The Pixies were the first Nirvana. They just didn't break in the same way. Okay, they weren't quite as heavy, having a sweeter tone to their guitars and less despair in their music--they seemed a play on commercially accessible surf tunes and pop music conventions, twisting them out of shape until they were the approximation of the David Lynch cinematic dreamscapes singer Black Francis claimed as his inspiration.
I first saw this video as a child. I knew immediately I loved it. A decade later I bought Doolittle on CD. It was a musically surreal celebration of social parody--or somesuch. It had the same eerie power as the "Lady in the Radiator," or Suave Ben lip-synching to Roy Orbison. It painted mental pictures of phony white picket fences, and green lawns--and the video portrayed singing with no lips moving (a send-up of the lip-synching scandal of MTV superstars such as Milli Vanilli); apart from being parody, it could also suggest the illogic of a dream.
"Outside we wait till face turns blue..."
Pixies - Here Comes Your Man (Official Video)
Either way, this, and "Gouge Away," (which always puts me in the mind of hanging out in front of the MT Cup Coffee House on the BSU campus sometime around the year 2003, hanging with the other misfits and beatniks and fantasizing about girls I could never have), along with "Debaser" (a rock n' roll tribute to Un Chien Andalou), are songs with a deep, resonate, if somewhat puzzling meaning for me. (In particular "Gouge Away," which really does recall an entire era of my life for me, one twenty-odd years in the past now; a different world.)
"Gouge away, you can gouge away, and stay all day if you wanna..."
PIXIES - Gouge Away (Exceptional performance)
"Don't know about you, but I am Un Chien Andalusian, wanna grow up to be, be a debaser..."
Pixies - Debaser (Official Video)
About the Creator
Tom Baker
Author of Haunted Indianapolis, Indiana Ghost Folklore, Midwest Maniacs, Midwest UFOs and Beyond, Scary Urban Legends, 50 Famous Fables and Folk Tales, and Notorious Crimes of the Upper Midwest.: http://tombakerbooks.weebly.com
Comments (3)
Love Pixies. Just really anything by them, aside from their newer stuff, which is not bad, but not as great as Sufer Rosa, Doolittle, and Trompe le Monde. Great playlist and piece, Tom!
Interesting playlist again, Tom.
I never knew anything about Pixies and now I've discovered a new band for myself. Thanks, Tom!