The Pixies - Music Forums - Music Forum

mudhoneyjam is nirvana · 12-22-2009

The Pixies

The Pixies are an American alternative rock band that formed in Boston in 1986. The group disbanded in 1993 under bitter circumstances but reunited in 2004. Black Francis, Joey Santiago, Kim Deal, and David Lovering have been the band's constant members. While the Pixies found only modest success in the US, they were significantly more successful in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe, although they never achieved mainstream success with their studio albums.

The band's style of alternative rock music is heavily influenced by punk and indie rock, and while they are highly melodic, they are capable of being tremendously 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. References to mental instability, violent Biblical imagery, and physical injury are featureed in many of the band's songs.

The group is frequently seen as the immediate forebear of the alternative rock boom of the 1990s, even though they disbanded before cashing in on any of the benefits this might have brought them. Kurt Cobain, a huge fan, acknowledged the debt Nirvana owed to the Pixies. Other alternative bands would say the same and ensured the Pixies' legacy and influence which grew substantially in the years following their disbanding.

The Pixies are credited with popularizing the 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 and critics such as Graham Linehan attest to the appreciation of the band by musicians and critics alike. Bob Mould (from Hüsker Dü, who 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, said "No! That's just not right! The Pixies opening for us is like the Beatles opening for us. I won't allow it. There's no way we can follow the Pixies!"

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, was shocked by the band's breakup saying "I felt very depressed the day I heard about the Pixies split. What a waste...I could see them becoming huge." This statement was one that many artists at that time were thinking. They felt the band should have had more commercial success.

The most notable influence was on Kurt Cobain, influencing Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", which he admitted was a conscious attempt to use the Pixies' style. In a January 1994 interview with Rolling Stone, he said "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."

One of my favorite bands. Very original and very amazing. I highly recommend this band to anyone who is a fan of alternative rock and rock in general. They are one of the best bands ever. Also one of the most underrated bands of all time IMO.

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

Their Website
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porterjack · 12-22-2009

fell in love with them in 88 - saw them only once at an open air gig somewhere in Germany - with The Cure, Sisters of Mercy and The Sugarcubes - some all day fest