Pixies "Doolittle"


I listened to Pixies' Doolittle last week and am convinced it was the greatest album of the 1980s. The band was an acknowledged influence on Nirvana (and plenty of other bands) and this album holds up better than just about any other record I can think of from that decade. It just has the perfect combination of pop hooks ("Here Comes Your Man," "La La Love You," "Monkey Gone to Heaven") and bashing punkish attitude ("Debaser," "Gouge Away," "Tame") or both in the same song ("Wave of Mutilation"). At the same time, producer Gil Norton managed to avoid the glossy sheen that marred so many albums from this era--even allegedly "alternative" albums.

I don't know exactly what my point is with this post, just go and listen to this album NOW! I'm sure you can at least find that someone has uploaded it on YouTube.

Upon further reflection, maybe my point is this: I liked this album when it came out, but I don't know that I loved it. It took some time for me to catch up with it, because what Pixies were doing was a little ahead of their time back in 1989 and I don't know that I was ready for it or prepared for it. 25 years later, I see how much subsequent music this band influenced: from Nirvana to even some of the lo-fi stuff that was so big in the mid-'90s, and certainly the garage rock trend of the late '90s/early '00s.

Anyway, great album. Do yourself a favor and give it a listen.

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