When the Pixies emerged, they were just one of the groups shaping alternative rock of the ’90s. They were clearly influential as time went on, but part of the appeal was their early place in the underground scene. That embrace of what “indie rock” used to be was a purposeful choice in their early career, however.
In an early interview while on tour in the U.K., vocalist Black Francis (going by Frank Black at that time) and guitarist Joey Santiago discussed the choice to move in underground circles. When asked if their more offbeat style—in comparison to other American bands—was intentional, Frank Black explained their rationale.
The Pixies Got Their Start On Underground College Radio, Becoming An Offbeat Indie Rock Staple
“Yeah, sure,” he began, “Because you can’t compete with The Rolling Stones [when you’re] starting out, and so your first reaction is to go to college radio or underground radio, that sort of stuff.”
“And in order to present your otherwise normal pop songs to that audience,” he continued, “you gotta just skew them a little bit, I guess. And so it is a little bit intentional, I think.”
While Frank Black essentially described packaging their music for the quirky college radio crowd, the Pixies never really seemed inauthentic. But also, back then, there was less of a push for 100% true authenticity in music than there is now. These days, it seems like a song has to be totally autobiographical to have any sort of value with mainstream listeners.
Modern opinions aside, the Pixies often straddled several lines with their music. Black explored surreal imagery and themes in his songwriting, while musically they dabbled in alt and punk rock, with elements of surf rock thrown in. And while the “loud-quiet-loud” song structure is often attributed to The Smashing Pumpkins, the Pixies were masters of this formula.
“We’re not avant-garde or anything like that,” Frank Black added. “But it’s a lot easier to be esoteric than to appeal to a large amount of people and still be good. So, until we get really good at our quirkiness, I mean, really good at being good for 10,000 people, it’s better to just sort of be a little bit odd.”
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