Saturday, March 08, 2008

In Praise of: The Pixies

I'm sure some of our readers are just damn kids. Kids who don't remember the Cold War; kids who do not recall a time when every McDonald's Hamburger came in a nice ziggurat of styrofoam, rather than wrapped in eco-friendly paper. You damn kids may have heard of The Pixies--a Boston band, a four-piece. David Lovering on drums, Joey Santiago on lead guitar, Kim Deal (oh, Kim!) on bass and vocals, and the Pied Piper of the whole damn thing, Black Francis on vocals and guitar.

Maybe you saw their reunion tour. But the first time I ever saw them was on a show that has been relegated to the dustbin--"Night Music" with Jools Holland (of Squeeze) and David Sanborn. The concept was simple enough--bring artists on to play their shit, and sometimes mix and match different artists to see what happened. If memory serves, it aired after Letterman's old show on NBC, only on Fridays.

The first time I heard the Pixies, it may have been on the soundtrack for "Pump Up the Volume". But the first time I saw them--the first time most of America saw them, was on Night Music. And sure, Black Francis may remind you of the villian in Pee-Wee Herman's Big Adventure. Until he unleashes that voice. Joey Santiago may now remind you of Poker Nerd John Juanda. But listen to that guitar! And Kim Deal may still inspire dirty longings. I won't blame you if she does. And David Lovering actually plays a pretty mean drum kit, too.

As they say in Chinese Restuarants, "Enjoy!"

1 comment:

Jess said...

I'm pretty sure I was introduced to the Pixies on the Pump Up the Volume soundtrack, too.

And all this time I've been thinking you were cooler than me.