Alan Cross - The Pixies: the secret history

Back in the 19th century, a German naturalist and scientist named Alexander von Humboldt described the three stages of societys response to a great discovery. At first, von Humboldt declared, everyone doubts that the discovery even exists. Once its existence is proven, society tends to deny the importance of the discovery. Finally, once everyone realizes what is going on, credit for the discovery is inevitably given to the wrong person.

This model can be applied to music. When it comes to breaking new musical ground, the true pioneers rarely get the credit they deserve. For example, once people realized that grunge was happening, most of the world was quick to give all the credit to Nirvana. But most alt-rock fans know the truth. While Nirvana was indeed the major force behind grunge and the alt-rock explosion that followed in the early 90s, they most definitely did not invent this music. Nirvana picked up threads left by the many unsung bands who came before them. The Pixies were one of those groups.

The Pixies must be ranked among the founding fathers and mothers of modern alt-rock. Although they were criminally under-appreciated while they existed, they are now the subjects of much hindsight praise. They were one of Kurt Cobains favorites. Dave Grohl still loves them. Gavin Rossdale of Bush believes that they were one of the greatest bands of all time. Billy Corgan admits to patterning much of the Smashing Pumpkins dynamic range on the Pixies. U2 thought they were brilliant. Its even possible that Lollapalooza was inspired by one particular Pixies performance.

But if they were so good and so influential, why didnt they sell any records? They had no hit singles or platinum albums, and completely failed to capture the attention of the general public. This was probably because their sound was so far ahead of its time. And franklylike Sonic Youth, Jonathan Richman and the Velvet Underground before themthe Pixies were an acquired taste. Those without patience wrote them off as a bunch of amateurish college kids who couldnt play their instruments and got off by making a big noise. But had they listened closely, these dismissive people might have heard something new and exciting. Only pumped-up, super-enthusiastic music fans could find those chords and make those sounds. Sometimes the best music comes from those who dont realize that rock and roll has rules. If you dont know any better, you can do anything.

When he wasnt studyingwhich was oftenhe was in Puerto Rico, ostensibly learning Spanish as part of a class at school. Instead, he was often at the beach or drinking beer or reading books on space and UFOs. His UMass roommate was Joey Santiago (born June 10, 1965), a Philippines-born English student who carried a pocket dictionary wherever he went. Although Joeys family was quite wealthy and well-connected politically, some relatives disappeared under mysterious circumstances when the Marcos regime began to crumble. Joeys father (a doctor) had thought his son should spend his university years in the relative safety of Boston.

By the time Charles returned from the Caribbean, he had decided that he wasnt cut out for a career in economics. When a trip to New Zealand for the fly-by of Halleys Comet turned out to be too expensive, he told Joey that he was going to follow his dreams of being a rock star. After two weeks of constant nagging, Joeymuch to the chagrin of Dr. Santiagoalso dropped out of university to tag along with Charles.

Neither of them could play guitar that well, nor did they know the first thing about songwriting. However, by applying time-honored empirical research methods (which, in this case, consisted of going to clubs and timing the sets played by other groups in order to determine exactly how much material theyd need), they established a basic game plan. They placed an ad in a couple of local papers, hoping to attract a bass player and a drummer who were into both Peter, Paul and Mary and Hsker Du.

Kim then suggested her new friend, Boston native David Lovering (born December 6, 1961), an ex-member of bands with names like Riff Raff and Iz Wizard. She remembered meeting him at her wedding reception.

On the other side of the stage, the guitarist seemed to be inventing new chords on the spot. Compared to the mainstream rock and roll of the day (bands with poodle haircuts and spandex pants), this just wasnt normal.

After a particularly blistering Pixies gig supporting local Boston scenesters the Throwing Muses, Gary Smith, a producer from Roxburys Fort Apache studios, offered to help the Pixies record some demos. Recorded over three days in March 1987 (and financed by a $1,000 loan from Black Franciss father), the 17-song demo that became known as the Purple Tape began making the rounds of record labels. Predictably, no one in America was much interested in taking on a chance on experimental, nonsensical noise.

The record was an immediate college radio hit, especially among campus DJs who had grown bored with the carefully constructed songwriting of R.E.M.

Its barely contained calculated sloppiness made it a formidable rock album.

While the album was a hit with aficionados of underground rock in America, mainstream rock remained more interested in the hair-metal bands of the day. Britain, however, was a different matter altogether. The UK music press loved the Pixies, requiring the band to make two trips across the Atlantic in 1988. It was only after Surfa Rosa topped the UK indie charts and the band played a series of sold-out shows that American labels started to take notice.

Thanks to inroads made by R.E.M. via the college radio circuit, the large labels were beginning to consider how they might be able to exploit so-called alternative music. As the Pixies reputation grew on both sides of the Atlantic, it was soon painfully obvious that they were a band who had gotten away. Bewildered A&R staff all wondered the same thing: How did we allow this American band to sign with a British label? A minor bidding war broke out. Elektra eventually won in the United States while Mercury/Polydor (through its association with 4AD) snagged the band for Canada.

When the record finally appeared in the stores on April 29, 1989, it was called Doolittle. While it was markedly more polished and cleaner sounding than Surfa Rosa, Norton had not messed with the Pixies now-trademark schizophrenic sense of musical dynamics. Lyrically, the album walked another fine line between innovation and ultra-surreal weirdness. The album even contained two singles: the environmental rant Monkey Gone to Heaven and Here Comes Your Man, an oddly catchy pop song. Beneath all the shrieking and strange chords was the rock-solid rhythm section of Deal and Lovering. Doolittle was truly a remarkable record in a musical universe dominated by flaccid and declawed corporate rock.

The album was a huge hit in the UK, making the top 10 and resulting in dozens of high-profile gigs including a headlining slot at the 1990 Reading Festival. At the end of the year, the Pixies achieved a rare hat trick as all three UK music weekliesNME,Melody Maker and Soundsvoted Monkey Gone to Heaven the best single of the year. In North America, the album stalled at number 98 on Billboard. Despite all the positive pressRolling Stone was effusive in its praise of the bandthe North American marketplace just wasnt ready to embrace something as radical as the Pixies just yet. Instead, the band would alter the course of alt-rock in the most indirect of ways.

This scene was witnessed by Perry Farrell of Janes Addiction, another band at that years festival. Although he was thoroughly enjoying the vibe of the weekend, he kept coming back to the same troubling questions. Why couldnt there be something like this in America? With 300 million people on the continent, why couldnt there be an annual festival that featured nothing but cool, new bands? When Farrell saw 30,000 people singing Debaser, he knew in his heart that his concept would work. When he returned home, Farrell began to work on Lollapalooza.