a moment of sweetness. “Wave of Mutilation” has a chorus worthy of a power-pop classic, but it has a deceptively complicated arrangement, with swells in volume and tricky stops and starts. “Here Comes Your Man” is the kind of song you swear you’ve known all your life when hearing it for the first time, with a twangy guitar refrain that evokes '60s bubblegum even as the lyrics are cryptic and strange. “Monkey Gone to Heaven” moves from spare verses with only bass and drums to explosive choruses, pointing to the quiet/loud structure that would become a standard form in rock within a few short years, but it’s delivered with a rare sense of urgency to match the spiritual torment of the words. Doolittle is one of the Pixies' defining albums, the ideal introduction to them and a crucial guidepost for understanding where guitar-based music was headed.
- Delivering on the promise of singer Black Francis’ classified ad seeking a bassist “into Hüsker Dü and Peter, Paul and Mary,” Surfer Rosa contrasted the visceral attack of punk and hardcore with the prettiness of pop and folk, resulting in songs (“Gigantic,” “River Euphrates,” “Where Is My Mind?”) as strange as they were pleasurable. Despite their arty slant, there was something scrappy, almost ordinary about the band that only made the mystery deeper: These weren’t the delicate transmissions of celestial beings but the weirdo racket of a nearby garage. What emerged was a new kind of American Gothic: Beautiful, harsh, funny, and perverted—a sound that reshaped indie rock for Nirvana, the '90s, and beyond.
Albums
Artist Playlists
- These masters of noise reshaped the alternative rock landscape.
- Punk's rawest pioneers meet rock's wildest eccentrics.
- These hits and hidden gems trace back to Boston's alt-rock heroes.
- Delivering sweet, noisy hooks, even in their most manic moments.
- 1997
Live Albums
Appears On
More To Hear
- Playing the influences, and those inspired by the band.
- Jenn speaks to Joey Santiago from the Pixies.
- The L.A. singer is Added and Julie Adenuga joins in the studio.
- On Boston, living single, and the joys of DIY basement shows.
About Pixies
Alternative rock’s most visceral and majestic moments can almost always be traced back to the Pixies. Between 1988 and 1991, the Boston icons released four albums that effectively set the stage for Nirvana’s game-changing Nevermind—an album that Kurt Cobain later admitted was his best attempt at a Pixies rip-off. A controlled chaos of noise rock, art-pop, punk, and surf music, molded around morbid myths and surreal imagery, the Pixies’ sound was never easy to pin down—a major reason why their commercial success would never match their immense influence. In 1986, after moving to Boston from Amherst, Massachusetts, singer/songwriter/guitarist Charles Thompson IV (who would christen himself Black Francis) and guitarist Joey Santiago put out an ad seeking a bass player. Kim Deal responded, bought a bass, and brought in drummer David Lovering. In their first half-decade, the Pixies were prolific: 1988’s Surfer Rosa and 1989’s Doolittle were groundbreaking, as singles like “Where is My Mind?” and “Monkey Gone to Heaven'' delivered sublime punches to the gut with their quiet/loud, start/stop dynamics. Meanwhile, the candied pop hooks of “Here Comes Your Man” lured plenty of unexpected listeners into the Pixies’ madness. Even after they broke up in 1993, that manic-melodic meld had already been embedded in the DNA of bands like Radiohead, Weezer, and Smashing Pumpkins. Though the Pixies would reunite in 2004, Deal eventually left the band and was replaced by bassist/violinist Paz Lenchantin, who appeared on their first album in 23 years, 2014’s Indie Cindy. As the Pixies continue redefining their own defining style, they still sound—maybe more than ever—like no one else.
- ORIGIN
- Boston, MA, United States
- FORMED
- 1986
- GENRE
- Alternative