DEATH TO THE PIXIES!“Got me a movie, I want you to know, Slicing up eyeballs, I want you to know, Girlie so groovie, I want you to know, Don't know about you, but I am Un Chien Andalusia, Wanna grow, up to be, be a debaser, debaser” music review by Sister Ray |
Not your typical innuendic rock 'n' roll lyrics, not your typical sane, simple, gods-to-the-masses rock 'n' roll band. Hailed by many to be the most influential band of the last decade, they almost invented the soft verse, loud-hellfire chorus dynamic that was made multi-platinum by Nirvana and dozens of other "alternative" bands. The Pixies blazed through vaster territory, ruffled more feathers, and were accused of dementia more in their six-year career than most pariahs in a lifetime.
The inception of the Pixies occurred thanks to a sole person: Charles Francis Kitridge Thompson IV, lead vocalist and guitarist. Giving a nod to Iggy Pop and Billy Idol, Thompson baptized himself Black Francis. His vocal style is best summed up by advice a Thai rock star whom he had befriended; he told Thompson to "scream it like you hate that bitch!" in the fashion of the Beatles' "Oh Darling."Soon after, Thompson discovered whole new realms of music from Joey Santiago, his roommate at Amherst University and future Pixies lead guitarist. Santiago introduced him to '70s punk rock and early space-obsessed David Bowie. They put an ad for a bassist ("Bassist wanted for a rock band. Influences: Husker Du and Peter Paul & Mary.") in a Boston newspaper and received only one response. Ohio-born cheerleader Kim Deal joined on bass, as well as her friend David Lovering on drums. Throughout their five releases, the Pixies went through an eclectic range of topics, most returned to several times: S & M, space travel, Mexican hardcore, serial killers, surf utopias, Un Chien Andalou (a surrealist film directed by Salvador Dali and Louis Bunuel - see top of article), incest, Christianity, deformed and mutilated bodies, vampire women, Area 51, and animal transmogrification, among others. Their first release was the Come On Pilgrim EP, which indicated Thompson's preoccupation with religion, stemming from when Thompson was 12; his family came down with a "chronic dose of religion." He didn't buy into the Pentecostal content himself, but he took much of it with him. That certainly, however, was not the only influence. "When I reached my teens, I discovered rock 'n' roll and started getting interested in girls," he recalled, "so I guess that sort of religious sexual conflict of interests is where a lot of the songs come from. The Bible's got a lot of wild stories in the Old Testament - the incest thing pops up a lot in my songs." |
Songs like "Vamos" and "Isla de Encanta" displayed the lasting affect of a trip Thompson took to Puerto Rico during college. He called the island a "welfare state where so many people are screwed up." He lived in San Juan for six months with a "weirdo, psycho, gay roommate." This time led him to lyrically paint intricate pictures of poverty and perversion, often with a strong emphasis on gay culture. The Pixies' first full-length album was Surfer Rosa, a churning, burning conglomeration of sex and violence (although saved from cliche by their grasp of hook and melody), along with the "lazy evil" unleashed by producer Steve Albini. Songs ranged from child abuse ("Broken Face") to a convict's twisted requests to his girlfriend ("Cactus") to comic book heroism ("Tony's Theme") to a "Bone Machine." Comparisons to David Lynch (Eraserhead, Blue Velvet) were frequent. The track that stood out most on Surfer Rosa was "Gigantic," a song with lead vocals by Deal. It was quite removed from the rest of the album, with poppy lead vocals, straightforward narrative lyrics, and a catchy chorus. The last, however, was still ambiguous: there have been many guesses about the meaning of "Gigantic, my big big love," but the band certainly wouldn't admit to anything. The next album, Doolittle, was and continues to be the band's most popular to date. It is the best starting point for new listeners. Opening with their art school anthem, "Debaser," the album delved into familiar territory as well as much new ground. "Wave of Mutilation," "I Bleed," and "Gouge Away" displayed, at least on the surface, Thompson's unharmed affinity for carnage and bloodshed. Several songs presented a return to Christian subject matter, including the story of David and Bathsheba ("Dead") and "a Dadaist version of Samson and Delilah" ("Gouge Away"). The Hispanic influence was seen on "Crackity Jones," of whom the star was Thompson's old roommate in Puerto Rico. The album also dealt with subject matter they had left previously untouched: dancing with a drunk girl ("Tame"), vampires ("I Bleed"), dumping garbage in the ocean ("Monkey Gone to Heaven"), and death (the upbeat "Mr. Grieves"). |
Doolittle was somewhat more poppy than the previous two, but still not seemingly out of character. Overall, it explored more varied genres and instrumentation than did the Pixies' prior work. They probed into slide guitar ("Silver"), surf-rock ("Wave of Mutilation"), immaculate pop ("Here Comes Your Man"), and even a string quartet ("Monkey Gone to Heaven"). This trend toward musical expansion peaked on the following album, Bossanova. Distinct from their entire preceding repertoire, the album was mainly concerned with surf and sci-fi. There was no mutilation or demise this time; instead, their were stories of aliens and time travel ("The Happening"), spaced out Earth girls ("Is She Weird") and, perhaps actually out of the ordinary for the band, a sappy, romantic song ("Velouria"). Thompson considers it to the Pixies' best album, although critics had a general aversion to it. 
Trompe Le Monde was the Pixies' swan song. Most reviewers cited it as a "return to form." Despite the band's support of U2 on the European leg of the latter's tour, however, sales were disappointing to their label, 4AD. Thompson called it "heavy rock," but it was preceded by rumors of being a heavy metal album. It was the most produced of the Pixies' albums, which thankfully did not detract from its quality and beauty. Highlights on Trompe Le Monde include "Alec Eiffel" and a cover of the Jesus and Mary Chain's "Head On."4AD recently released a two disc greatest hits/live album (with one of each) aptly entitled Death to the Pixies. The first disc, the "greatest hits" collection, focuses too much on their earlier work. It excludes many of their best including "Broken Face," "Hey," and "Head On." The second, made up of live tracks, repeats all six of the first's tracks from Doolittle, which would be all right, if they didn't sound almost identical with the exception of the audience cheering at the end. Also, there are only three tracks from Bossanova and none from Trompe Le Monde. 4AD would have been much more wise to release an album of rarities, demos, and unreleased tracks, of which the Pixies have plenty. The new initiate to the Pixies would fare all right buying Death to the Pixies, but would benefit much more from starting with Doolittle. Similarly, anyone who already owns a Pixies' album would be better off instead simply buying another one, instead of spending twenty plus dollars on Death to the Pixies. |
flaming flag | other issues