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Here comes your band
Beneath the surface, Pixies planted alternative roots
By Andrew Rooney
“You have to put groups in certain categories, and they are in the category of having actually invented something that didn’t exist before they came along.” — Bono on the Pixies
The stock answer to the ever-controversial question, “Who was the most influential band of the ’90s?” is usually Nirvana. Perhaps Radiohead if one is feeling daring, but usually Nirvana is hailed as the kings of alternative rock.
This is troubling to many, considering the Pixies pioneered the “loud, quiet, loud” style of writing years before Kurt Cobain did, and Cobain himself would cite the Pixies as the reason Nirvana wrote their songs the way they did. It was said that on the Nirvana tour bus one would only hear Beatles, R.E.M and Pixies records.
“Surfer Rosa” was more alternative than “Nevermind” could have ever hoped to be, and it came out three years before “Nevermind” saved music. This is not to take anything away from Nirvana, it is just that the Pixies are of equal importance and get no credit.
Formed in Boston in 1986, the Pixies released an EP, “Come On Pilgrim” in 1987, and beginning in 1988 released one rock masterpiece every year for the next four years.
The Pixies are cited as Radiohead’s second biggest influence after the Smiths and Jonny Greenwood, guitarist for Radiohead, credits the Pixies with inspiring him to pick up a guitar.
“Trompe Le Monde,” the Pixies’ swan song, was released in 1991, wrapping up a stellar career that had not included one bad song. Much like any “goodbye” album, the songs chronicle personal tensions and a lack of chemistry that led to the band’s demise. In the Pixies’ case, most of the infighting occurred between bassist Kim Deal and guitarist/singer/songwriter Charles Thompson aka “Black Francis” aka “Frank Black.”
Deal was always a sort of secret weapon for the band and has since established a cult following as the leader of the group The Breeders. Most notably she sang the Pixies song “Gigantic” and sang backup on a slew of others. However, Francis refused to let her sing on “Trompe Le Monde,” leading Deal and others around the band to scoff at Francis.
“Trompe Le Monde” is not the Pixies’ best record, but it is probably their most interesting and contains many of their most underappreciated songs.
U2, who are apparently huge Pixies fans, gave the Pixies the coveted spot on their Achtung Baby tour in 1991. Bono would go on to say, “You have to put groups in certain categories, and they are in the category of having actually invented something that didn’t exist before they came along.”
Beginning with the title track, “Trompe Le Monde,” it becomes clear that the surf-pop sounds of “Bossanova” are gone. That is not to say that the songs are not incredibly catchy. “Planet of Sound” follows the title track and contains some of the best “riffing” in the Pixies catalog. The heavier sounds of these first two songs would later lead people to call “Trompe” the Pixies “metal” album.
“Head On” is a cover, originally released by Jesus and Mary Chain, and is one of the most addicting songs on the album. “U-Mass” follows and is considered the biggest Pixies hit that never was.
Sandwiched in the middle of the album, “Letter to Memphis” would be the album’s single and would go down as a Pixies classic. Also sandwiched in the middle, was the classic of equal caliber, “Space (I Believe In).”
The album would wrap up with the classics “Motorway to Roswell” and “The Navajo Know,” most likely the two most overlooked songs on the album and two of the most diverse.
“Trompe Le Monde” would later be criticized for being a Frank Black solo record and for Deal’s relative silence; however, “Trompe Le Monde” was a fitting end for the at-times-Spanish-singing alternative pioneers from Boston.
Dave Eggers once wrote in Spin Magazine; “Were the Pixies the most influential band of the ’90s? This could be so. If you consider that Kurt Cobain said that ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was a stone-cold ripoff of the Pixies, that would make the Pixies more influential than Nirvana. But then again no one since the Pixies has sounded anything like the Pixies and hundreds of bands have tried to sound like Nirvana.”
For someone trying to get into the Pixies, “Doolittle,” and “Surfer Rosa” are the places to start; however, once you are ready for “Trompe Le Monde,” you will be hooked and there will be no turning back. After all, no one has, or ever will, sound like the Pixies.
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