Artist bio

See also: Frank Black, The Amps, The Breeders

Arguably the most crucial rock band of their generation, the Pixies formed humbly in Boston in 1987, and disbanded with little fanfare six years later, having offered via five albums and an incendiary live show a bridge between '80s underground rock and '90s "alternative," a blueprint for some of the '90s most groundbreaking artists, and a new approach to the classic 3-minute pop song formula.

Abrasively creative frontman Black Francis (nee Charles Thompson, later Frank Black) and his friend and filipino fireball of a lead guitarist Joey Santiago rounded out the final two pieces of their puzzle via a newspaper ad -- "seeking bassist and drummer who enjoy Husker Du and Peter, Paul and Mary" -- and thus dependable drummer David Lovering and bubbly bassist Kim Deal were brought into the fold.

Francis' songwriting approach was raw, primitive and instantly approachable all at once. Pop hooks buried themselves in the fuzzy, drum-heavy production of Surfer Rosa, with its muted verses and blast-your-head-off choruses and the manic energy of all four band members imbued the songs with an inimitable charm. Doolittle was the group's White Album, a smorgasbord of song varieties, spawning indie "hits" like "Debaser," "Here Comes Your Man," and "Monkey Gone To Heaven."

By 1990's Bossanova, Francis and the group had enveloped themselves in a cloud of marijuana smoke, but as the production grew crisper and shinier, the guitars and vocals wailed even louder. Still, a muted sense of pop perfection took hold of the group's music like determined ivy burrowing under a tree's bark. Also creeping under the band's skin was the growing tension between the talented songwriter Deal, whose side-band the Breeders recorded its debut album around this time, and Francis, whose indie megalomania (think: an alternative-rock Roger Waters) kept pushing Deal into a "backing-vocals and bass" position in the Pixies.

Trompe Le Monde proved to be the group's swan song, as its subsequent tour and even an opening slot on U2's Zoo TV tour could not pull the by-now indie darlings back into the tight unit they once were. Francis decided a change would do him good, and recorded his debut as Frank Black before breaking the news of the Pixies' demise via a press release. Deal, seemingly unperturbed, was recording another album at the time -- the Breeders' "Last Splash" -- which would wind up out-selling each of the Pixies' albums and Francis' future solo efforts as well.

But six years was enough to leave a legacy few of the Pixies' era can match. Case in point: a little album released two weeks before Trompe Le Monde, called Nevermind, was described by its creator (one Cobain) to have been a collection of "Pixies rip-offs." 'Nuff said.

Albums by this artist

Trompe Le Monde (1991)

Bossanova (1990)

Doolittle (Recommended) (1989)

Surfer Rosa (Recommended) (1988)

Come On Pilgrim (1987)

Features

Pixies: The NATN Pantheon
Published March 1, 2007

Pixies

Doolittle

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» TROY CARPENTER | CO-DIRECTOR

NATN Recommended Pixies Doolittle 4AD, 1989 RiYL: Lou Reed, Guided By Voices, Sugar

A decent amount of rock bands start with a bang, issuing an album and/or an EP with the kind of presence and audacity that leads critics and fans to herald the group as the second-coming-of-this-or-that or the-band-we've-been-waiting-for, possessing of music that can define a generation or breed inspiration for decades to come. Far rarer, however, do said bands follow up that initial blast with something that equals it, or better yet, surpasses it, cementing the group's place in history. The genre is littered with one-album wonders.

But the Pixies are among the rare breed that defied this trend: a band whose 6-year history yielded precious little in the way of throwaway material, who used traditional rock instruments to create a new sound, providing the blueprint for an astounding amount of music, good and bad, in the years that followed. The group exploded into music lovers' consciousness with the stunning debut EP Come On Pilgrim, essentially a release of their label-shopping demo, and then upped the stakes with debut full-length Surfer Rosa, recorded at low budget by Steve Albini and largely regarded as one of the best records of its time, the following year.

Fast-forward one more year, and the group takes up with producer Gil Norton and enters a "real" recording studio to make a fuller document of its sound. Probably the time to soften up and aim for commercial success, losing credibility and its early fanbase in the process, right? No, how about time to up the ante and release probably their most complete album, the weird, beautiful and unparalleled smorgasbord of Doolittle.

Yes, there are softer touches here and there, and actual pop songs -- not everything is as abrasive as Surfer Rosa. But the group's idiosyncrasies and inventiveness, rather than falling by the wayside in favor of widescreen sonic upgrades, blossom colorfully on Doolittle. For all of Surfer Rosa's import, Doolittle is the greater creative achievement, in part because it reveals the Pixies as a band that can make its mark in many different ways.

From opener "Debaser" -- both a pop and a punk song (though sounding nothing like "pop-punk" in the Green Day sense) featuring lyrics inspired by a 1920s avant garde black-and-white film -- through the rest of the album's 15 tracks, Doolittle captivates with musicianship, most notably Joey Santiago's melodic inferno of a lead guitar, which ushers tracks like "Dead" and "Gouge Away" skyward. Among all the Pixies' work, Doolittle best utilizes Kim Deal's vocals, such as on highlight "I Bleed," where Deal and Black Francis trade off vocal lines, each on opposing trajectories between whispers and shouts. And ringleader Francis is at his most expressive on the record, wildly screaming "Tame," gently crooning the minor radio hit "Here Comes Your Man" and maniacally laughing his way through "Mr. Grieves."

Even experiments like the spaghetti western "There Goes My Gun" and the David Lovering-sung nursery rhyme "La La Love You" fit snugly into the mix due to the album's range, spurning a potential life as b-sides to help position the collection as a rock opus with a prescient grip on the genre's extensive possibilities.

The Pixies' next two efforts, Bossanova and Trompe Le Monde, would evolve their sound each in its own way, filling out a short but brilliant career that in one reporter's opinion is among rock's elite. But Doolittle will likely be remembered as the best of the bunch, a singular expression that saw for miles and bettered the lives of countless listeners.

TROY CARPENTER | Troy Carpenter founded NATN from a Chicago apartment during the ambitious winter of 1998 with co-conspirators Ben French and Jonathan Cohen. After a five-year stint in New York, he and wife Lourdes have recently relocated to Indianapolis, where he spends days listening to music and nights in the kitchen at Elements restaurant. Musical heroes: Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Super Furry Animals. What else makes life worth living: Sushi, Phucty, runs in the park, and the Atlanta Braves.