Top Ten Songs by the Pixies

The Pixies are arguably one of the greatest bands of the 1980's. The Boston Massachusetts band arrived when alternative was still a term only used at colleges and the neon colors of hair metal ruled the airwaves. 

Friends Charles Thompson and Joey Santiago traded college for a shot at the rock and roll life. With bassist Kim Deal and drummer David Lovering on board the Pixies made instant waves with their abrasive sound and Thompson's absurdly brilliant songs. 

Thompson can shriek like no other human being, Santiago's simple yet inspired guitar playing has really never been matched (even though countless have tried), Deal's bass throbbed and her personality shined, all while Lovering quietly propelled the songs in to the stratosphere. 

Thompson took the stage name Black Francis and a demo caught attention from the right kind of people. Come on Pilgrim was a debut of sorts, pulled together from the recorded demos. It was the follow-up Surfer Rosa and its predecessor Doolittle that cemented the Pixies as absolutely essential. 

The legend of the Pixies has grown considerably over the years; a current reunion has made them more popular than when they were here the first time. 

Two absolutely brilliant albums as well as two quite good ones were what the Pixies delivered before imploded from personal tensions. Thompson became Frank Black and spent the 1990's as a completely overlooked solo performer and Kim Deal had a hit with the Breeders in "Cannonball", but failed to do much after. 

Some have called the Pixies the Velvet Underground of the 1980's, not many heard them, but anybody who did started a band. It is unfair to whittle the Pixies down to ten songs. The religious fervor their fans possess may have me strung up by my toes. Arguments are bound to occur. 

"Caribou" from Come on Pilgrim – Black Francis (Thompson) howls "repent" like a punk rock televangelist. Santiago's guitar soars and demonstrates why he was the band's not-so-secret weapon.