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porkbone1
= Cult of Ray =

USA
390 Posts

Posted - 03/07/2004 :  11:27:19  Show Profile  Visit porkbone1's Homepage  Reply with Quote
I posted this somewhere else a while ago... but I should put it here too...

I grew up in the Seattle area, and in 1988 I got a copy of a demo tape from a band nobody had ever heard of called Nirvana. As a long-time fan of grunge and heavy metal I thought it was unbelievable. I spent the next 3 years trying to find more music like this band (who remained totally obscure until one strange day in 1991).

I met a girl in High School (January 1993) and she listened to this wierd band called the Pixies. When I heard Surfer Rosa my head exploded. I immediately bought every CD and single I could from this group, only to hear they broke up shortly thereafter. I married my girlfriend a couple years later, and for 11 years she has been giving me a hard time because she has seen the Pixies live twice -- and I have never seen them before. We will be driving about 450 miles to Winnipeg on April 14th.

Of course, I heard Nirvana before I heard the Pixies. Because I had never heard anything like them, Nirvana was such a shock to me... after hearing the Pixies, I wonder what I would have done if I had heard Surfer Rosa before Bleach.

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demogurl
- FB Fan -

USA
6 Posts

Posted - 03/12/2004 :  00:03:17  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
i was sitting in a bar in boston back in the early to mid 80's. it was a monday night. monday night is free band night. new band night. a girl came over to our table and suggested that we go downstairs and see this new band called the pixies because they are really good. we didn't go see them because there were tons of really good bands in boston during that time and monday nights were usually shitty band(s) night at the rat. we probably just got drunk. so i only got to see the pixies once. san francisco. warfield theatre w/ soul asylum. ta! da! saw the breeders and mr. frank "black francis" black plenty too! hmmm. i wonder if they'll have any extra special guests with them? someone i might know from boston? someone who might get me into a sold out show on the guest list. fuck yeah. that would be great! the end. love.

"and i wanted her to tell me that she would never wake me, i'm lying here waiting for sleep to overtake me.
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tonvv
- FB Fan -

Netherlands
19 Posts

Posted - 03/12/2004 :  14:08:48  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Almost 15 years ago a classmate let me hear Bossanova. I was more into AC/DC and heavy metal so I hated it.

But after a few years I heard something about "that guy from the Pixies" having his second solo album; I got my hands on it, I liked it and it made me listen to the Pixies again. From that moment I was sold.

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Loki77
- FB Fan -

USA
2 Posts

Posted - 03/14/2004 :  20:53:15  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
One of my best friends introduced me to "Bossanova" in 2001. I'd grown up listening to Tha Stones, Hendrix, The Animals, Bob Dylan, David Bowie... I grew up overseas, and my parents are old hippies, so I hadn't gotten the chance to hear a lot of contemporary American music over the years... I heard "Dig For Fire" and lost my mind, driving out of a laundry mat parking lot. Everything from there is a beautiful history.. and its soundtrack has been the Pixies (and Frank Black, as well, whose solo work I discovered shortly thereafter). Frank Black has said that Iggy Pop's music has motivated him to dance around naked and sweating in his apartment... I hope that he knows that somewhere out here there are fans that feel the same way about the Pixies... (well... maybe I'm one of the few that does the whole naked thing... I dont want to speak for everyone... but if you do... more power to you.. yeah!!!). Every time I hear "Bossanova" I can still recall, with all five senses, what it felt like driving around the city at 2 am, often looking for love, with the wind in my face.

"Nothing makes one so vain as being told that one is a sinner." -Wilde
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KimStanleyRobinson
* Dog in the Sand *

1972 Posts

Posted - 03/15/2004 :  15:14:57  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
This is a super long thread and probly noone will read this...

About 1989 - senior year of high school.
I had borrowed a U2 bootleg from a French exchange student.
This was a cool bootleg - recorded from the crowd at Dublin's 'Crow Park' during the 'Unforgettable Fire' tour. Wish I still had that tape...

Anyway - there had been some space at either end of the tape and she filled it with parts of Doolittle.

So, I'm at home on a weekend (used to crank my stereo in the back of the house and tinker around the rest of the house on down days...) listening to the last screams of the crowd after U2 had closed with I think "MLK" ...the noise stops abruptly and this voice says "HEY!" followed by that single bass guitar note.

It was downhill from there...this stuff was the most powerful, perfect music I had ever heard. Within minutes I was calling the local college Station (WRFL in Lexington, Ky) and playing it for them over the fon..."What is this - do you have any idea?!?"
Whoever the DJ was at the time must have been an idiot...said "I don't know..sounds kinda like the Stones, but not really..."

The next day Carolyn, the French girl says "Pixies - its Pixies - Doolittle.." I couldn't understand if the band was 'Pixies' or 'Doolittle' but I found out soon. On a visit to the local record store I found Dolittle in all its green glory in a display in the middle of the place.

Since then, I've not been able to let any other band hold the throne of 'Greatest Band Ever' over the Pixies.

Here's hoping they give the east coast a nod on the tour...


ahhbossanovawitcha!!!

Edited by - KimStanleyRobinson on 03/15/2004 15:21:35
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darkoutsider
= Cult of Ray =

USA
285 Posts

Posted - 03/16/2004 :  16:33:11  Show Profile  Visit darkoutsider's Homepage  Click to see darkoutsider's MSN Messenger address  Reply with Quote
I have to admit, The Pixies didn't click with me right away... I first heard them thru a friend of mine (then drummer for my little garage band PaliN, my then bassist Mike Rowe was there with me). He said, "You have to hear these guys they're awsome. I swear to you, you'll never hear another band like them." He played me Surfer Rosa. I thought it was okay, Mike thought it was shit and to this day still does. At that time I was at the lowest of the low in music taste, I was a KoRn Kid. My preference was, if there wasn't heavy distorted guitar and scream til you vomit you were shit to me.

It wasn't until a year later, they hit me. I was watching the movie Fight Club and was enjoying it, becoming a Brad Pitt and Edward Nortan fan because of it. When the ending came, where all the buildings are blowing up I heard it. It was amazing, I couldn't get enough of it. I sat thru the credits just to find out what song that was and who sang it and enjoyed the song in it's eniterty as well. I was shocked when I read Where Is My Mind? - The Pixies. I was like, "That's The Pixies!!"

I got a copy of Surfer Rosa thru another friend of mine, some Nu-metal/Pop-punk/emo kid named Larry. He didn't like them, and only bought the album for Where Is My Mind?. The quality of the CD was horrible every song skipped except for Tony's Theme. With those two songs I got hooked. I haven't stopped listening to them since. And I'm pissing my pants with antici... pation to see them at Coachella.

__________________________________________________________________________________
I'd love to see inside your mind, to tear it all apart
To cut you open with a knife and find your sacred heart
I'd love to take your satin dolls and tear them all to shreds
I'd love to mess your pretty hair, i'd love to see you dead. - Boingo

Edited by - darkoutsider on 03/16/2004 16:34:03
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polux
- FB Fan -

Brazil
29 Posts

Posted - 03/18/2004 :  12:37:43  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
For me the story started back in 1989 probably. I listened to Here Comes your man and Where is my mind on some radio of Curitiba, and it stucked on my mind. it was kind of a mistery, what exactly were these band?
I was 14, and was beginning to discover music.

For years this musics kept appearing all of the sudden for me. At this time I already knew it they were from pixies. One day in 1990 I went to a record store to buy an REM LP and discovered that the store had a lot of cds to rent.
Includig what? of course, pixies. and it was Bossanova, that I taped.
and they had many b-sides of pixies also(which they charged as a full cd). so I listened to to many b-sides first than other classics.
After this, with the support of the nice sellers, the mistery of that old songs that I listened on a radio was solved.
I run after surfer rosa and doolitle.
doolitle I bought as an LP.
and surfer rosa was funny. I was desperate for it, but it was out of stock. I tried to import, but it was too expensive. Then one day I went to my couisin's house and found the Lp there. she liked reggae, but i don't know why, a friend of her borrowed surfer rosa. I didn't believe that day.
and trompe le monde I followed all the steps. and then... sadness

but (this is really unbelivable for me) right after they announced their comeback in 2004, it was announced that they will play in one only place in south america: curitiba, my city. If someone told me back in 1991/2 that this would happen I would laugh.

so now I'M AMAZED.
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CmabanK
- FB Fan -

USA
14 Posts

Posted - 03/18/2004 :  21:24:17  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Summer of 1989 I purchased Doolittle from Down in the Valley in Wayzata, MN after being told I couldn't go wrong with it...I think I played it for 6 months straight,promptly bought Surfer Rosa and did nothing but preach it to all my friends...including, at the time unknown to me, my friend the Calistanian...(yes, I'm the older brother who brought it home)...The music has bonded me indelibly with some of the best friends I could ever ask for (BmW for one)and we can all trace our steps back to listening over and over to every Pixies album we could get our hands on right up to this day through FB's ultra low key but very influential career... I've seen the Pixies before the breakup and FB several times and I can't tell you what a monumental part of my life that the reunion is here...I've been giddy for weeks...Can't wait to see you all there and continue the saga. For this fan, I'm Amazed!


"Like Jesus Christ on the hill / I'll be Blue."
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The Calistanian
* Dog in the Sand *

USA
1342 Posts

Posted - 03/19/2004 :  12:54:23  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by CmabanK

Summer of 1989 I purchased Doolittle from Down in the Valley in Wayzata, MN after being told I couldn't go wrong with it...I think I played it for 6 months straight,promptly bought Surfer Rosa and did nothing but preach it to all my friends...including, at the time unknown to me, my friend the Calistanian...(yes, I'm the older brother who brought it home)...The music has bonded me indelibly with some of the best friends I could ever ask for (BmW for one)and we can all trace our steps back to listening over and over to every Pixies album we could get our hands on right up to this day through FB's ultra low key but very influential career... I've seen the Pixies before the breakup and FB several times and I can't tell you what a monumental part of my life that the reunion is here...I've been giddy for weeks...Can't wait to see you all there and continue the saga. For this fan, I'm Amazed!


"Like Jesus Christ on the hill / I'll be Blue."




Rock on! I was too young to go to the concerts the first time 'round, but we'll definitely share the Pixies experience this time 'round. We'll compare Mpls and Winnipeg highlights!

I'm a fsh with no i's.
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CmabanK
- FB Fan -

USA
14 Posts

Posted - 03/19/2004 :  13:18:47  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
You can count on it!!! I look forward to seeing you at one or both of them!!!


"Like Jesus Christ on the hill / I'll be Blue."
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Larry Norman Jr
- FB Fan -

45 Posts

Posted - 03/23/2004 :  04:47:50  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
1989, I was 24, in a record shop and they were playing Doolittle over the speakers, it sounded incredible. Can't recall which track/s but for some reason I thought the singer was female! K.Deal is on there somewhere right..

Anyway, bought the record about 5 mins later.. When I took it home and played it, it sounded different, to the degree where I thought "maybe I actually don't like this?" plus the friends I played it to hated it, which didn't help, but I still felt it was worth persevering with. Played it again three or four times the next day and then it clicked, bought surferosa a week later, been hooked ever since...


<< 6-60-6 >>
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audiochild
- FB Fan -

Australia
16 Posts

Posted - 03/25/2004 :  05:41:50  Show Profile  Visit audiochild's Homepage  Click to see audiochild's MSN Messenger address  Reply with Quote
I first heard Pixies on a skate video in 95. Where is my mind? it was. When I first heard it, I was blown away... it was like, shit man, this is the EXACT sound I was looking for. It was raw, scratchy and real. Living down here in Australia, we never got the luck of having a large Pixies rising or any sort of mention of them. It's usually friends who point things out to me, or I find it, like pixies and primus, tool just finding them in magazines, skate vids or some shit like that.
Upon finding the Pixies, my life had changed, I had found what I was looking for. I went in a rush frenzy and bought all the albums, and it took me at least three or four years to start getting tired of them.
Pixies are truly a great band.


You been NASHED!
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Thomas
* Dog in the Sand *

USA
1615 Posts

Posted - 09/15/2004 :  19:07:46  Show Profile  Click to see Thomas's MSN Messenger address  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Thomas

I found them by accident in 1988. My friend was in a local (NYC) band and he gave me a magazine to show that he was listed at a local venue. I saved the magazine and luck would have it that there was an article on the Pixies for their album Surfer Rosa. I took a chance, what I thought at the time was a long shot, and bought it and was blown away at first listen. I was able to see my first show in Dec. of 1990. It took that long because I was an active member of the military at that time and it wasn’t as easy to follow your favorite band back then as it is now with web sites like pollstar dot com and the like. My second and last show was Feb 5, 1992.

I still have the magazine.

Thomas
"Our love is rice and beans and horses lard"
bump



Here is the magazine.
East Coast Rocker cover
Page 1Page 2Page 3

Top 100 week of July 13, 1988. Pixies peeked at number 3 with Surfer Rosa on June 3rd.

my friends band


"Our Love is Rice and Beans and Horses Lard"
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sloy
- FB Fan -

France
93 Posts

Posted - 09/16/2004 :  03:11:43  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
i was born in 1980 so i was too young to know the pixies but in 1993 i was a fan of nirvana ,and of course i saw that kurt love the pixies and so...I listen and now I m a fan(thank kurt)

sloy
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cassandra is
> Teenager of the Year <

France
4233 Posts

Posted - 09/16/2004 :  06:17:04  Show Profile  Visit cassandra is's Homepage  Reply with Quote
My older brother used to listen to a lot of good music, so he bought Surfer Rosa, and all the albums of the Pixies at that time, but I was too young, although I was understanding that bands like the Pixies or Nirvana -later- or Joy Division had something special and different from the others, in the sound -I was unable to understand the lyrics at that time... But it was so powerful, so... I guess it stood out on my ears and on my life me unconsciously. After, that, I grew up, and decided to buy a guitar at the age of 14, after starting listening to bands like Led Zeppelin or Queen -that I still love- but I decided one day to listen again to the Pixies and to Joy Division, and suddenly, I was overwhelmed! I was feeling this huge power again! This was incredible, I can't describe it: putting the tape of Doolittle in the recorder by myself, and Debaser starting with that crazy guy screaming on a music so weird so new and so exciting!

"Rock'n'roll saved my life" like Lou Reed sings, and that's true...

I can't imagine what I would be now without the Pixies, Joy Division, Nirvana, Pavement, the Buzzcocks, The Clash...

Certainly a moron

thanks, brother

pas de bras pas de chocolat
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Daisy Girl
~ Abstract Brain ~

Belize
5305 Posts

Posted - 09/16/2004 :  12:29:07  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Watching 120 Minutes baby--it was love at first listen!
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The Sad Punk
- FB Fan -

Brazil
17 Posts

Posted - 09/17/2004 :  10:38:14  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Way back in 88, i was into listen Dead Kennedys, Ramones, Sonic Youth... and someday i'd read a quick note in a music magazine (Bizz-Brazil) about Surfer Rosa, the guy wrote that Pixies were a weird band, their songs were about blood, incest, bones and fetishes. So, in the same day i bought the LP. I was alone at an old apartment, after few secs of David's drumms in bone machine i got shocked! then Kim enter with his dumb bass... then Joey's with his perfect/acid solo guitar.. and Frank "You are so pretty when you are unfaithfull to me"! What The Fuck! Where these guys come from? I was looking for them since i'd born i guess! I am 31 years old now and i'm still listen them almost everyday. Luckly i saw them last may/2004 at the Curitiba Pop Festival.

The Sad Punk

I smell smoke that comes from a 12 gauge PUMP shotgun named extintion.
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an erotic vulture
- FB Fan -

United Kingdom
67 Posts

Posted - 09/17/2004 :  12:07:38  Show Profile  Click to see an erotic vulture's MSN Messenger address  Reply with Quote
Being only 15 i was a little too young to see pixies first time round... so i was so so glad to hear about the reunion, yay! First heard Pixies Surfer Rosa/Come On Pilgrim from a freind only a few months ago and have never looked back. Since then i've been buying every Pixies album i can get my hands on. I'm currently being encouraged to buy Teenager of the Year and get into Frank, i am told i "have so much to look forward to", and i'm sure anyone here will agree.

(stage direction: suspenseful point)

Edited by - an erotic vulture on 09/17/2004 12:09:36
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the thing
= Cult of Ray =

United Kingdom
313 Posts

Posted - 09/17/2004 :  13:59:27  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I found Joey at a car boot sale in Lyme Regis in 82, then Dave a couple of months later in a second hand shop in Exmouth. It wasn't until 2 years later in the summer of 84 that I found Charles and Kim in an antique dealership just outside Lympstone in Devon. They were all in quite bad condition, but after many hours of love and attention, and quite alot of brasso polish, I was finally able to bring the Pixies to the attention of 4ad and the Purple Tape was born


Forget the cults I got me a whole church!
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MMike
- FB Fan -

Sweden
24 Posts

Posted - 09/18/2004 :  08:20:20  Show Profile  Visit MMike's Homepage  Click to see MMike's MSN Messenger address  Reply with Quote
I took a while for me to start listen to them. I first heard of them when I was buying a Green Day cd online. You could see what other people who had bought that cd also had bought, and one was a The Pixies cd (I can't remember which one). I liked the name so much that I downloaded two random songs (Dead and Broken Face). I kind of liked the songs but forgot about them pretty soon. Later I found out that a song I really liked by a Swedish called Gouge Away band was a cover, I thought I'd download the original and it turned out to be The Pixies again. A while later again I saw the movie Fight Club and I loved the ending and especially the song in the ending, which (after a search on the internet) turned out once again be The Pixies. After that I bought Death to the Pixies and now I have all their cds, all the The Breeders cds, the The Amps cd, one The Kelley Deal 6000 cd and the The Last Hard Men cd.

---------------------------
In heaven everything is fine
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n/a
deleted

4109 Posts

Posted - 09/18/2004 :  08:54:59  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I´ve told this many times but it was back in 88 that my boyfriend gave me a present, his first present to me, and that was COP vynil, I loved it when I first listen! And then I went on!
We got married and whenever there is something new about the pixies or Frank Black he gives me...So, it´s like that my story with the Pixies it´s a little like a love story!
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digforfire
- FB Fan -

China
4 Posts

Posted - 09/18/2004 :  13:25:58  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Quite a few peaple know who pixies is in china, but i luckily know a couple of huge pixies fans here. Naturally they recommended me to hear some pixies stuff, and i was shocked. My first pixies song is "All over the world" and it's my favourite pixies song...

-_-#
Leave me alone....
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lola
- FB Fan -

28 Posts

Posted - 10/04/2004 :  15:44:54  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I'm a pretty recent Pixies fan, it's been about 2 years since I first heard them. It so happened that I heard this great band called OK GO. Power pop amazingness, I suggest giving them a listen if you're into that stuff.

Anywho, I was reading a bunch of online reviews of this band and looking into any band they mentioned. So, the Breeders, Big Star, Cheap Trick, Queen (don't worry, I knew about Queen before that) Shudder to Think and this band called the Pixies.

I downloaded a little from a few of those bands but wasn't too blown away. Then I heard Where is my Mind. Amazing. Then I heard Down to the Well and Monkey Gone to Heaven and Gouge Away. Loved them all.

And raved to everyone about this amazing band. I was so dissapointed to hear they had broken up a good while before I ever heard them. I always commented that if I could go back in time I'd like to go to '89 and see the Pixies and Nirvana live. Hahahaha, then one day, kablam! I find out they're back. I jumped up and down to their cover of Head On for sooo long. I saw them in Winnipeg they were faaantastic!!
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Alex_Heart_Kim
- FB Fan -

19 Posts

Posted - 10/04/2004 :  20:21:36  Show Profile  Visit Alex_Heart_Kim's Homepage  Reply with Quote
A girl i fancy showed me them, which gave me a lot of influence to listen them.

He bought everyone indian food!
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VoVat
>> Denizen of the Citizens Band <<

USA
9168 Posts

Posted - 10/06/2004 :  16:13:48  Show Profile  Visit VoVat's Homepage  Click to see VoVat's MSN Messenger address  Reply with Quote
quote:
I always commented that if I could go back in time I'd like to go to '89 and see the Pixies and Nirvana live. Hahahaha, then one day, kablam! I find out they're back.


And, through advanced cloning techniques, Nirvana will be as well!

Okay, maybe not.



"Signature quotes are so lame." --Nathan
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lola
- FB Fan -

28 Posts

Posted - 10/06/2004 :  16:35:03  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by VoVat
And, through advanced cloning techniques, Nirvana will be as well!

Okay, maybe not.

Ahahaha, that'd be sooo spiffy.
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justahangwire
- FB Fan -

45 Posts

Posted - 10/16/2004 :  20:24:46  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
i'm kinda late to this thread, but here's how it happened.

late fall, 1993, some friends and i were at a record show at the radisson hotel in macon, ga. i was looking for something new and interesting to buy, when my friend sean grabbed "surfer rosa" and said "check this out, it's good." i started scanning the cover and was like "pixies!?! black francis??? mrs. john murphy??? are you serious?" i thought he was trying to be funny. i had never heard of the pixies, so i was skeptical. then my friend bren passed me frank's first solo album and said "get this too." i really thought they were joking, cause they were known to be pranksters from time to time.

but i took a chance anyway, since they were only $6 each. on the way home i listened to surfer rosa. my first reaction? "what the hell is this shit?" yeah, i liked a couple of the songs but most of the screamy ones i couldn't stand. but for some reason, i couldn't turn it off. i listened to it anyway. and one day, it hit me, and i was like "good god, this is the best band ever!" and i immediately went out and bought all of their other albums.

i still remember, i was 15 then and driving on a learner's permit. which means my parent's had to be in the car. and we had a rule that whoever was driving got to pick the music. i used to drive them absolutely bonkers playing "come on pilgrim" over and over. they sure were glad when i turned 16 -- i sometimes think they bought me a car just so they wouldn't have to listen to the pixies again! hahahah.

and now, by a long shot, the pixies are my favourite band of all time. i have all of their albums on vinyl, all the albums and comps on cd, a few original bootlegs on cd, a few of the 12" singles on vinyl (velouria, dig for fire, gigantic/river euphrates, and the debaser reissue), all the b-sides/singles on cd (including the two debaser's from 97), a live show on 12" vinyl, death to the pixies on a 4x10" vinyl box set, a special framed presentation of the 9 doolittle postcards that elektra sent a local record store back in 1989 (it was in their attic, i bought it for $50 a few years ago!). plus posters for surfer rosa, planet of sound, live at the paradise, and live at cabaret metro.

yeah, you could say i'm obsessed =)

curiously, the only thing that i know i don't have (anymore) is the death to the pixies compilation on cd. i used to have two of them, but i gave them away to friends who had never heard of the pixies. now that they're outta print, i gotta find one again.

oh and i used to be a member of an old pixies e-mail list called "subbacultcha". iirc, it was hosted first at mcgill.ca and later at name.net before it dissolved. was anyone else here on that list? it was damn awesome at the time. i remember sharing the thrill with many other fans when toty came out. we used to trade pixies stickers and posters quite frequently, and even though this forum is great... i still long for the early days when everything was on mailing lists. it just seemed so much more personal.

and whenever death comes knocking, i can go in peace, for i have seen the pixies live. twice. =)
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Triakel
- FB Fan -

119 Posts

Posted - 11/23/2004 :  11:58:28  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
It was January 1990, and I was a college sophomore. I was visiting my then-girlfriend at her college (both of us attended small Christian colleges in Iowa). It was J-term, so there wasn't much for either of us to do. My girlfriend left for class for a few hours, as did her roommate. It was snowing outside. Probably 20 degrees. I was left to my own devices.

My girlfriend's roommate and I had talked music a bit, as she was from out of state and a bit more versed musically (or at least pop musically) than most folks I knew. She either mentioned the Pixies or I saw it in her CD collection. She had at least a hundred at a time most people only had a handful. (I had 300 -- cassettes). I think a music review in Rolling Stone might have been stuck in my mind as I looked.

Anyway, I played "Doolittle" on her stereo. I remember standing in silence as I heard the first, tinny few notes of "Debaser" trickle from her speakers and across the dorm-room walls. (I was hoping she wouldn't come back because I hadn't asked to play her stuff. Curiosity got to me.)

I didn't know what to make of "Doolittle" at the time, as I was still listening to a lot of mid-period Replacements and more poppy alternative music like the Sugarcubes. But I always liked metal. Husker Du had completely missed me. But I was open to that type of sound. My college was stuck on GNR and bad metal. So I really needed something else.

I nervously clicked through some songs and decided "Doolittle" was worth a further listen. I resolved to buy it on my drive back to school, which I did.

I've rarely dived so deeply into an album. The music was abrasive and dissonant (I wasn't yet familiar with the buried fuzz melodies of Sonic Youth and their ilk), but I recognized the melodies and structures as being unlike anything I'd heard. I kept pushing. I was continually rewarded by small discoveries.

I loved Frank's scream. It was *the* scream I'd waited for from a singer. Visceral. Desperate. Unpolished. Gordon Gano with *balls*. No prissy histrionics. No dumbhead baritone.

The lyrics did it for me, though. I've always responded faster to words than to music, and the lyric sheet kicked my a**. I was reading a lot of cummings and Pound at the time, Samuel Beckett -- a little Lao Tze -- and I thought this was on-par, if not better, because it spoke to ME.

"Debaser," "Wave," and "Monkey" were the first to live in my head. The melodies were catchy -- Jesus & The Mary Jane catchy. I vaguely understood what the "slicing up eyeballs" thing was about, but the imagery was entrancing without knowledge of references. The message was in tune with all the stuff I was reading (Camus, Sartre, Nietszche, Heidegger).

"Wave" and "Monkey" were the coolest apocalyptic songs I'd ever heard. It sort of said, "whose apocalypse? Yours? Maybe it's mine, too." (Dunno. Maybe you had to have parents who took you to see Hal Lindsay films when you were four.)

"Tame" was out of this world. 19-year-old guys are ambivalent about women. You're never so horny and never so angry and never so easily hurt. You're so inexperienced. That song said what I thought about all the women who at the time seemed so gorgeous and vacant and mercurial and punishing to me. I've mellowed, but at the time emotions were raw. "Cookie, I think you're TAME."

I'd been raised with the Bible -- probably too much Bible, without outlet for doubt -- so the biblical tales resonated strongly.

"Uriah hit the crapper." Yeah, no kidding. That poor, faithful fool. He trusted his king and he trusted that whore. But who was rewarded with a star?

"I break the walls and kill us all with holy fingers." Another ancient baby-done-me-wrong tale. Delilah blinds Samson, she breaks him, but he destroys her and her house. Powerful.

Other songs crept up on me slowly.

"Dead" was hard to hear for a few days. But the detachment it expressed seemed more real than half the songs in my CD collection. The crap that was on the radio at the time! Billy Ocean! Rick Astley! Jody Watley! Paula Abdul! S***, we're all so f***ing happy!This is the type of song that begat grunge, IMHO. The thought that you might not be able to feel, that something was "in the way" as Mr. Cobain later put it. WHAT was in the way? Anxiety. Inauthenticity. Something.

"No. 13 Baby" was simply hot. Who could not respond to that? Brown eyes. Sweat. Other parts.

In short, "Doolittle" was my top album for the rest of the year. I learned of "Surfer Rosa" the next summer and bought the tape. A few months later came "Bossanova."

I was done for. Everything was different.





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Dwarffsmuggler
- FB Fan -

United Kingdom
9 Posts

Posted - 11/29/2004 :  13:14:01  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
The first time that I heard the Pixies, as strange as it may sound I didn't really like them. My uncle Pete knew that I was in to Nirvana (another band who I didn't like when I first heard them) and kept telling me that Kurt Cobain had made reference to them being one of his favorite bands. So after about 6 months of him telling me that he would make me a tape, he finally got round to doing so. I can remember that the only song that I really liked (on a tape made up of Doolittel & Surfa Rosa/Come on Pilgrim) was Monkey Gone to Heaven, so I hardly listened to the tape for another month or so. So anyway one day I decided that I wouldn't mind hearing the Monkey song again and stuck the tape on. I instantly liked it, and had no idea why I hadn't done so in the first place. Another strange thing about the tape was that you couldn't fit the whole of Surfa Roasa on one side, so the tape finished midway through Nimrods son just after Frank sing "the joke has come apon me", so when I bought the CD (about a year later) I had 2 and a half new songs to listen to.

hope you enjoyed my little story

You can cry you can mope, but can you swing from a good rope
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kingphilbert
= Cult of Ray =

USA
356 Posts

Posted - 12/01/2004 :  13:57:50  Show Profile  Visit kingphilbert's Homepage  Reply with Quote
In college one of my friends listened to both the Pixies and Frank Black. He had succeeded in getting me into Frank Black first. The two solo albums. Slowly from there the Pixies came into the picture as did Frank work with the Catholics.

"I mix twinkie's and ding-dong's all the time. In Europe, they call it a Dinkie!"
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JustJeff
- FB Fan -

53 Posts

Posted - 12/04/2004 :  11:30:23  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
My older brother bought Bossonova when it came out.
I was riding along with him and his friends on a brilliant
sunny day to jump off a small damn in the summer time.
All the older guys knew the Pixies.
I'll never forget sitting in the back of the car,
and hearing The Happening with all the fellas bouncing up and
down singing the background "oooh"'s to the outro.

That may be my favorite summer day memory.
Fan ever since...
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soundofataris
= Cult of Ray =

USA
715 Posts

Posted - 12/04/2004 :  17:38:42  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Frank Black and the Catholics came out when I was a freshman in college. My school newspaper (william and mary) wrote an extremely favorable review of it and I made a note to check it out. I never did.

Fast forward one year into the future and I'm a transfer at NYU. This girl I liked was a huge pixies fan and I played along like I knew all about them and she thought that was so cool, so I was forced to get into them fast. I borrowed a copy of the SR/COP split and was hooked after a single listen. The next four cd's I purchased were FB&C, at the BBC, Cult of Ray and Trompe. The rest, as is said, is history.

---------------------------------------
I go to bakeries all day long
There's a lack of sweetness in my life
People in love are stupid and gross.
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kool-aid
- FB Fan -

17 Posts

Posted - 12/05/2004 :  16:24:37  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Maybe a stereotypical reply, but short answer: Fight Club. I'm into Tarantino movies and such, and Fight Club was suggested to me about two years ago, it took me six months to get around to watching it. My friend had suggested (before I saw the movie) I listen to "Where is my Mind?" This being the "electronic age", I had easy access. I listened to the song briefly and it didn't really do anything for me. The last scene in Fight Club (I'm sure most of you know)was simply incredible with the combination of visuals and music. Well as soon as it was over, I listened to the song again. It grew and grew on me. Flash forward, I'm in New York for a little 2 day vacation, stop in Tower Records, notice the Pixies sitting right in front of me, I see two albums, Surfer Rosa and Doolittle. Doolittle is the album my friend had become obsessed with, but as I noticed, but shouldn't matter, didn't have Where is my Mind? Well, I took the chance and paid my 13.95 for the cd, and I can say I haven't been happier with any other CD I've ever purchased. Doolittle was a casual listen until it grew and grew on me until I could play the entire album on guitar. I then purchased Surfer Rosa, Trompe Le Monde, and Bossanova, leading me to the point I am now. I want to grab a Frank Black and the Catholics CD, but have never gotten around to it yet.

.........
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n/a
deleted

4894 Posts

Posted - 12/05/2004 :  17:07:47  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
When I was 19 I moved to Oxford to work in a hospital. I was living in hospital accomodation and the one person I knew who lived in Oxford had gone away for the whole winter. It was pretty dire. The house I lived in was huge, something like twelve bedrooms but only five people lived there. And the day I moved in none of them were around. One of the people who lived there was this guy, on the third night of me living there I asked him if he wanted to go for a drink, we went out and talked and talked and talked. We talked films and books and music. I fell head over heels in love and I was lucky enough to have him love me too. He introduced me to the pixies, doolittle was the first album I ever heard and as soon as debaser started I felt like I'd been punched in the chest. Hard. It was the best year of my life I had love and I had the pixies. Although it didn't work out I love them both still, and nothing that has happened since has even lit a candle close to it. Still both make me feel like I've been punched in the chest. Hard.


Frank Black ate my hamster
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gboy
- FB Fan -

United Kingdom
12 Posts

Posted - 12/16/2004 :  05:25:11  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
it wasnt even that long ago! am only 19 and i guess i heard the pixies when i was 15 or something and it was at a mates and the album was bossanova, we didnt even kno who it was well i did kinda cos i like Radiohead and they always mention them as being influential. Anyways my mate loved rock music and played that one song for ages then we ended up loving the whole album because its easily the most underrated of the pixies albums. So i went out and bought doolittle and that was it for me! Die hard pixies fan ever since. Ha and it turned out my dad had bossanova on vinyl all along!
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