TOP TEN Pixies Songs
Published on December 26, 2011 by Christian Sellers · No Comments
Before Nirvana reinvented rock and grunge came to become the dominant force of the early 1990s there was the Pixies. The foursome from Boston, Massachusetts seemed like the most unlikely of bands to influence a generation of musicians; frontman Black Francis was overweight, losing his hair and lacked rock star charisma, guitarist Joey Santiago looked uncomfortable on stage, drummer David Lovering always seemed distant and bassist Kim Deal seemed far from the glamorous image of women during the 1980s. Yet somehow all these elements came together to create one of the most important and influential bands of the decade, although their initial time together would be short-lived.
Pixies first emerged in 1987 with the independent eight-track mini album Come on Pilgrim, which led the way for their full length debut Surfer Rosa the following year. Produced by Steve Albini, who would also lend a rawness to Nirvana‘s swan song In Utero five years later, the album featured some of the group’s most inspired and underrated work, including the often overlooked classics Vamos (having been re-recorded after being included on their first release) and Something Against You. After the modest acclaimed of Surfer Rosa the Pixies enjoyed their commercial breakthrough with their second album, Doolittle. Teaming up for the first time with producer Gil Norton, the group recorded some of their most well known tracks, including Monkey Goes to Heaven and Here Comes Your Man. Their most popular song, however, would be the opening number Debaser, despite not being released as a single until almost a decade later.
Norton would guide the band through their next two albums, commencing with 1990′s Bossanova. Although lacking the raw attitude of their earlier work the record would become another success and included many underrated tracks, such as Is She Weird and Havalina. The final album from the Pixies would come with 1991′s Trompe le Monde, the band’s least successful but still full of classic songs, many of which showed Francis’ growing obsession with science fiction. Among the highlights were the aggressive Planet of Sound and The Sad Punk and a cover of The Jesus and Mary Chain‘s Head On. The group disbanded soon afterwards, with Francis embarking on a solo career under the alias Frank Black, while Deal formed The Breeders with her sister Kelley. Over the following decade the legacy of the Pixies would continue to grow, aided by the 1997 retrospective Death to the Pixies, the live release Pixies at the BBC and a B-sides compilation. They eventually reformed in 2004 and, despite having not released an album of original material in twenty years, they have enjoyed considerable success through their constant touring.
10. VELOURIA
Over twelve months after the release of Here Comes Your Man in the summer of 1989 the Pixies issued a new single and a sample from their forthcoming album Bossanova. Velouria would be the band’s highest ranking single to date in the UK and introduced them to a wider audience, in part due to its radio friendly production. Notorious for their dislike of the music video process, the promo clip that was released for the song featured all four members running in slow motion across a quarry.
9. WEIRD AT MY SCHOOL
Although written during their infancy, Weird at My School would not surface on an official recording until the band re-recorded it to be included as a B-side for their 1989 single Monkey Gone to Heaven. Francis was already known for his somewhat unconventional lyrics and this was shown once again with such passages as, “often times, you know, I fantasise about sex with a nun at my school.” The tone of the song was closer to that of 1987′s Come on Pilgrim than Doolittle.
8. THE SAD PUNK
Following the clean and safe sound of Bossanova the Pixies attempted to return to a more raw style with Trompe le Monde, as was evident with the classic Planet of Sound. Another song to demonstrate such aggression was The Sad Punk, which for the first few seconds appears to be slow before Francis repeatedly screams “extinction.” Despite its simplicity and energy the song was rarely included in the band’s live set.
7. GIGANTIC
Arguably the Pixies‘ most explicit song was Gigantic, one of the standout moments from Surfer Rosa. Featuring rare lead vocals from Deal, credited under the name Mrs. John Murphy, the track was about a woman performing fellatio on a man, as was evident from the not-too-subtle lyrics; “Lovely legs there are, what a big black mask, what a hunk of love… gigantic, a big big love.”
6. DEBASER
In 1929 acclaimed artist Salvador Dalí and filmmaker Luis Buñuel collaborated together on a sixteen-minute surreal short called Un Chien Andalou. The film’s most memorable and shocking moment came when twenty-five year old Simone Mareuil had her eyeball sliced open by a razor in full view of the camera. Despite being a special effect the sequence has since become one of the most iconic images from early cinema. The experience of watching the film had an impact on Francis, who wrote Debaser as a tribute and referenced its notorious legacy; “Got me a movie… Slicing up eyeballs… Don’t know about you but I am un chein andalusia.”
5. ALEC EIFFEL
Following the minor impact of Planet of Sound, the second single to be released from Trompe le Monde was Alec Eiffel, which failed to attract the same kind of attention. A relatively upbeat punk song with prominent backing vocals and keyboards, the song as noted for its bizarre music video which saw the group performing in a wind tunnel.
4. RIVER EUPHRATES
While Doolittle remains their most commercial release, the band’s most accomplished album was arguably Surfer Rosa, which featured a rawness and attitude that seemed out of place in 1988, the same year that produced Bon Jovi‘s Slippery When Wet and Poison‘s Open Up and Say… Ahh!. One of the best songs on the album was River Euphrates, which demonstrated Francis’ unique vocals in all their glory. The track was re-recorded as a B-side to Gigantic the same year.
3. WAVE OF MUTILATION (U.K. Surf)
Wave of Mutilation was originally featured on the album Doolittle but was re-recorded in Scotland slower with keyboard. Improving on the album version, the cut that was dubbed the ‘U.K. Surf’ was later included on the soundtrack to the Christian Slater teen drama Pump Up the Volume, which would also feature contributions from Sonic Youth and Soundgarden.
2. I’VE BEEN TIRED
Francis has never been one to write generic pop songs about love or other everyday issues. Instead, he often turned his attention to more dubious subject matters and no more was this displayed than on I’ve Been Tired, which was released on Come on Pilgrim. The song’s most shocking lyrics were, “”While we’re at it, baby, why don’t you tell me one of your biggest fears?” I said “Losing my penis to a whore with disease.”"
1. WHERE IS MY MIND
For over a decade Where is My Mind remained one of the Pixies‘ most overlooked songs, yet thanks to its inclusion during the final moments of David Fincher’s 1999 classic Fight Club, in which Edward Norton and Helena Bonham Carter look out at the city as the skyscrapers around them begin to collapse, the song was re-discovered and has since become a fan favourite. A few years later the track was covered by Placebo and Francis even joined the band on stage in Paris for a performance, yet the Pixies version still remains the best. The song has since been included on Death to the Pixies and Wave of Mutilation: Best of Pixies, as well as numerous live albums and DVDs.
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