Who is on the cover of the Pixies album ‘Come On Pilgrim’?
Although Nirvana are celebrated as the greatest alternative rock band of all time—reviving guitar-driven music, setting standards that remain influential, and bringing underground punk ethos to the mainstream—they wouldn’t have achieved this without Pixies. The original lineup—Black Francis, Kim Deal, Joey Santiago, and David Lovering—are often hailed as the first true alt-rock band, laying the groundwork for the genre’s rise to prominence.
The band’s 1988 debut album, Surfer Rosa, was a landmark moment. Produced by the eminent underground tastemaker Steve Albini, it changed how people viewed the makeup of rock music, welding punk, indie, and other forms with an inventive and deeply artistic edge. It also brought the band’s now-famous weapon of choice, the quiet-loud-quiet dynamic, to a much broader audience, typified by the single ‘Gigantic’.
Notoriously, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain cited the album as the basis for the band’s game-changing songwriting on 1991’s Nevermind, which extensively utilised the dynamic, as heard on the signature hit ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. There’s no surprise either; he explicitly named ‘Gigantic’ his favourite Pixies song. It’s also natural, then, that Pixies leader Black Francis has accused the late star of ripping them off in the years since.
Regardless of how significant Surfer Rosa was on not just Nirvana but Smashing Pumpkins, Dinosaur Jr, and many others, it’s often forgotten that it was given the room to materialise by Pixies’ debut mini-album, Come On Pilgrim, from 1987. Showcasing the unique vocal range of Francis, Kim Deal’s sugary harmonies offsetting it, Joey Santiago’s inventive lead lines, and a generally dynamic nature, this often overlooked record made the band a college radio favourite in the US and an instant favourite in the UK.
Released on 4AD, the mini-album all but confirmed the quality of what was to follow and remains incredibly accomplished by a young band that had only been together for a year. Even more remarkably, it comprised the recordings from the band’s demo, The Purple Tape.
The title of Come On Pilgrim is taken from a lyric in the song ‘Levitate Me’, which Black Francis took from a line from ‘Watch What You’re Doing’ by his early hero, Christian rock pioneer Larry Norman: “Come on pilgrim, you know he loves you.”
So, who is on the cover of Come On Pilgrim?
The artwork, a sort of sepia-tinted photograph, features a mysterious bald man with a “hair shit” who is half-turned to the camera. The image was conceived by the influential 4AD graphic designer Vaughan Oliver, who significantly influenced the aesthetic of alternative culture. Simon Larbalestier photographed it.
Although he’s never been publicly named, the man in the “hair shirt” was a friend of the photographer’s and was taken from a series he was working on based on Gustave Flaubert’s The Temptation of Saint Anthony. The friend was going bald, so he dealt with it by shaving his head up to his collar, giving the impression of a “hair shirt”.
Oliver’s decision to pair Pixies with Larbalestier for Come On Pilgrim proved fruitful. It was the perfect aesthetic choice for their music, and it became the first of a five-year partnership he had with the band, designing all their 4AD sleeves.
