History Music / ThePixies

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pixies-2.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: These are the underwater guys who control the sea. (L to R: Santiago, Francis, Deal, Lovering)]]

->''"If man is five''
->''Then the devil is six''
->''And if the devil is six''
->''Then'' '''GOD IS SEVEN!'''''"''
-->-- '''Pixies''', "Monkey Gone to Heaven", ''Music/{{Doolittle}}''

Another highly influential 1980s AlternativeRock band that reached a moderate level of popularity but enjoyed widespread critical acclaim. Famous fans include: [[Music/ModestMouse Isaac Brock]], Music/KurtCobain, Music/DavidBowie, Music/{{Radiohead}}, Music/PJHarvey, Music/{{Weezer}}, [[Music/{{U2}} Bono]], and [[Music/TheSmashingPumpkins Billy Corgan]], among others.

The band's original members were guitarist/vocalist Black Francis, bassist/vocalist Kim Deal, guitarist Joey Santiago and drummer David Lovering. Their musical style is distinguished by its fusion of SurfRock melodies with PunkRock aesthetics and (later on) PsychedelicRock influences, being capable of both earworminess and [[CarefulWithThatAxe brutal aggression]].

Pixies' recording career started in 1987 with the release of the ''Come on Pilgrim'' EP on British label Creator/FourADRecords. They released four more albums on the same label (with Creator/ElektraRecords handling them in the US, starting with ''Music/{{Doolittle}}'') until officially disbanding in 1993 due to exhaustion after supporting Music/{{U2}} on the Zoo TV tour and intra-band tension, mostly over Francis [[IAmTheBand marginalizing the others' contributions]] (especially Deal's). Francis changed his name to Frank Black and started a solo career, Deal found success with Music/TheBreeders, Santiago worked in soundtracks and his band Music/TheMartinis and Lovering alternated drumming with a hobby as a magician. The band reunited in 2004, took a hiatus in 2007, re-reunited in 2009 and is still touring today. In 2013, the group (with the exception of Kim, who officially left halfway through the year) released their first new material in over 20 years: the single ''Bagboy'' and the EP aptly titled ''[=EP1=]''. An ''[=EP2=]'' and ''[=EP3=]'' followed in 2014, and the three [=EPs=] were compiled into the band's first album in 23 years: ''Indie Cindy''. The band's current bassist is former Music/APerfectCircle member Paz Lenchantin, who joined the group in 2014.

Despite the name, there is no ManicPixieDreamGirl in the band, though Kim Deal's fans may beg to differ. Joey found the word in a dictionary, and they liked it enough to use it as a band name.

Kim Deal also sang the duet, a cover of [[Music/BigStar Chris Bell's]] "You And Your Sister" with Tanya Donelly (Music/TheBreeders) on the album ''Music/{{Blood}}'' (1991) by Music/ThisMortalCoil.

!!!Their discography's length is inversely proportional to its influence:

* ''Come on Pilgrim'' EP (1987): A sort of "teaser" for their actual career, produced by Gary Smith. One of its tunes, the Spanish-language-wrecking "Vamos", was re-recorded for the next album.
* ''Music/SurferRosa'' (1988): Their raw {{Grunge}} album, produced by Music/SteveAlbini, with probably the largest predominance of more "comedic"/light-hearted tunes in their catalogue, like the goofy "Tony's Theme", the BilingualBonus "Oh My Golly!" (which contains the TitleDrop) or the comic malevolence of "Something Against You". Source of the band's first single, "Gigantic", notable for being written and sung mainly by Kim Deal (before Francis' ego kicked in), and the {{word salad|Lyrics}}y meditation on fish behaviour "Where Is My Mind?", which somehow became very popular for movie soundtracks (most notably playing at the end of ''Film/FightClub''). More recently, Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling bought the rights to the latter song for use as Wrestling/OrangeCassidy's entrance music.
* ''Music/{{Doolittle}}'' (1989): Where they hooked up with Gil Norton, who stuck with them for the remainder of their career. Has a more polished production, slightly more nightmarish in spots especially when Francis showcases his awesome lungpower ("Tame"), contains their BlackSheepHit "Here Comes Your Man" and the offbeat ballad about pollution "Monkey Gone to Heaven", which provides the page quote. This was their first album after a deal with signed with Elektra Records, who would distribute their albums in the USA while 4AD handled the UK. Deal doesn't get a tune for herself, but she sings lead alongside Francis on "I Bleed" and "Silver", and provides plenty of backing vocals ("There Goes My Gun", "Monkey Gone to Heaven", "Hey"). Also, Lovering got [[StepUpToTheMicrophone prodded into singing]] "La La Love You".
* ''Bossanova'' (1990): Recorded after the band and Norton moved to UsefulNotes/LosAngeles, this is the album where Francis took complete control of the band and marginalised Deal (no cowrites or lead vocals; she's largely relegated to backing vocals on the choruses of "Is She Weird", "Ana" and "Havalina"). A much shinier, heavily SurfRock-influenced effort ("Cecilia Ann") whose lyrical obsession with space and [=UFOs=] complements its PsychedelicRock sound. Contains the successful single "Dig for Fire", "Velouria" (famous for its slapdash, slow-motion abusing video) and some of their mellower material ("Ana", "Havalina"). It got their best chart performance in the UK (#3), while Elektra's resources meant that they started getting extra attention back home.
* ''Trompe le Monde'' (1991): Maintaining the shiny spacey sound of the previous effort but much more HeavyMetal-influenced (Francis attributed this to recording next door to Music/OzzyOsbourne), showcases the band at their most badass (the furiously fast "Planet of Sound", [[Music/TheJesusAndMaryChain "Head On"]] cover, the cowbell-fortified TakeThat "U-Mass"), while making enough room for melodic ("Bird Dream of the Olympus Mons") and mellow material ("The Navajo Know"). Former Music/PereUbu keyboardist Eric Drew Feldman contributes keyboards and went on to collaborate with Francis and Music/PJHarvey.
* ''Complete 'B' Sides'' (2001): ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. Well, almost: it's missing two live performances.
* ''[=EP1=]'' (2013): First major release in over twenty years and the first of multiple other planned [=EPs=], following the departure of Deal and the release of single ''Bagboy'' earlier in the year. Despite mixed reviews from critics, it was largely embraced by the fanbase.
* ''[=EP2=]'' (2014): They weren't lying when they said there'd be multiple [=EPs=]. Worth noting that where Pitchfork gave 1 a 1.0, 2 got a 2.0.
* ''[=EP3=]'' (2014): It keeps happening. Includes Bagboy, because for some reason neither of the last two [=EPs=] did.
* ''Indie Cindy'' (2014): The first real, full album by the band since ''Trompe Le Monde'. Collects all twelve tracks from the previous three [=EPs=] into one convenient, 12-song package.
* ''Head Carrier'' (2016): Previously a tour-only bassist, Paz Lenchantin joins the band in studio for a full album.
* ''Beneath the Eyrie'' (2019): Same line-up as the last record, but this time there are three songs co-written by Lenchantin as opposed to just one on ''Carrier''. Many of the songs have a gothic feel, inspired by the former church where they recorded the album.
* ''Doggerel'' (2022)

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!Tropes used by Pixies:

* AcademyOfAdventure: Implied by "Weird at My School".
* AlbumTitleDrop: The EP ''Come On Pilgrim'' takes its name from a line in "Levitate Me." Similarly, ''Doolittle'' is mentioned in "Mr. Grieves." ''Surfer Rosa'' is said in "Oh My Golly!". Finally, ''Bossanova'' comes from its song "Hang Wire". ''Trompe le Monde'' doesn't have this, but it makes up for that by having a song called "Trompe le Monde", and Indie Cindy also has a title track.
* AntiLoveSong: "La La Love You" is as a parody, "Hey" is weird enough, and "U-Mass" is a takedown of pretentious student types.
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: The first two verses of "Broken Face" are about incest and self-mutilation. The last is about the woman who does the narrator's laundry.
* AsTheGoodBookSays: Black Francis loves allusions to the Old Testament.
* AudienceParticipationSong: There's a video on Website/YouTube of the audience shouting the lyrics to "Stormy Weather" during (appropriately enough) a performance hit by thunderstorm.
** When they perform "Break My Body," the audience sometimes overpowers the band during the chorus.
** "Dig for Fire" can be an example with its call-and-response chorus.
* AuthorAppeal: Black Francis likes writing about: Literature/TheBible, science-fiction, and surrealism, not necessarily in that order. With frequent references to [[{{Squick}} squicky]] behaviour (mutilation, EyeScream, incest, the works), and just plain non-sequitur lines.
* TheBandMinusTheFace: Kim Deal officially left the band in 2013, to concentrate on Music/TheBreeders' anniversary tour for ''Last Splash''. Notably, this time it was done with much less acrimony, with Lovering mentioning in an interview that the position is always open for her to return, and the band remained officially composed of Francis, Lovering and Santiago, with Kim Shattuck (of The Muffs) being only a touring bassist instead of an official member, with Paz Lenchantin has taken her place. Shattuck died in 2019 of complications of ALS.
* BiggerIsBetterInBed: "Gigantic".
** BlackIsBiggerInBed: Also "Gigantic".
* BilingualBonus: The lyrics of "Oh My Golly!"
* BodyHorror: "Broken Face," though it's far from the only example.
* BoleroEffect: Despite the self-deprecating page quote above, they have a few songs with crescendi. "River Euphrates" and "No. 13 Baby" are probably the most noteworthy. "Gouge Away" also employs crescendi before each verse.
* BookEnds: ''Doolittle'' begins and ends with a song about EyeScream.
* UsefulNotes/{{Boston}}: The city's most famous AlternativeRock band.
* BreadEggsMilkSquick: They're very good at this.
** "Bone Machine" has the line "He bought me a soda and tried to molest me in the parking lot, yep, yep, yep, yep!" (imagine those "yep!"s being barked out in the most disturbingly perky tone possible) before the second chorus.
** "Dead" towards the end has a verse that goes "Uriah hit the crapper / DEAD!".
** "Hey" starts off like a love song but gets derailed by the time Francis starts singing about the whores in his bed.
** "Cactus" is about a guy in prison desperately writing to his girlfriend, who quickly becomes paranoid that "the letter in your writing doesn't mean you're not dead". Initially, he just wants her to write letters back. By the end of the song, he's asking her to cut her hands on a cactus, wipe the blood on her dress and send it to him.
* CallForward: "Distance Equals Rate Times Time" is first mentioned two tracks earlier in "Space (I Believe In)."
* CarefulWithThatAxe: Easily half their repertoire. Black Francis is a master of the unexpected manic scream.
* CompilationRerelease: The first CD releases of ''Music/SurferRosa'' included ''Come On Pilgrim''.
* TheCoverChangesTheGender: Averted with their cover of Music/NeilYoung's "I've Been Waiting for You."
* CoverVersion:
** "Head On" by Music/TheJesusAndMaryChain, "I've Been Waiting For You" and "Winterlong," both by Music/NeilYoung, "Evil Hearted You" by Music/TheYardbirds ([[TranslatedCoverVersion en Español!]]), "In Heaven" from the film ''Film/{{Eraserhead}}'', the theme from the videogame ''VideoGame/{{NARC}}''. With the exception of "Head On", every other cover they did was a B-side.
** And "Cactus" was covered by Music/DavidBowie on his 2002 album ''Music/{{Heathen}}''.
** "Where Is My Mind?" has [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_Is_My_Mind%3F gathered a few covers too]].
** ''Bossanova'' opens with a cover of "Cecilia Ann" by the Surftones (a one-off project by audio engineer Steve Hoffman).
* DarkReprise: The quieter, slower, and much more sinister version of "Wave of Mutilation" that was released as a B-side under the title, "Wave of Mutilation (U.K. Surf)", and which the band later began to perform live in preference to the original.
* TheElevenOClockNumber: Utilized very well to serve as the climax of several albums.
** The haunting, quiet "Silver" builds up a 'calm-before-the-storm' feeling before the final track on ''Doolittle,'' "Gouge Away."
** "Stormy Weather," the penultimate track on ''Bossanova,'' builds up into a massive climax before dissolving into the quiet "Havalina."
** The epic "Motorway to Roswell" is the penultimate track on ''Trompe le Monde.''
* EpicInstrumentalOpener: The first 1:13 of "Brick Is Red" are instrumental. That might not seem like all that long by the standards of this trope, but the song itself only runs for 2:02.
* EpicRocking: "Motorway to Roswell", much more epic than any song about an alien's vacation gone wrong has the right to be. Shame it's not the last song on ''Trompe le Monde''.
** "All Over the World", "The Happening", and "No. 13 Baby" also have elements of this, though it should be noted that none of these examples actually exceed six minutes. They could be considered somewhat to be condensed examples of this, since they abandon the band's traditional verse/chorus/bridge structure for much weirder song structures.
* ExcitedShowTitle: "Oh My Golly!"
* EyeScream: "Gouge Away", "Debaser". The latter song uses Francis' animalistic, yowling delivery.
--> ''Got me a movie, [[EvilLaugh AH HA HA HO!]]''
--> ''[[Film/UnChienAndalou Slicin' up eyeballs]], AH HA HA HO!''
* FemaleRockersPlayBass: Kim Deal, their bassist, was the only female member during her tenure. After she left to focus her time on Music/TheBreeders[[note]]an all-female group[[/note]], they replaced her with another female bassist.
* GenreMashup: Music/TalkingHeads meets Music/VelvetUnderground infused with surf rock, punk, and a dash of vaguely Spanish guitar (topped off with a little something called [[TropeMakers the next twenty years of rock music]]).
%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
* GratuitousSpanish: Plenty, and [[strike:sometimes]] often clumsy.
* IAmTheBand: Francis pulled this. The band broke up as a result.
* IndecipherableLyrics: "Rock Music". Don't even bother looking in the ''Bossanova'' booklet; that song wasn't included in the printed lyrics.
** "Something Against You" is another noteworthy example, since in addition to Francis' traditional CarefulWithThatAxe, his vocals are also extremely distorted. Though downplayed, since most of the lyrics are just "I've got something against you".
** While CarefulWithThatAxe in general results in a lot of these, some other songs qualify as much due to the [[MotorMouth speed at which Francis sings them]], such as "Oh My Golly!" and "Crackity Jones". Doubly so if they're in Spanish, as almost all of "Oh My Golly!" is (really, only the title is in English).
** "I am un chien andalusia" (from "Debaser") might be one for listeners unfamiliar with the film ''Film/UnChienAndalou''.
* IntercourseWithYou: "Gigantic", arguably "Hey" and "U-Mass".
* InTheStyleOf:
** Francis admitted "Dig for Fire" was basically a tribute to Music/TalkingHeads.
** "Bird Dream of the Olympus Mons" is in the style of Music/TheJesusAndMaryChain, whose "Head On" the band covered on the same album, ''Trompe Le Monde''.
* InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves:
** "Monkey Gone to Heaven" can be interpreted as being about this tendency of the human race, given our apparent unwillingness to course-correct on climate change:
---> "Now there's a hole in the sky
---> And the ground's not cold
---> And if the ground's not cold
---> Everything is gonna burn
---> We'll all take turns
---> I'll get mine too."
*** Francis claims the symbolism was subconscious, but doesn't dispute this interpretation of the song.
** The next song, "Mr. Grieves", is about narrator's belief in the title character - i.e., death - because humanity's wars and environmental devastation make any other outcome unlikely.
* JerkAss: Francis officially confirmed the band's dissolution in a BBC interview in 1993 without the others' knowledge, and then proceeded to notify them about it by fax and phone.
* KubrickStare: Santiago does this in the video for "Here Comes Your Man".
* LastNoteNightmare: "Where Is My Mind?" suddenly cuts to almost nothing mid-riff, with nothing but very quiet vocals throughout the next several seconds.
* LimitedLyricsSong: Quite a few, though "Stormy Weather" has to take the cake ("It is time for stormy weather" are literally the only words in the song).
* LoopedLyrics: Used to awesome effect in "Stormy Weather." And to badass effect in the chorus of "Planet of Sound".
* LyricalColdOpen: Used occasionally, such as on "Ed Is Dead", "Tony's Theme", "Distance Equals Rate Times Time", and "Hey".
* LyricalDissonance: "Wave of Mutilation", "Gigantic", "Here Comes Your Man", "Debaser"... really, almost all their songs.
* MinisculeRocking: A lot of their songs are under two minutes long - just between the first four albums, ''Complete 'B' Sides'', and ''Come On Pilgrim'', you have nineteen examples. "Allison", at 1:18, takes the cake, though.
* MoneySong: Although Francis dismissed the lyrics as nonsense, "Dig for Fire" can be interpreted as an explicit inversion of this trope, as both the destitute old woman in the first verse and the RipVanWinkle archetype in the second explicitly reject the pursuit of "the mother lode" (i.e., material wealth) in favour of "digging for fire" (i.e., pursuing their own passions).
* MoodWhiplash: A lot of songs, especially given the band's signature quiet verse/loud chorus (or occasionally, loud verse/quiet chorus) contrast. Often, there'll also be mood whiplash between songs. The first three songs on ''Bossanova'' provide a particularly pertinent example.
* MotorMouth: Several songs are examples of this. "Oh My Golly!" combines this with Spanish.
* NewSoundAlbum: See above.
* NightmareFetishist: Black Francis gleefully sings about molestation, EyeScream and violent Old Testament stories, among other things, though he toned it down on later albums.
* ObligatoryBondageSong: According to some interpretations, "Break My Body".
* OneWomanSong: "Ana" and "Cecilia Ann".
** "Allison" seems like an example, but it's actually a OneManSong about jazz/blues pianist Music/MoseAllison. Though it's not like you could tell that from the abstract lyrics.
* PaterFamilicide: "Wave of Mutilation" was inspired by reports of Japanese families committing suicide by driving into the ocean.
* PedophilePriest: In "Bone Machine".
-->''"I was talking to preachy-preach about kissy-kiss,\\
He bought me a soda\\
He bought me a soda\\
He bought me a soda and [[MoodWhiplash he tried to molest me in the parking lot]]. Yup-yup-yup!"
* PerishingAltRockVoice: Kim mainly. Francis would count if he didn't do the epic CarefulWithThatAxe so often.
* PopPunk: An UrExample with their melodic songs cranked up to eleven.
* PrecisionFStrike: On ''Trompe le Monde'', "Planet of Sound" has "[+THIS AIN'T NO FUCKING AROUND+]" ([[CarefulWithThatAxe it sounds like that]]) and "U-Mass" has "Oh kiss me cunt / Oh kiss my cock / Oh kiss my ass / Oh let it rock".
** "Besando, chichando con Surfer Rosa" ("Oh My Golly!") translates as "kissing, fucking with Surfer Rosa".
* QuestioningTitle: "Where Is My Mind?"
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: "Where Is My Mind?" was inspired by Francis' experiences scuba diving in the Caribbean.
-->'''Francis''': [I had] this very small fish trying to chase me. I don't know why — I don't know too much about fish behavior.
* RearrangeTheSong: The band began playing a drastically slower and creepier sounding version of "Wave of Mutilation" live, which proved very popular with the fans and was recorded in studio as the B-side "Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf Version)". Later on, they have been known to play both the fast and slow versions in the same set list.
* RecordProducer: Gary Smith, Music/SteveAlbini and Gil Norton.
* ShoutOut:
** To ''Film/UnChienAndalou'' in "Debaser."
** The title of ''Come On Pilgrim'' is a lyric by ChristianRock pioneer Music/LarryNorman, whose music Francis was a fan of.
** From "I've Been Tired":
-->''I said "I wanna be a singer like Music/LouReed"''
-->''"I like Lou Reed," she said sticking her tongue in my ear.'' [[note]]"if you stick your tongue in my ear" is a lyric from "Lisa Says" by Lou Reed[[/note]]
** The spelling of P-I-X-I-E-S by the backing vocals on "Cactus" is a reference to a [[Music/MarcBolan T. Rex]] song in which they do the same thing.
* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Kim Deal.
* StageNames: Francis' real name is Charles Thompson.
** Then when he went solo, he changed his name again to Frank Black.
** For ''Come On Pilgrim'' and ''Surfer Rosa'', Deal was credited as "Mrs. John Murphy" as a feminist joke at the expense of a woman who told her [[TheMaidenNameDebate she wanted to be known as "Mrs. <her husband's name>"]] [[note]]John Murphy was Deal's husband at the time[[/note]].
* SopranoAndGravel: Black Francis' alternately screaming and normal vocals, in contrast with Kim Deal's more girlish vocals.
* SpellingSong: The band spells out "P-I-X-I-E-S" in the bridge of "Cactus".
** Look at the lyrics to "Ana", look at the first letter in each line of "Ana", what does it spell? [[spoiler:S-U-R-F-E-R]]
** "I've Been Tired" ends with them spelling out the word "tired."
--->T-I-R-E-D spells "tired!"
** Kim Deal spells out "Velouria" in background of the song of the same name towards its end.
* StepUpToTheMicrophone: "Gigantic," "Into the White," and the cover of "I've Been Waiting For You" have lead vocals by Kim Deal (and she does backing vocals on quite a few tunes), while "La La Love You" and the B-side "Make Believe" are sung by David Lovering (who also adds backing vocals to the previously-mentioned "I've Been Waiting for You"). And from 2004 up until the point she officially left the band, they tended to have Kim sing [[Film/{{Eraserhead}} "In Heaven (Lady In The Radiator Song)"]] live instead of Francis.
** "All I Think About Now" features Paz Lenchantin on lead vocals. Black Francis asked her to sing it, and she agreed to it so long as he wrote the lyrics and the song was a "thank you letter" to Kim Deal.
* StrictlyFormula: A quiet verse, A LOUD CHORUS, then another quiet verse.
** The formula is inverted by "Bone Machine", which has loud verses and a quiet chorus. "Gouge Away" also inverts it.
* SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion; "Vamos" gives us this stanza:
-->They'll come and play
-->Their friends will say
-->Your daddy's rich
-->Your mama's a [[LastSecondWordSwap pretty thing]].
* SuddenlyShouting: As mentioned under StrictlyFormula, this band has a lot of quiet verses that lead suddenly and jarringly into a CarefulWithThatAxe chorus.
* SurrealHorror: Francis loves this.
* SurrealHumour: Francis also loves this.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Kim Shattuick and Paz Lechantin are both this to Kim Deal. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Nf8o-qhO2g The one song that Paz sings]] seems to be sung as close to Kim's voice as possible.
* TakeThat: "U-Mass" is a slap at the University of Massachussetts, which Francis and Santiago dropped out of to form the band. "Subbacultcha" also arguably mocks the university-aged segment of their audience (with lines like ''I was wearing eyeliner / She was wearing eyeliner'').
* TheTheTitleConfusion: It's officially just "Pixies", but there's no law against adding a "The" at the start.
* {{Theremin}}: Used in "Velouria", "The Happening" and the B-side "The Thing" (which is a preliminary sketch of "The Happening").
* ThisIsASong about a superhero named Tony! It's called [[TitleDrop "Tony's Theme!"]] *rocking ensues*
* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth: Kind of zigzagged, since they usually have fairly simple chorus/verse/bridge structure without all that many chords, but they often use unusual chord progressions and rhythms (see UncommonTime below), and some of their songs ("No. 13 Baby", "All Over the World", "The Happening", etc.) use highly unusual song structures as well. ("No. 13 Baby" is practically a proto-PostRock song.)
* TitleDrop: Every album up to ''Trompe Le Monde'' was titled after a random line from one of the songs.
** ''Come On Pilgrim'' — "Come on pilgrim, you know he loves you" in "Levitate Me".
** ''Surfer Rosa'' — "Besando chichando con Surfer Rosa" in "Oh My Golly".
** ''Doolittle'' — "Pray for the man in the middle, one who talks like Doolittle" in "Mr. Grieves".
** ''Bossanova'' — "Every morning and every day, I bossanova with you" in "Hang Wire".
* TitleOnlyChorus: ''[[NightmareFuel "TAAAAAAME!"]]''.
** "Dig for Fire" almost qualifies for this since the chorus is just ''I'm digging for fire'' repeated until it's time for another verse.
** "Tony's Theme" has a chorus of "'''TO-NY!'''" repeated as long as it needs.
** And let's not forget "DE-BAAAA-SER!"
** "There Goes My Gun".
** "Crackity Jones".
* TruckDriversGearChange: Used to [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome glorious]] effect in "Stormy Weather."
* UncommonTime: Several songs, such as "River Euphrates", "No. 13 Baby", "There Goes My Gun", and "Velouria", make copious use of 7/4 or 14/4. "Brick Is Red" has an opening with 10/4 (4+4+2) and 14/4 (4+4+4+2), and "Oh My Golly" and "Alec Eiffel" use 11/4 at various points. "Bird Dream of the Olympus Mons" is almost entirely in 9/4. This is undoubtedly nowhere near a complete list; this trope could almost be considered part of the band's SignatureStyle, though it doesn't appear in every song. Black Francis has noted that he listened to a lot of Music/EmersonLakeAndPalmer and Music/CaptainBeefheart growing up; this may be part of the explanation for his frequent use of this trope.
* WhereDaWhiteWomenAt: The subject of "Gigantic" is an interracial couple. The lyrics were inspired by a movie with this subject named ''Crimes Of The Heart''.
* WordSaladLyrics: Often. Francis even admitted that when recording ''Bossanova'', he'd "write lyrics on napkins 5 minutes before recording".
----

-->''"I like Lou Reed," she said sticking her tongue in my ear.''

* NotChristianRock: Biblical stories were a frequent source of inspiration for Francis' lyrics. However, he drew almost exclusively on the darker themes of the Old Testament, and none of it really came off like he was trying to make a serious statement about Christianity one way or the other.