Pixies (band)

For other uses, see Pixie (disambiguation).

Pixies

The Pixies are an American alternative rock band that formed in Boston in 1986. The group disbanded in 1993 in acrimonious circumstances but reunited in 2004. Black Francis (lead vocals and electric guitar and acoustic guitar), Joey Santiago (electric guitar), Kim Deal (bass guitar and lead & backing vocals), and David Lovering (drums) have been the band's continual members. While the Pixies found only modest success in their home country, they were significantly more successful in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe, although never achieved prolonged mainstream success with their studio albums.

The band's style of alternative rock music is heavily influenced by punk and indie rock, and while highly melodic, is capable of being abrasive at the same time. Francis is the Pixies' primary songwriter and singer and has a distinctly desperate, yowling delivery. He has typically written cryptic songs about offbeat subjects, such as UFOs and surrealism. Many of the band's songs make reference to mental instability, violent Biblical imagery, and physical injury.

The group is frequently posited as the immediate forebear of the alternative rock boom of the 1990s, though they disbanded before reaping any of the benefits this might have brought them. Avowed fan Kurt Cobain's acknowledgement of the debt Nirvana owed to the Pixies, along with similar tributes by other alternative bands, ensured that the Pixies' legacy and influence grew substantially in the years following their demise.

History

Formation

The history of the Pixies began when undergraduates Joey Santiago and Black Francis (born Charles Thompson IV) shared a room at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Santiago soon introduced Francis to the music of David Bowie and punk rock, and the pair began to jam together. Francis then embarked on a student exchange trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico, but upon arriving struggled to grasp the Spanish language. After spending six months in an apartment with a "weirdo, psycho, gay roommate", he returned to Amherst and dropped out of the university. The two spent 1984 working in a warehouse, with Francis composing songs on his acoustic guitar and writing lyrics on the subway train.

The pair formed a band in January 1986. Bassist Kim Deal joined Santiago and Francis two weeks later after responding to a classified advertisement Francis had placed, seeking a female bassist who liked both folk music icons Peter, Paul and Mary and the band Hüsker Dü. Deal was the only person to respond, but arrived at the audition without a bass guitar as she had never played the instrument before. She claimed her twin sister Kelley Deal had a bass back in Dayton and that she had no money to get it. Francis lent her $50 for the airfare and Deal returned with the bass guitar. The trio started rehearsing in Deal's apartment, "because the old lady upstairs couldn't hear."

After recruiting Deal, the band tried unsuccessfully to get her sister to join as its drummer. Kim's husband suggested they hire drummer David Lovering, whom Kim had met at her wedding reception. The group arrived at a name after Santiago selected the word "pixies" randomly from a dictionary and took a liking to its definition as "mischievous little elves". The group was originally named "Pixies In Panoply" ("Things on Fire" was considered), but soon shortened it to "Pixies". Once the band had settled on a name and stable line-up, they moved rehearsals to Lovering's parents' garage in mid-1986. Their first show—named as "possibly the worst gig in the history of rock" by the band—took place at The Rathskeller, Boston, where they performed early versions of "Here Comes Your Man", "Dig for Fire", and "Build High".

Record contract and Come On Pilgrim

While the Pixies were playing a concert with Throwing Muses, they were noticed by producer Gary Smith (Fort Apache Studios). He told the band he "could not sleep until you guys are world famous." The band produced a 17 track demo at Fort Apache soon afterwards, known to fans as "The Purple Tape" because of the tape cover's purple background. Funded by Francis' father at the cost of $1000, the recording session was completed in three days. The tape was released exclusively as a demo to interested parties, including Ivo Watts-Russell at independent record label 4AD and local promoter Ken Goes, who became the band's manager. Watts-Russell nearly passed on the band, finding them too normal, "too rock 'n' roll", but signed them at the persuasion of his girlfriend.

Upon signing with 4AD (the band later claimed they were "the coolest record company to pay on time"), eight tracks from the Purple Tape were selected for the Come On Pilgrim EP, the band's first release. In the EP, Francis drew upon his experiences in Puerto Rico, mostly in the songs "Vamos" and "Isla de Encanta"; the album included lyrics describing the poverty in Puerto Rico. The religious lyrics in Come On Pilgrim and later albums came from his born-again Christian days in the Pentecostal Church.

Come On Pilgrim showcased much of the Pixies' variety and set up the beginnings of many trends in their music. It includes two songs partly sung in Spanish ("Vamos" and "Isla de Encanta") and two songs that explicitly mention incest—"Nimrod's Son" and "The Holiday Song" (). "I've Been Tired" refers metaphorically to sex and rock and roll culture and features a sense of humor, and there are four songs with religious references ("Caribou", "Nimrod's Son", "I've Been Tired" and "The Holiday Song"). Beyond lyrical trends, Come On Pilgrim displayed Santiago's erratic leads (as best displayed in "Vamos"), Kim Deal's harmonies (the then-married Deal used the pseudonym "Mrs. John Murphy" on the first few Pixies records, as an ironic feminist joke), and Black Francis's vocal range, from screaming to simple, traditional sung melodies.

Surfer Rosa and Doolittle

Come On Pilgrim was followed by the band's first full-length album, Surfer Rosa. The album was recorded by Steve Albini (who was hired by Watts-Russell on the advice of a 4AD colleague), completed in two weeks, and released in early 1988. Albini later became notable for recording Nirvana's In Utero at the request of Kurt Cobain, who had cited Surfer Rosa as one of his main musical influences, and particularly admired the album's natural and powerful drum sounds—a result of Albini's influence on the record. Surfer Rosa gained the Pixies acclaim throughout the musical world; both Melody Maker and Sounds gave Surfer Rosa their "Album of the Year" award. The success of Surfer Rosa would lead to the band signing an American distribution deal with major record label Elektra before the release of its next album.

As with Come On Pilgrim, the band delivered a wide range of song styles. Sonically and thematically, Surfer Rosa was similar to Come On Pilgrim—from the drum-driven "Bone Machine", that showed a trademark propensity for surreal lyrics, to pop guitar songs such as "Broken Face", "Break My Body", and "Brick Is Red". The band included heavier material, such as "Something Against You", with Black Francis' distorted screaming a prominent feature in the song, and Q Magazine later named Surfer Rosa as one of the 50 Heaviest Albums of All Time. A re-recorded version of "Vamos"—a song that appeared on Come On Pilgrim—appears on the album. The track, "You Fuckin' Die! (I Said)" (referred to as "Bonus Track" or "Untitled" on most versions of the CD) that appears toward the end of the album is actually an accidental studio recording of Francis and Deal talking amicably and joking, and despite the title of the song, there is none of the tension present between the two that later drove the band apart.

Surfer Rosa featured popular songs such as "Gigantic"—their first single and one of the few songs on which bassist Kim Deal sang lead vocals—"River Euphrates", and "Where Is My Mind?" (sample^ⓘ), which was played at the end of the film Fight Club and, as a result, is one of their best-known songs to date.

After their critically acclaimed album, the band arrived in England to support Throwing Muses on the European "Sex and Death" tour—beginning at the Mean Fiddler in London. The tour also took them to the Netherlands, where the Pixies had already received enough media attention to be headlining the tour. Francis later recalled: "The first place I made it with the Pixies was in Holland." The setlist included new songs such as "In Heaven", "Hey", and "Wild Honey Pie", and the tour became notable for the band's in-jokes, such as playing their entire set list in alphabetical order. The aforementioned songs were recorded in a Peel session in July at the BBC and they soon made a second trip to the studios; choosing "Dead", "Tame", "There Goes My Gun", and "Manta Ray" to be recorded. In total, the band recorded six Peel sessions and released an album, Pixies at the BBC, with selected recorded tracks from those sessions.

Around this time, the Pixies struck up a relationship with the British producer, Gil Norton. Norton was to produce their second full album, Doolittle (provisionally titled Whore), which was recorded in the last six weeks of 1988 and seen as a departure from the raw sound of Come On Pilgrim and Surfer Rosa. Doolittle had a much cleaner sound, largely due to Norton and the production budget of US$40,000, which was quadruple that of Surfer Rosa. Much of the album's subject matter remained similar to the previous two albums; several song titles seemed to evoke images of bloodshed and mutilation, such as "I Bleed", "Wave of Mutilation", and "Gouge Away".

Doolittle began with "Debaser" (sample^ⓘ), an ode to the 1929 surrealist Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí film Un chien andalou. In March 2005, Q magazine placed the song at number 21 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. Doolittle featured the prominent single "Here Comes Your Man"; an unusually jaunty and pop-like song for the band. It nearly landed the band a mimed appearance on the TV chat show Wogan, which was mocked in the video to the song. "Monkey Gone to Heaven", the only Pixies song with a string section, was a Top 10 modern rock radio hit in the US, reached the Top 100 in the UK, and still receives regular radio play. Deal's only songwriting contribution to the album was the song "Silver" (co-written with Francis), on which Deal played slide guitar and Lovering played the bass guitar. Lovering sang lead vocals on "La La Love You", an atypical love song from the band.

Like Surfer Rosa, Doolittle was acclaimed by fans and music critics alike, and it is perhaps their best-selling record; it was certified gold by the RIAA on November 10, 1995. In 2003, the album was ranked number 226 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It also placed on Q Magazine's 100 Greatest Albums Ever.

Hiatus

After Doolittle tensions between Deal and Francis came to a head (for example, Francis threw a guitar at Deal during a concert in Stuttgart), and Deal was almost fired from the band. Santiago, in an interview to Mojo, explained:

Kim was headstrong and wanted to include her own songs, to explore her own world. The way I think Charles [Black Francis] saw it, the band made pizzas, not cookies. Before we made Bossanova, we were even going to fire her after a gig in Frankfurt where we found her hanging out in her hotel room with no intention of playing. But our lawyer convinced us to try and work it out, to give her a warning or something. You know, I blocked that incident out of my head, that was too heavy for me. Kim couldn't believe I'd be party to it but I told her, she didn't seem happy, so why hang around? In the end, Kim realized it was Charles's bag, that he was the singer, but they kinda stopped talking after that.

During the post-Doolittle "Fuck or Fight" tour of the United States, intended to promote the release of the album, the band's hectic schedule took its toll on the band members; the Pixies had released three albums in two years, as well as constant touring. Near the end of the 1989 tour, during their homecoming Boston concert, Santiago smashed up his instruments and stormed off-stage. After the tour's final date in New York, the band was too exhausted to attend the end-of-tour party the following night and soon announced a hiatus.

During this time, Santiago traveled to the Grand Canyon to "find himself", and Lovering jetted off to Jamaica. Francis bought a yellow Cadillac and crossed America with his girlfriend (due to an aversion to flying), and while doing so performed solo gigs in order to raise money for furniture in his new Los Angeles apartment. Deal formed a new band, The Breeders, named after a band she had formed with her sister as a teenager, with Tanya Donelly of Throwing Muses and bassist Josephine Wiggs of Perfect Disaster. Their debut album, Pod, was released in 1990.

Bossanova, Trompe le Monde, and breakup

In 1990, all members of the group except for Deal moved to Los Angeles. Lovering stated that he, Santiago, and Francis moved there "because the recording studio was there".

Afforded a bigger budget, the Pixies recorded their third album Bossanova on 46 tracks, instead of the 24 used for Doolittle. Unlike previous recordings, the band had little time to practice beforehand, and Black Francis wrote much of the album in the studio. Featuring the singles "Velouria" and "Dig for Fire", Bossanova reached number 70 in the United States. In contrast, the album peaked at number three in the United Kingdom.

The band continued to tour, and, break-up announcements notwithstanding, one more album followed, Trompe le Monde, in 1991. Trompe Le Monde expanded on UFO and sci-fi themes (including a song on space travel, "Planet of Sound" and "Motorway to Roswell" about an alien vacation gone bad). Songs such as "Bird Dream of the Olympus Mons" and "Lovely Day" were written in a similar style to songs on Bossanova (such as "Havalina"). The album saw the band move in a more popular direction with songs as "Palace of the Brine" and "Trompe Le Monde". The songs "U-Mass" (sample^ⓘ) and "Alec Eiffel" included the keyboardist Eric Drew Feldman—a move unthinkable in the band's Come On Pilgrim and Surfer Rosa days. The album also featured a cover of "Head On" by The Jesus and Mary Chain. Trompe Le Monde was the Pixies' last studio album before their breakup.

Following the release of Trompe Le Monde, the band contributed a cover of "I Can't Forget" to the Leonard Cohen tribute album I'm Your Fan and went on a sellout winter tour of the USA, culminating on a TV appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. They then embarked on an uncomfortable tour supporting fans U2 (on their Zoo TV tour) in 1992. Tensions rose between band members, and, at the end of the year, the Pixies went on sabbatical and focused on separate projects.

In early 1993, Francis announced in an interview to BBC Radio 5 that the band was finished and offered no explanation at the time, unbeknown to the other members of the band. He later telephoned Santiago and subsequently notified Deal and Lovering via fax, in January 1993.

After the breakup

Black Francis renamed himself Frank Black and released three solo albums. He then went on to form a band with the former Miracle Legion rhythm section Scott Boutier and David McCaffrey, plus session man Lyle Workman, called Frank Black and the Catholics. For the second Catholics album Workman was replaced by Rich Gilbert and a third guitarist, Dave Phillips, was added to the mix for the third Catholics album. Following 2003's (Show Me Your Tears), the Catholics were disbanded. Black released his fourth solo album, Honeycomb, featuring a mellow, rhythm and blues-styled approach and backing from seasoned Nashville musicians. He released a further double album from the same sessions, Fastman Raiderman, on July 19, 2006. Having reverted to his Pixies stage name, Black Francis, then released an LP (Bluefinger) and EP (Svn Fngrs). In May 2008, Black Francis and his band (including Eric Drew Feldman) performed an original score for the silent horror movie The Golem at the San Francisco Film Festival (at the Castro Theatre).

Deal returned to The Breeders and scored a hit with "Cannonball" from that group's platinum-selling Last Splash in 1993. While on hiatus from the Breeders, Deal formed and recorded with The Amps, who released their only album Pacer in 1995. A new Breeders album, Title TK, finally appeared in 2002, with only Kim and Kelley remaining from the previous Breeders lineup.

Lovering went on to become a magician and make occasional appearances as "The Scientific Phenomenalist", performing experiments on stage and occasionally opening for Frank Black and The Breeders. Lovering continued to drum, playing on one of Tanya Donelly's solo albums. Santiago played lead guitar on one of Frank Black's solo albums, and on other albums such as Statecraft, by indie-rock musician Charles Douglas. Santiago also wrote theme music for Fox television, and formed a band called The Martinis with his wife, Linda Mallari. They released their debut album, Smitten, in 2004.

After the band broke up, 4AD and Elektra Records released compilation albums such as Death to the Pixies and Complete 'B' Sides, along with Pixies (The Purple Tape) and Pixies at the BBC.

Reunion

The Pixies in concert in Kansas City, October 1, 2004. From left to right, Frank Black, David Lovering (back) and Kim Deal.

In the 11 years following the break-up, rumors frequently circulated regarding a reunion. Though Frank Black steadfastly dismissed them, he did begin to incorporate an increasing number of Pixies songs in his sets with The Catholics, and occasionally included Santiago and Lovering in his solo work.

In late 2003 a press release from Black's publicist officially confirmed that a reunion would occur in early 2004. Tickets for nearly all the initial tour dates sold out within minutes of their announcement. The band's four night run at London's Brixton Academy was the fastest selling in the venue's 20 year history. The 2004 reunion tour reportedly grossed over $14 million in ticket sales.

The Pixies played their first reunion concert on April 13, 2004 at The Fine Line Music Cafe in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and a warmup tour through the U.S. and Canada was followed by an appearance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The band then spent much of 2004 touring throughout Brazil, Europe, Japan, and the U.S.

In June 2004, the band released a new single, "Bam Thwok" (sample^ⓘ) exclusively on the iTunes Music Store. The song reached number one in the British download chart. 4AD released Wave of Mutilation: The Best of the Pixies, along with a companion DVD. The band also contributed a rendition of "Ain't That Pretty At All" to the Warren Zevon tribute album Enjoy Every Sandwich. August saw the reunited band co-headline both the V Festival and T in the Park with the Strokes. The group won the Act of the Year award in the 2004 Boston Music Awards.

In 2005 the band made festival appearances at the Lollapalooza, Summerfest, and Sasquatch!. The band also played at European events such as the Reading and Leeds Festivals. In August, the band performed an entirely acoustic set (after a warm-up acoustic set in Albany, New York) at the Newport Folk Festival.

The band continued to make appearances through 2006 and 2007, culminating in their first-ever appearances in Australia. By early 2008, following abortive attempts to record a new album, Black began stating in interviews that the reunion was over.

In late August 2008, Black Francis told NME.com that he might be willing to return to recording with his former bandmates, saying "It's just a waiting game right now. Whatever we do in the future is gonna have to be fresh. I have to see if the band as a whole wants to go into the recording studio for a new record. That makes sense on some level. For us, there's gotta be an angle. It can't be just playing our old songs over and over."

On March 13, 2009, they were announced as playing the 2009 Isle of Wight Festival, appearing before Sunday night headliner Neil Young.

On April 21, 2009, the band confirmed that a new release would be available for pre-order on June 15. The release, Minotaur, will be a box set of the band's previous albums plus bonus artwork, available both in Deluxe and Limited editions. The artworks will be created by Vaughan Oliver and Simon Larbalestier, the men responsible for the original album designs and artworks. To coincide with the pre-order date, an invite only artwork showcase featuring select new pieces from Minotaur was held at Village Underground, Shoreditch in London. The also played a secret show at the event which was attended by Oliver, Larbalestier, and a host of journalists, competition winners and indie celebrities (Kevin Shields, Dirty Pretty Things, Klaxons and The Horrors).

In order to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of Doolittle, the Pixies announced a small European tour in October 2009 taking in London, Glasgow, Amsterdam, Dublin and Frankfurt. An additional 14 dates in the US were later announced for November 2009. At the end of August 2009, it was announced that the Doolittle tour would be extended to Australia in early 2010, including a first ever visit to New Zealand.

In June 2009 Black Francis was quoted as saying in the NME that the Pixies would return to the studio to record their fifth full length album some time during 2010. In addition, he stated that he would like it to be a film and music tie-in project involving a big Hollywood director such as Quentin Tarantino, but would be open to the idea of recording a more conventional album if this project should fall through.

In June 2010 an additional 11 city Doolittle tour in the US, as well as a short South American tour were announced. In an interview, Lovering said 80 percent of those attending concerts were not even born when the Doolittle album was released, but they knew the words to all the songs. He described the concerts this way: " We play some B-sides, then do the album "Debaser" to "Silver", in sequence, and finish with B-sides and older tunes."

In June 2010, the band was scheduled to perform in Tel Aviv but canceled the show three days before the concert, saying "We can only hope for better days, in which we will finally present the long awaited visit of the Pixies in Israel."

Santiago set dedicated to 33 rescued miners

On October 13, 2010, The Pixies played the longest set of their careers in tribute to the thirty-three Chilean miners that were trapped underground for sixty-nine days. Playing a song for each miner they performed to a jubilant crowd at the Teatro La Cupula, Santiago. Livemusic.fm

In a press release, frontman Black Francis says, "We were so moved by this story, by how many lives had been affected by this, and how the Chilean people banded together to support what can only be described as a miracle. We wanted to do something to show how affected we were by this, so we played a special set at tonight's show, 33 songs for the 33 miners, the longest set we've ever played as a band. We found out five minutes before we went on stage that all of the miners had safely reached the surface. This was definitely one of the most meaningful show we've ever played."

Watch a video of Francis introducing the set in Spanish here.

Musical style

Although the Pixies' musical style has changed over time, the band is considered to be an alternative rock band alongside similar bands such as the Throwing Muses. The Pixies explored a range of styles in their work—although many songs were characterized by Francis' distinctive yowling and lead vocals, with Deal's feathery backing vocals (on songs such as "I Bleed" and "Debaser") and Santiago's erratic lead guitar. The band's sound has progressed from an indie rock sound on Come On Pilgrim and Surfer Rosa, to a more sci-fi rock sound on Bossanova and Trompe le Monde. However, they have experimented with other genres of music, such as surf rock ("Cecilla Ann" on Bossanova), rock ("U-Mass") and pseudo-metal ("Planet of Sound" and "The Sad Punk", on Trompe le Monde).

Influences

The Pixies draw influence from a range of artists and genres; each member came from a different musical background. When he first started writing songs for the Pixies, Francis says he was listening to nothing but Hüsker Dü, Captain Beefheart, and Iggy Pop (including New Values and the bootleg I'm Sick of You); he cited Pop as his main influence in an interview with Mojo Magazine. During the making of Doolittle he was listening heavily to The Beatles' White Album. He cited Buddy Holly as a model for his compressed songwriting.

Francis noted, "The most influential band on me was [new-wave pop hitmakers] The Cars. And I didn't even know it! I don't own the Cars' albums, but remember how their first hit singles had that muffled guitar riff? Dun-dun-dun-dun ... all of a sudden it was okay to muffle your hands on the strings and just pluck some stupid guitar riff. I learned how to do that and it was like, 'Oh my God, I sound like the Cars!' You can't imagine how many [Cars leader] Ric Ocasek impersonations I wrote when I was 16!".

Santiago, as mentioned above, listened to 1970s and 1980s punk (including Black Flag) and David Bowie. Guitarists who influenced him include Jimi Hendrix, Les Paul, Wes Montgomery, and George Harrison.

Deal's musical background was folk music and country; she had formed a country-folk band with her sister in her teenage years. Folk music has influenced the Pixies; Francis often listened to Christian rocker Larry Norman, and the band famously requested a bassist who was a fan of Hüsker Dü and the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary.

Other media such as film has had an impact on the Pixies; Francis cites surrealist films Eraserhead and Un chien andalou (as mentioned in "Debaser") as influences. He commented on these influences (which he paid tribute to most in Doolittle), saying he "didn't have the patience to sit around reading Surrealist novels", but found it easier to watch twenty-minute films. He claimed the band members were "surrealists" in an interview to Melody Maker: "Maybe the avant-garde appeals to people from our economic background, because we're typically rejecting the older meaningful Christian values, but we're still confused as hell."

Songwriting and vocals

Most of the Pixies songs were composed and sung by Francis, whose songwriting style was characterized by a focus on Biblical violence ("Dead", "Gouge Away"), and incest ("The Holiday Song", "Nimrod's Son", "Broken Face"). He later commented on this in an interview to Melody Maker: "It's all those characters in the Old Testament. I'm obsessed with them. Why it comes out so much I don't know."

He also wrote about other offbeat subjects—such as Japanese salaryman suicides ("Wave of Mutilation") and atomic bombs ("Here Comes Your Man"), and in the band's early works (the Come On Pilgrim era), he included references to Christian themes ("Levitate Me"). Later, as the band's career progressed, he began to focus on sci-fi concepts and themes such as aliens ("Motorway to Roswell") and unidentified flying objects ("The Happening").

Deal sang lead vocals on "Gigantic" and the band's latest composition, "Bam Thwok", both of which she wrote, as well as on "Silver," co-written with Francis; she also sang lead vocals on the Francis-written "Into the White" and the Neil Young cover "I've Been Waiting For You." Lovering sang lead vocals on "La La Love You" and "Make Believe"; both songs were written by Francis.

Instrumentation

In terms of instrumentation, the Pixies are a four-piece rock band. Francis, the group's frontman, is the rhythm guitarist and uses either a Fender Telecaster, Fender Mustang, or Fender Jaguar, with either the Marshall JCM 800 or the Vox AC30 as amplification. Santiago, the lead guitarist, is a "strict Les Paul man" (he owns 3 Les Pauls), but also has a Gibson ES-345 and uses a Pearce GR-8 amplifier. Deal, the bassist in the band, plays either a Fender Precision or Music Man Stingray bass. Lovering, the drummer, plays a five-piece white Pro Prestige custom drumkit.

As their career has progressed, starting with "Gigantic" (from Surfer Rosa), the band have incorporated other, often unusual instruments and experimented more with their sound. For example, "Monkey Gone to Heaven" used a string section. "Velouria" (from Bossanova) had a theremin, most songs on Trompe le Monde featured keyboards and synthesizers, played by Eric Drew Feldman, and "Bam Thwok", their latest release, had organ halfway through the song.

Legacy

Although the Pixies produced relatively few albums, they had a significant influence on the alternative rock boom of the 1990s, most notably with Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Gary Smith, who produced the Pixies' first recording, Come On Pilgrim, commented on the band's influence on alternative rock and their legacy in 1997:

I've heard it said about The Velvet Underground that while not a lot of people bought their albums, everyone who did started a band. I think this is largely true about the Pixies as well. Charles' secret weapon turned out to be not so secret and, sooner or later, all sorts of bands were exploiting the same strategy of wide dynamics. It became a kind of new pop formula and, within a short while, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was charging up the charts and even the members of Nirvana said later that it sounded for all the world like a Pixies song.

Sonically, the Pixies are credited with popularizing the extreme dynamics and stop-start timing that would come to define alternative rock; Pixies songs typically feature hushed, restrained verses, and explosive, wailing choruses. Cover songs and commentary from artists and groups such as David Bowie, Radiohead, U2, Weezer, Nirvana, The Cure and critics such as Graham Linehan attest to the appreciation of the band by musicians and critics alike. Bob Mould (from Hüsker Dü, whom the Pixies cited as an influence) said he "was a huge Pixies fan" and Radiohead's Thom Yorke, after being informed of the Pixies plans to play before them at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, exclaimed:

That's just not right! The Pixies opening for us is like the Beatles opening for us.

Yorke said in the same Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival that, while at school, "the Pixies had changed my life". Other members of Radiohead have cited the band as an influence, and Yorke commented, "If we were all into the Pixies and nothing else, then it would be pretty obvious what the band would sound like."

While touring with U2 in 1992, the Pixies were sent a note from the band saying "Keep digging for fire. We love you." David Bowie, whose music had inspired Francis and Santiago while they were at university, mourned the band's breakup: "I felt very depressed the day I heard about the Pixies split. What a waste...I could see them becoming huge." This statement echoed many artists at that time who felt the band should have had more commercial success.

The most notable citation as an influence was by Kurt Cobain, on influencing Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", which he admitted was a conscious attempt to co-opt the Pixies' style. In a January 1994 interview with Rolling Stone, he revealed:

I was trying to write the ultimate pop song. I was basically trying to rip off the Pixies. I have to admit it [smiles]. When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so heavily I should have been in that band — or at least in a Pixies cover band. We used their sense of dynamics, being soft and quiet and then loud and hard.

Weezer (who later covered "Velouria" in the Pixies tribute album, Where Is My Mind?) have cited the Pixies as an influence on their music and lead singer Rivers Cuomo, in an Addicted To Noise interview, said the band "really blew my mind when I first moved to L.A. and started to discover cool music." Damon Albarn (of the band Blur) said: "When we started we wanted to sound like the Pixies."

Television appearances and videos

File:PixiesVelouriaVideo.png

A screenshot of the "Velouria" video, with the four band members running down the quarry

Pixies appeared on several television shows during their original incarnation, including The Tonight Show and 120 Minutes in the US; Snub TV and The Word in the UK.

Since the band were signed to the small alternative record label, 4AD, at the time of Come On Pilgrim and Surfer Rosa, no videos were released from their first two records. Starting with Doolittle, their first release with Elektra Records, the band released music videos with their singles, but the videos were often simple affairs. For example, in songs such as "Monkey Gone to Heaven," "Head On" and "Debaser," the videos often consisted of the band playing their instruments.

By Bossanova, the band had developed a severe aversion to recording music videos, as Francis refused to lip-sync to them. For example, in the "Here Comes Your Man" video, both Black and Deal open their mouths wide instead of mouthing their lyrics. According to the record label this became one of the reasons that the Pixies never achieved major coverage on MTV.

As "Velouria" (their first single from Bossanova) was climbing up the UK Top 40, the band was offered a spot on Top of the Pops. However, a BBC rule stated only singles with videos could be performed on the show. To counter this a cheap video was made, with the band being filmed running down a quarry. In the video, twenty-three seconds of footage (the time needed for the band members to reach the camera) is slowed in order to last for the duration of the song. However, the effort in filming the video was in vain; the Pixies did not play "Velouria" on Top of The Pops while the single was in the charts.

A 90-minute documentary called loudQUIETloud: a film about The Pixies directed by Steven Cantor and Matthew Galkin was released in 2006. The film documents their 2004 reunion and tour, and what happened during the years after the break-up.

Discography

Main article: Pixies discography

• Come On Pilgrim (1987)
• Surfer Rosa (1988)
• Doolittle (1989)
• Bossanova (1990)
• Trompe le Monde (1991)

See also

• List of alternative rock artists
• Music of Massachusetts
• Music of the United States (1980s to the present)
• Timeline of alternative rock

References

• Frank, Josh; Ganz, Caryn. Fool the World: The Oral History of a Band Called Pixies. St. Martin's Press, 2006. ISBN 0-312-34007-9.
• Matula, Theodore. "Contextualizing musical rhetoric: A critical reading of the Pixies' 'Rock Music'". Communication Studies. 51 (3, Fall), 218–237.
• Sisario, Ben. Doolittle. Continuum, 2006 (33⅓ series). ISBN 0-8264-1774-4.

External links

• Official Pixies site
• Official 4AD site
• Pixies discography at MusicBrainz
• Template:Last.fm