Pixies: Doolittle

     I've wanted to post about the Pixies for awhile, but couldn't come up with a good take. The past few days I've been listening to Doolittle in my car and a thought occured to me; maybe the premise of my blog is wrong. An individual's music collection is the result of years of recommendations, research and casual listening. My kids are all going to have their own experiences with music. Can I really expect them to read all my recommendations and say "hey, I'm gonna throw Doolittle in the cd player because dad thought it was awesome"? They would probably hate it, because their own musical journey didn't lead them to Doolittle.
     This thought came to me when I thought back on how I was exposed to the Pixies. Back in the mid-90's, I was a receiving manager with my current employer. So I spent eight hours a day in a backroom listening to music and receiving shipments. It was great. Anyhow, one day I was listening to Smashing Pumpkins and one of the shelvers commented that if I like Smashing Pumpkins I should try the Pixies, who he said were better. I valued his opinion, because he turned me on to John Zorn, Raymond Scott and other artists that I'd never heard of before. However, if I had gone out that day and bought Surfer Rosa (that was his recommendation for a starting point) I probably would have hated it. At that time, Smashing Pumpkins were the most aggressive band I listened too, but mainly I was into bands like Gin Blossoms, Better Than Ezra and Lemonheads. I hadn't gone far enough on my personal music journey to grasp the Pixies. It's like when I decided to check out Miles Davis and started with Bitches Brew. I wasn't prepared. But I did put the Pixies recommendation in my mental file.
     In 2002, David Bowie put out Heathen, which included a cover of the Pixies' "Cactus". I obviously didn't know it was a Pixies' cover at first, but I filed that fact in my head with that old recommendation. A couple years later, the Pixies released a best of cd entitled Wave Of Mutilation. That's when I finally decided to check them out. I was prepared and I wasn't disappointed. The songs are classic. Broken Face. Gigantic. Monkey Gone To Heaven. Debaser. Gouge Away. Here Comes Your man. Where Is My Mind? I loved the vocal stylings of Black Francis ( Frank Black, Charles Thompson). Joey Santiago was the first guitarist that I left off my list of favorite guitarists, so consider him on the list. David Lovering is one of the few alternative rock drummers that appreciates Neil Peart. And Kim Deal's bass playing is only surpassed by her amazing backing vocals (especially Debaser and Monkey Gone To Heaven). The Surfer Rosa recommendation was good, but Doolittle is my favorite Pixies' album. "Monkey Gone To Heaven" is my favorite song. The vocals with Frank and Kim are fantastic and I love the man is 5, devil is 6 and god is 7 part. Another favorite is "No. 13 Baby" which has a great chorus. There really isn't a bad song on Doolittle.
     The premise of my blog may also be wrong, because by the time anyone inherits my music collection it could be my grandchildren(which I don't have any yet). Until then, I'll focus on my kids. Hopefully, with this blog and by playing music around them, I'll be one of the people who helps them on their musical journey.  I suppose the reason I care that they like my collection is that it's important to me. If they keep my collection they are keeping part of me with them. But not in a creepy way. And I don't want them to be hoarders. I guess I just want them to find something that makes them happy to pass on to their kids. Peace.