Wave Of Mutilation: Pixies Reviewed
Introduction
I've thought about doing something like this for a while and now I've decided to give it a shot. In this thread I am going to review the Pixies' four studio albums; Surfer Rosa, Doolittle, Bossanova and Trompe le Monde, along with their debut E.P. Come On Pilgrim as well as other significant releases and things of interest. I have a number of reasons for doing this. Firstly I would love to introduce newcomers to the band's exciting music. Secondly I would like to encourage casual fans here to look deeper into the band and explore them that little bit more, in the hope that I can change their perspective and they will appreciate the band a lot more. Thirdly I would like to encourage existing fans here to go and revisit their catalogue and perhaps generate some renewed interest about them on this forum. Finally this will be an exciting challenge for me and a pleasure to do.
I do admit that the first time I heard the Pixies I wasn't really that interested, even though I was a big fan of Nirvana. It wasn't until my last year of school aged 18 that I started to appreciate alternative rock and indie music a lot more and started to explore it. One of my friends encouraged me to check out Doolittle, which I did, and soon enough the album clicked with me and it was a relevation. Thanks to the Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins and The Cure, by the time I started college, the door to all the great indie and alternative rock bands of the 80's and 90's wasn't just opened up for me, it was smashed to bits and the entire wall demolished.
Really the Pixies need no introduction, but for those of you who haven't a f ucking clue the Pixies formed in 1986 when Charles Thompson IV (a.k.a. Black Francis, a.k.a. Frank Black) met Joey Santiago while studying at the University of Massachusetts. Shortly afterwards they recruited bassist Kim Deal and drummer David Lovering to make the line-up complete. They settled on the name 'Pixies' after Joey Santiago picked it randomly from the dictionary and they liked the name because of it's visual appearance and meaning. The band's "Purple Tape" demo found it's way into the hands of 4AD boss Ivo Watts-Russell who in fact dismissed the band at first, but had a change of mind and then signed the band to his label. The band would then go on to do good things for the label before splitting in 1993.
In a similar way to The Velvet Underground, the Pixies only had moderate success during their original period together, but their influence on alternative rock and indie bands that would follow is significant. Mainstream success would eventually come to them through their influence on bands such as Nirvana, Pavement, The Smashing Pumpkins, Weezer, Neutral Milk Hotel, Built To Spill, Radiohead etc., even up to more recent years with bands such as Silversun Pickups as well as a few 'Best Of' compilations. The band reunited in 2004 and toured around the world with huge success over the years. Apart from the single 'Bam Thwok' the band have released no new material since their reunion, but there is always the slight possibility of it happening.
Anyway I hope you enjoy reading this and appreciate it. Zero.
Index