Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).
Gouge Away (1989)
It's difficult to overstate how important the Pixies are to modern rock music. People tend to forget how much they influenced bands like Nirvana and Radiohead, while barely making a dent in pop culture. They're beloved in indie circles but seriously underrated by the music world at large.
The Pixies were formed in Boston in 1986 by Charles "Black Francis" Thompson and guitarist Joey Santiago, adding bassist Kim Deal and drummer David Lovering. They released Come On Pilgrim in 1987, filled with eight electrifying songs about sex, religion, UFOs and cryptic imagery.
The band's first full length album was 1988's Surfer Rosa, which got more acclaim in Europe than in the U.S. Recorded by Steve Albini. The dark themes continued, and the band's loud/quiet/loud dynamics inspired the likes of Kurt Cobain, as did the Pixies' ability to merge noise and pop sounds.
For 1989's Doolittle, the band worked with producer Gil Norton. The two singles from the album, "Monkey Gone to Heaven" and "Here Comes Your Man," were poppier numbers that became staples on alternative rock radio and now, 35 years later, can be heard in commercials and movie soundtracks. But the album is full of classic deep tracks like "Debaser," "Tame," "Wave of Mutilation," "Mr. Grieves."
For me, the best song is the album closer "Gouge Away," which is based on the Biblical tale of Samson and Delilah.
"Gouge away, you can gouge away/Stay all day if you want to/Missy aggravation, some sacred questions/You stroke my locks/Some marijuana, if you got some."
Propelled by Deal's bass and Lovering's drums locked into a tight groove, the song roars during the verses with distorted guitars and Francis' bellowing vocals.
"Sleeping on your belly, you break my arms/You spoon my eyes/Been rubbing a bad charm with holy fingers/Gouge away, you can gouge away/Stay all day if you want to/Chained to the pillars, a three-day party/I break the walls/And kill us all with holy fingers/Gouge away, you can gouge away/Stay all day if you want to."
It's a hell of a way to close out an album. Talk about leaving people wanting more. Commercially, Doolittle was the first Pixies album to enter the Billboard 200, getting up to #98, but in the U.K., it went all the way to #8. Things weren't great with the band, though, as Francis and Deal and were clashing regularly. The band took a hiatus after the tour ended, during which time Deal formed the Breeders with Tanya Donelly of Throwing Muses and released Pod in 1990.
The Pixies released two more albums, Bossanova and Trompe Le Monde, over the next two years. After an opening slot with U2 in 1992, the band again went on hiatus. Francis then announced in a 1993 interview that the band was done, before he had told the other members of the band. Later, he famously notified Deal and Lovering via fax. Francis renamed himself Frank Black and began solo career, Deal continued on with the Breeders and Santiago formed the Martinis and played on a number of albums by other artists. Lovering became a magician and also played drums with Cracker.
The original lineup of the Pixies reunited in 2004, touring throughout the year. They continued playing shows over the next several years. Deal left in 2013 and was briefly replaced by Kim Shattuck of the Muffs before Paz Lenchantin joined the band. She was in the band for four albums until she was dismissed earlier this year and replaced by Emma Richardson, formerly of Band of Skulls. The post-Deal albums are solid if unspectacular, only highlighting how great those original Pixies albums were.
I saw the Pixies on that first reunion tour at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell, with Mission of Burma opening. It was great, but I wish I had seen them when they were playing clubs in the early days. I've seen Frank Black and the Breeders numerous times over the years, though, and those shows were all terrific.
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