Pixies

:This article is about the band named Pixies. For pixies of folklore, see pixie.

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Pixies are an indie rock music group. They formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1986 and disbanded in 1993, then reunited in 2004. Pixies found only modest success in their US homeland, but became major stars in the United Kingdom and throughout Europe.

Related Topics:
Indie rock - Boston, Massachusetts - 2004 - United Kingdom - Europe

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Black Francis a.k.a. Frank Black (real name Charles Thompson) (vocals, guitar), Joey Santiago (lead guitar), Kim Deal (bass guitar, vocals), and David Lovering (drums) have been the group's continual members. Their melodic music is distinctive, but drew upon elements of punk and indie rock, with occasional touches of surf music and other genres.

Related Topics:
Black Francis - Guitar - Joey Santiago - Kim Deal - Bass guitar - David Lovering - Drum - Punk - Indie rock - Surf music

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Francis was the group's primary songwriter and singer; with a distinctly desperate, yowling delivery, he typically wrote cryptic songs about offbeat subjects, such as unidentified flying objects and surrealism. Violent Biblical imagery and references to mental instability, physical injury, and incest also feature highly in much of his work.http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Broken-Face-lyrics-Pixies/066B7FFC6B469406482568A2003A5B20 Deal contributed songs as well, and her often feathery voice acted as an oddly effective counterbalance to Francis (Incidentally, the then-married Deal was credited as "Mrs. John Murphy" on the first few Pixies records).

Related Topics:
Songwriter - Unidentified flying objects - Surrealism - Biblical - Incest

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Musically, Pixies were just slightly ahead of their time. Right at the moment they were imploding, Nirvana was recording Nevermind, the album that would break alternative rock into the mainstream. There are substantial parallels between the two groups' sounds and Kurt Cobain was known to have been a fan—in fact, in a Rolling Stone interview he claimed "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was his failed attempt to write a Pixies song. This comment, allied with similar tributes by other Grunge bands, generated a retrospective interest in the Pixies from the mainstream music buying public.

Related Topics:
Nirvana - Nevermind - Alternative rock - Kurt Cobain - Rolling Stone - Smells Like Teen Spirit - Grunge

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One of the Pixies' great hits was a song called "Where is my Mind?". This song is featured on the "Fight Club" soundtrack.

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