Masterpiece: Doolittle

[Today: Pixies come to life...]

“It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open…” So begins life for Dr. Frankenstein’s monster in Mary Shelley’s gothic masterpiece Frankenstein. That monster was composed from parts of cadavers, sewn together with surgical twine, and animated with electricity – one musical beast that rose out of Boston in the late-80s was constructed from similar materials. Pixies split the difference between Cheap Trick and Hüsker Dü, while providing a non-stop assault on the senses. Behind brutal guitars, lead singer Frank Black (aka Black Francis) screamed his head off about UFOs, guns, scary movies, broken bones, toxic sludge and dead animals.

Listening to their early albums is like having an electrode jammed into your spine, while a madman paces back in forth in front of you, spouting deranged incantations like the world depends on them. If that doesn’t sound like fun then you obviously weren’t subjected to the soul-less, cookie-cutter dreck that passed for music during the bulk of the 80s. The Pixies’ sound – a whole bunch punk, a little bit pop, and a lot of crazy – was the perfect antidote to a decade of polished MTV bands, and played a big part in inspiring what the first half of the 90s would sound like.

You might as well flip a coin to pick among their first four albums – all of them are pretty good. Many fans prefer Surfer Rosa, and it’s a fine record, but Doolittle gets the nod here because it provides a full tour of their sound. Scare-fests like ‘Debaser’ and ‘Tame’ are balanced by serene, almost-sweet tunes like ‘Here Comes Your Man’ and ‘There Goes My Gun’; ‘Crackity Jones’ is pure, throwback punk and ‘Mr. Greives’ inspired a group as far-flung as TV On The Radio. When Kim Deal gets weird and spacey on ‘Silver’, you can almost hear a new decade dawning.

“You should never rely on interviews with musicians as being factual. Most of them are mangled and even have made up stuff in them, that is to say, made up stuff by the writer or editor,” said Frank Black. It’s up to you to figure out if I made up that quote or not, but trust me on this: Doolittle kills.

Listen: Debaser

Listen: Here Comes Your Man

Listen: Wave Of Mutilation

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Tags: Black Francis, Cheap Trick, Frank Black, Frankenstein, Husker Du, Kim Deal, Mary Shelley, MTV, Pixies, TV On The Radio