Hey Paul, Hey Paul, Hey Paul, let's have a POLL: ILM Artist Poll #69 • Pixies (results!)

Also a Blown Away voter. Love the second side of Bossanova - always used to suspect it was a bit slept on because the first side is a bit hither-thither (ie 60s surf/shadows/Eloise pop with jarring Interruptions by Doolittle-model Pixies).

interesting take. Down to the Well through Havalina is straight awesome. I don't like Dig for Fire though.

http://i.imgur.com/1yW0WDV.png
46. All Over the World, 1990 (Bossanova) [178 points, 9 votes]

been reading some of the facts and quotes over at aleceiffel.free.fr/titles.html
Thompson's take on All Over the World: "The longest song we recorded ever. 5min is the usual average time for a song now, but for us it was a real event."

Oh that's a cool resource! Thanks for the tip.

http://i.imgur.com/egx9GK6.png
45. Nimrod's Son, 1987 (Come on Pilgrim) [180 points, 10 votes]

WAY too low, I don't know what's wrong with you people :P

obviously the result of incestuous union.

lol @ "The Nimrod was the Nimrod of the Old Testament. The Biblical thing, I think, has always been part of rock. Y'know, Jerry Lewis, 'Great Balls of Fire'..." (Frank Black in SELECT, October 1997)

I think I accidentally didn't vote for Nimrod's Son due to a list editing slip. CoP is the best 20 minutes ever and I would like to apologise to the Pixies for my mistake.

http://i.imgur.com/DK5FV5D.png
44. Mr. Grieves, 1989 (Doolittle) [191 points, 12 votes]

"It's about the end of the world I guess. Mr Grieves is the Death character of mythology. The 'man in the middle' is Dr Doolittle, because if you could speak to the animals you would be the great link between mankind and the animal world. There's this theory that if not smarter than us, animals are aware of what's going on and if we could communicate with them, they could give us the answer of the future and make everything ok. But I'm assuming that a nuclear winter will mean that Mr Grieves is going to win in the end." (Black Francis in the NME, April 1989)

Never cared much about this song until the TV on the Radio version came out.

I'm surprised it's only 2:06 in length. It has so many distinct parts I always assumed it was longer.

i feel that way about a lot of the songs on trompe le monde. so complex yet compact.

soundwave idea is very cool, kudos JF

i meant to vote in this :(

http://i.imgur.com/mspL807.png
43. Something Against You, 1988 (Surfer Rosa) [197 points, 9 votes, 1 first place vote]

Well, somebody didn't have something against this song. Rolling out the first of the first-place votes.

:)

http://i.imgur.com/9U8Qfp5.png
42. The Sad Punk, 1991 (Trompe le Monde) [206 points, 10 votes]

"About dinosaurs, extinction. I wanted to compose an instrumental like "The Lonely Surfer", by Jack Nitzsche in the early 60's, and thought "Sad Punk" would be a good title for it. Then I changed my mind" (BF)

http://i.imgur.com/HL2yvHy.png
41. The Happening, 1990 (Bossanova) [207 points, 11 votes]

" 'That's based on this guy Billy Goodman, who had a radio talk show out of Las Vegas, The Billy Goodman Happening, dedicated to UFO stuff people calling in to tell of how their husband got murdered by an alien. The song The Happening tells of how the aliens land in Vegas: it's always been my wish that if they do land, it'll be Billy and his audience that get the credit in the greeting !' " (Q article quoting Black Francis)

This was my favorite Pixies song for a real long time, probably the whole second half of the nineties. I played it way too much and burned myself out, though.

I like this, but nearly voted for The Thing. Was fixated on the Velouria B-sides for a while back in the day.

I'm surprised it's only 2:06 in length. It has so many distinct parts I always assumed it was longer.

― Johnny Fever, lundi 27 octobre 2014 18:10 (36 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"Mr. Grieves" is my first track to place so far. I love all those distinct parts and I like how it ends the same way it starts with the "Hope everything is alright" line. And the little lalalala break.

Hmm, maybe I should have voted for "Into The White."

"Mr. Grieves" -- not on my list but if you had to play someone one song to explain how the Pixies worked, or at least how they worked in the CoP/SR/Doolittle period, this might be it.

Lots of variety among posters because I don't think any of my votes have shown yet! UK Surf WoM I kind of actively dislike, mostly because of how much it suffers in comparison with the album version. Pixies version of doing an ironic acoustic cover of a loud, fast song.

I love The Happening! Had never heard it before this poll but a firm favourite now.

I voted for Into The White (my only bside vote) and Mr Grieves too I think. I voted for most of Doolittle tbh.

http://i.imgur.com/CzmTqbd.png
40. Oh My Golly!, 1988 (Surfer Rosa) [210 points, 10 votes]

r u fukkin kidding me

haven't listened to "silver" in a while, forgot how THIN it sounds

http://i.imgur.com/wBwjB9o.png
39. Head On, 1991 (Trompe le Monde) [211 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote]

" When Jim and William [Reid] heard the version live at The Pixies' recent dates at Brixton Academy, both gave it their blessing with the inimitable phrase, 'F*** it, this is how it should sound.' " (Melody Maker)

a cover got a 1st place vote?!

Does seem odd, especially since I've never really seemed to love this cover as much as just about everybody else, but I can see it. There's probably someone somewhere who thinks "You Really Got Me" is Van Halen's best song and a strong argument could be made that it is.

I didn't vote this first but I did vote for it. I would NEVER have thought the J&MC track contained with in it the seeds of a cover that crushed the original. But it did!

A cover won the Husker Due poll.

Stupid phone

http://i.imgur.com/I0rrh1r.png
38. Allison, 1990 (Bossanova) [214 points, 12 votes]

i get including it – it's a great song, cover and original. but i just cannot fathom passing over all the great, genre-defining song the Pixies did write for your number one track!

xpost

Something Against You is my #1. It's a good song.

"Allison was originally about a girl called Alison, 'but of course Elvis Costello has a song called Alison, so I had to change it.' Now it's about Mose Allison, the jazz pianist."
xxp

yeah head on was my #1 vote. idgaf. its a better song than any the pixies ever wrote, and it makes me happier to listen to than anything else they ever recorded. also its more fun to listen to than JAMC too. (nb I actually like the pixies)

http://i.imgur.com/M0qDCN1.png
37. Distance Equals Rate Times Time, 1991 (Trompe le Monde) [222 points, 10 votes, 1 first place vote]

I HAD ME A VISION!

I think every Pixies mixtape or cd I've ever made for someone has started with this song. It's a great "Hey there, how ya doin'?!" punch in the face.

The Radiohead poll last month made me rediscover 'In Rainbows' and realise that I actually liked it (not that I hated it when it came out, I was just a bit underwhelmed and then forgot about it). This poll has done the same thing for Trompe Le Monde.

I hope it also does the same for Bossanova. I'll never understand why it has such a mediocre reputation in comparison to the other albums. It's a low-key classic.

yeah head on was my #1 vote. idgaf. its a better song than any the pixies ever wrote, and it makes me happier to listen to than anything else they ever recorded. also its more fun to listen to than JAMC too. (nb I actually like the pixies)

― everybody loves lana del raymond (s.clover), Monday, October 27, 2014 4:01 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

more power to your, man. head on rocks and its (quite excellent) video might be my earliest memory of the pixies.

http://i.imgur.com/wkLnIzl.png
36. Bird Dream of the Olympus Mons, 1991 (Trompe le Monde) [224 points, 12 votes]

can you guys just listen to this and concede it crushes "headache" like a grape

nope

I mean, okay, I listened, and nope

the only post-Doolittle Blank Frank record I own is the Headache 7" with the acoustic version on the B-side, but I liked the first album

[checks Teenager track listing]

Whatever Happened to Pong?, (I Want to Live on an) Abstract Plain, Bad Wicked World - heard all those on a '90s radio session ten years ago, also p good iirc

Still repping for Speedy Marie, still don't really get to complain because I didn't vote :(

top three seemed pretty obvious, in some order. never really need to hear any of them again. pleased that safari, do you love me now and iris placed well.

thanks JF for the whole shebang, great stuff

surely all (most) those Divine Hammer votes must have been tactical, trying to break an assumed Cannonball stranglehold

I guess? But to me this is one of those areas where popular judgment basically got it right. "Cannonball" was a giant hit because it was unstoppably great. I voted "Do You Love Me Now" #1 but it was a close thing between those two.

Cheap truckdriver key change at the end, thin sound

Truckdriver key change usually refers to a whole-step modulation -- "Headache" jumps up a 5th, from B to E!

one of the greatest, weirdest, fiercest acts of the era and ilm votes for the song that sounds like a cover of "feed the tree"

eh I feel this stupid need to insist that "Feed the Tree" is p. great and weird, if not fierce, and "Divine Hammer" has reasonable scores for all 3 imo (OK maybe more "lyrically unconventional" than "weird"), but I get your point

I didn't vote in either poll because I didn't feel my knowledge was encyclopedic enough but if I'd paid attention to the fact there was a side-projects poll and thought about how much of the 90s I spent listening to the Breeders (and all related bands) and pre-Catholics FB I should probably have got something together

But to me this is one of those areas where popular judgment basically got it right. "Cannonball" was a giant hit because it was unstoppably great.

yes, I agree, one of the two best pop singles of the '90s - which is why I assume people overthought their voting, because it should have won.

or if beaten, only been by Safari

Whatever Happened to Pong?, (I Want to Live on an) Abstract Plain, Bad Wicked World - heard all those on a '90s radio session ten years ago, also p good iirc

still an overall great album – white Noise Maker also got a vote from me in the side poll and Thalassocracy came close.

can you guys just listen to this and concede it crushes "headache" like a grape

i will also "nope" this. 'tis a fine song, but for me Headache is an all all-time great song.

wheay-hey-hey-hay, isn't so great, since you learned karate, chop chop CHop chop...

I remembered reading an article about the Pixies about 20 years ago where it described the Velouria video as "the band members running in slow motion in the buff" and this thread somehow jogged that out of my memory banks so I just went to YouTube to watch the video and realize that it was actually "the band members running in slow motion down a bluff".

lol

Cannonball: Love Shack:: Divine Hammer: Roam

good call!

wow there is something so deeply, deeply right about that analogy

I'm ranking for fire!.