YMMV / Pixies

• Awesome Music:
  • Many, from their more well-known songs ("Here Comes Your Man", "Debaser", "Gouge Away") to their more obscure ones ("Stormy Weather", "All Over the World", etc).
  • Their cover of "Head On" is magnificent.
• Broken Base: Some fans consider Bossanova their weakest album, though it's Black Francis' favorite, and their best performance charts-wise. These are the contingent who prefer the "rawer" Surfer Rosa and Doolittle era, and are annoyed by Bossanova and Trompe le Monde's more polished production. There's also the matter of the band's post-reunion albums, which were critically lauded but are considered by most fans to be sub-par compared to the band's 4AD albums.
• Covered Up: "Cecilia Ann" was originally recorded by The Surftones.
• Faux Symbolism: The passage of "Monkey Gone to Heaven" quoted at the top of the main page.
• First Installment Wins: Many fans claim Surfer Rosa as their favorite album. This could partially be explained by "Where Is My Mind" from the album being used in Fight Club.
  • Also applies to bassists. People still remember Kim most even though she hasn't even as much as talked to the rest of the band in years. Paz has her own fans though.
• Follow the Leader: Almost every Grunge band copied the Pixies' quiet verse/loud chorus song structure.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The band was more popular in the UK and Europe during their career than in their native USA (some have snarked that if they were a better looking band they would have conquered the States). They were signed to a British label and didn't even have American distribution when Come On Pilgrim was released. It also helped that their #1 fan was David Bowie, who was always more popular on that side of The Pond than in the U.S. Their American popularity only skyrocketed since their original breakup, as the bands they influenced became popular. Just to illustrate, their albums' peak chart performance in the USA and UK was as follows:

  1. Surfer Rosa: zilch in the USA, #2 on the UK Indie Chart.
  2. Doolittle: #98 on the Billboard chart, #8 on the UK Album Chart.
  3. Bossanova: #70 on the Billboard chart, #3 on the UK Album Chart.
  4. Trompe le Monde: #92 on the Billboard chart, #7 on the UK Album Chart.

• Never Live It Down: You thought it was bad when Phil Collins divorced his wife via fax? Black Francis broke up a whole band via phone and fax.
• Newbie Boom: A lot of new fans have discovered the band through "Where Is My Mind?" being used in Fight Club.
• Song Association: "Debaser" appears in Skate 3 and Forza Horizon 2, and " Where Is My Mind?" appears in Fight Club.
• Tear Jerker: The U.K. Surf version of Wave of Mutilation.
• Tough Act to Follow: Their pre-breakup albums, especially the first two, which are considered alternative rock classics. Although Bossanova and Trompe Le Monde are not as unanimously well-received as Surfer Rosa and Doolittle, both of them (especially the former) being in the band's pre-breakup discography means that they still tend to overshadow their post-reunion releases.
• Vindicated by History: In the years since their original breakup, Doolittle and Surfer Rosa went gold (with Doolittle going platinum in 2018), and their reunion tour had shows selling out in minutes in America, where they were initially not as popular as mentioned above.

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