Here Comes Your Band

By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 12, 2004 4:45PM

First things first: if you still want to see the Pixies during their run here at the Aragon, you’ve still got time. Though most of their shows have been sold out since forever, tickets are available for Wednesday’s show with a reconstituted Urge Overkill.

Next, let’s take a step back and think about this for a moment: the Pixies have re-formed and are playing here for the better part of a week. The Pixies! Who’s next? The Replacements? The Police? Husker Du?

How much more is there to say about the Pixies? The oft-repeated anecdote from Kurt Cobain about Nevermind being a Pixies rip-off (a quote that’s had more meaning foisted upon it than Cobain ever probably intended) certainly speaks to their influence but doesn’t tell the whole story. Some might call it heresy but in the five years after their breakup, the Pixies music had as much sway over rock music as the Beatles did in the five years after theirs. Throughout the history of popular music, there have been bands that were never hugely popular in their time (Velvet Underground and the New York Dolls to name just two) but left their collective dirty footprint on countless acts that came after them. The Pixies would count in their number. Far from creating a blueprint for future acts to follow, their sonic and lyrical hallmarks are like the best strategy games: easy to learn but tough to master.

To prepare ourselves for the shows next week, we’ve been checking out reviews of the tour and the official Pixies site: ilovepixies.com. There’s a quiz there and a chance to win stuff. Also, if you’re one of those people who tried to figure out where your parents hid your Christmas presents, check out this site for set lists from the past couple of months. And if you missed it this weekend, Greg Kot over at the Tribune has an interview with…ok, do we really have to call him by the name his momma gave him? Let’s just call him Frank Black Francis and be done with it. Yeesh. Damn pretentious rock stars.