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In the alternative rock family tree, a big fat line runs from the Pixies directly to the chart-smashing Noise Pop/Grunge that Nirvana broke with in 1991. Surfer Rosa, the Pixies' 1988 full length debut of skronked-out, Surf-damaged Punk-Pop, was a revelation to just about everyone who heard it. At first listen the remedial chord progressions, utterly nonsensical lyrics, and bizarre delivery sounded like the flailings of inept college rockers with a psychotropic casualty for a lead singer; but once the hooks were in, there was no escape. The Pixies reminded everyone how to write a perfect, repetitive song that you knew by heart two seconds in. With wonder-twin powers Frank Black and Kim Deal writing paeans to sexually charged dementia, an idiosyncratic guitar sound, and what sounded like the Jolly Green Giant playing drums, the Pixies took the alterna-rock world by storm, releasing four near-perfect records before self-destructing under the weight of their own talent.
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