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1980s alt-rockers Pixies are one of the first and last American rock bands that’s ever really mattered.
By Vanessa Quilantan
June 28, 2024
Pixies were hotter than the weather on Thursday night.Andrew Sherman
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After selling out an entire 19-stop North American tour together in the summer of 2023, Pixies, Modest Mouse and Cat Power are back on the road for another round. On Thursday, the three groups played Irving's Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory.
To understand the Pixies' massive influence, we'd have to go back to 1991, when Nirvana released a debut single that would forever live on as one of the most widely beloved songs of the late 20th century. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is not just the chart-rocketing hit that turned the band into a household name, it is truly a moment in time. It is Generation X’s coming-of-age anthem of disillusionment, it’s the Clinton years, it’s the rise of grunge and it's a timeless classic more than 30 years later. But on the subject of composing the record, Kurt Cobain told Rolling Stone in 1994: “I was trying to write the ultimate pop song. I was basically trying to rip off the Pixies.”
After the '80s new-wave era burned out, and before grunge began to dominate the airwaves in the early '90s, mainstream alternative rock went through an experimental phase when major labels seemed to be throwing anything at the wall to see what would stick. Turning the dial to rock radio from the years of 1986–1990 could mean hearing the artsy wailings of REM, the Violent Femmes’ delightfully wicked pop jaunts, the reggae-tinged bops of UB40 and even the funk-metal bass-thumping of Primus or early Red Hot Chili Peppers—all back to back in the same block of songs.
It was a time when the music industry was willing to embrace the weird stuff, cast a wide net and take a chance on bands who were doing something new and different. Because nobody really knew yet what the next big thing was going to be.
Not everything stuck to the wall. But the scrappy Boston four-piece, Pixies, proved to be one of the most prophetic bands of that unique moment on the U.S. Billboard charts, shaping what was ultimately forthcoming for rock 'n’ roll. The band’s singular combination of swirling chorus tones, noise-forward bass distortion, tried and true guitar pop composition and live-wire emotional vulnerability set the direction of alternative music toward a new millennium.
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Pixies chose their band name randomly from the dictionary, as they felt it described their offbeat and unconventional approach to music.
Andrew Sherman
The union of Pixies, Modest Mouse and Cat Power makes for a broad fanbase crossover appeal, but the billing tells a deeper story of the Pixies’ generational impact, represented in a historical narrative over three acts.
Opener Cat Power (aka singer-songwriter Chan Marshall), the smoldering indie-sleaze era lounge-pop crooner, has an approach to traditional songwriting principles much like that of Pixies’ frontman Black Francis. And she delivered a strong set as the crowd in Irving filed into their seats in the open-air amphitheater.
Now in her early 50s, Marshall has gained a refined and commanding stage presence compared to the indie-pop genre’s breakout years during her 30s. For instance, when Cat Power headlined the now defunct annual Fun Fun Fun Fest! weekend in Austin’s Waterloo Park in 2007, Marshall gave a devastating performance, breaking into a full emotional meltdown—sobbing and shrieking with the sensitivity of a raw exposed nerve before walking offstage halfway through her set. At the time, this was not an uncommon occurrence at a Cat Power show.
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Lots of Modest Mouse fans made it out to Toyota Music Factory on Thursday.
Andrew Sherman
But those days of personal torment and artistic overwhelm seem to be in Marshall’s rear view. At Toyota Music Factory, she gave a solid and impassioned performance. Her voice is as deep, smooth and sultry as ever—as if untouched by age since the earliest days of her career. Though her original material is breathtaking, Marshall is arguably more famous for covering modern pop standards. Just last year she released a gorgeous body of this work, Cat Power Sings Bob Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert, an essential listen for fans of either artist. Given her noteworthy prowess in interpreting cover songs, it was mildly disappointing that she didn’t perform her noteworthy version of the 1959 doo-wop standard, “Sea of Love.” Nonetheless, it’s great to see Marshall thriving as a performer.
The sonic landscape set by the Pixies all those years ago heavily informed the guttural indie-rock misanthropy of Modest Mouse, next on the lineup. The longstanding Washington state indie-rock outfit formed in 1993 (the year Pixies originally broke up) and went on to reach peak acclaim with their album Good News For People Who Love Bad News (featuring hit single “Float On”) in 2004, the same year that Pixies first reformed for a sold-out reunion tour (sans founding bassist and alt goddess Kim Deal).
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Modest Mouse formed in 1993, but only frontman Isaac Brock remains from that original lineup.
Andrew Sherman
Frontman Isaac Brock also had a reputation in his glory days for struggling through performances, which he later attributed to his demons stemming from a battle against alcoholism and substance abuse. But like Cat Power, Modest Mouse is operating at a higher level now onstage. Brock looked healthy and happy on Thursday night, if not sweating through his sharp-dressed gray suit during an intensely bright North Texas sunset.
Modest Mouse did well to please the audience in a career-spanning 75 minutes that included older deep cuts, their radio hits and a substantial amount of material from Good News for People Who Love Bad News. But the highlight of their set was when they pulled out a faithful version of The Cure’s “The Forest”.
It’s not to say that Cat Power and Modest Mouse are specifically derivative of their headlining tourmates, but they are highly complementary supporting acts in both sound and context. They’re included among a myriad of alt-rock bands that came after Pixies, either evoking stylistic sensibilities influenced by the group or empowered to tread a path into the music industry forged by the release of genre-canonical album Doolittle on Elektra Records in 1998.
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Pixies have influenced artists from Nirvana to Radiohead and received high praise from David Bowie and Bono.
Andrew Sherman
In a big-picture sense, Pixies pose the questionof which modern-day alt-rock bands may have never even happened if they hadn’t come first. How many people might have never picked up a guitar or a bass if they weren’t inspired by hearing Joey Santiago or Kim Deal do it? What would “Smells Like Teen Spirit” have sounded like, and how large an audience would it have reached without Pixies?
By the time Pixies took the stage, the temperature outside had dropped about 10 degrees, making for a gorgeously breezy summer night. The full and enthusiastic crowd painted a dynamic cross-section of ticketholders who seemed elated to watch the band’s tight and grounded performance.
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Pixies have continued to remain relevant and influential in alternative rock since forming almost 40 years ago.
Andrew Sherman
A group of three or four Gen Z frat boy types in pastel polos with domestic beer logos on their baseball caps high-fived each other in excitement to hear a yet-to-be released road song called “Vegas Suite” that the band started playing live only earlier this year. Artsy grandparents in button-down shirts and long sundresses swayed in their seats to “In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)”—the 1982 Peter Ivers and David Lynch-composed Eraserhead soundtrack cut popularized by Pixies in 1988. Hippies twirled around on the lawn during “Where Is My Mind?” while nearby goths nodded along and stomped to the driving beat of “Gouge Away.” Everybody grooved together with the call-and-response chanting of “Hey.” This is what timeless music looks like.
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Pixies, Modest Mouse, and Cat Power almost sold out Toyota Music Factory in Irving on their 2024 tour.
Andrew Sherman
In 2024, grunge is long dead. And though Pixies disbanded in 1993, they have truly proven their distinct and enduring influence on rock 'n’ roll since they reunited in 2003 and started packing venues around the world with audiences that transcend age groups, cultures and demographics. That’s exactly what they did Thursday night at Toyota Music Factory in Irving.
After closing with a cover of Neil Young’s “Winterlong,” Pixies humbly walked out in front of their instruments and took a gracious bow while the crowd erupted in an uproarious standing ovation.
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