Why Bono believes Pixies are one of music’s all-time greats: “The first of its kind”
As music fans, we ought to celebrate the fact that our interest is devoid of competition. There are no two bands running for a title every year, and instead, as fans, we get to bask in the enjoyment of multiple acts providing us with equal brilliance.
Yet, in the 1990s, fans and critics seemed relatively obsessed with the idea of creating competitive drama.
It was a wasteful outlook, really, given how fruitful the art of the decade was. Across multiple platforms and cultures, music and film flourished into some of the most revered in history. The UK enjoyed the raging tides of Cool Britannia while American audiences fought back against hyper-commercialism with anti-establishment art across multiple genres. Hip-hop gave voices to the otherwise unheard communities and grunge developed in the darkness.
Within that latter idea, we often attribute all the credit to Nirvana. Kurt Cobain led a musical movement for the disillusioned youth that combined a palpable sense of hardcore rage with traditional songwriting sensibilities, which helped thrust this new wave of alternative music into the public eye.
And so, in the spirit of this artistic competitiveness, we heralded Nirvana as the only band capable of challenging Oasis in the transatlantic war of musical greatness. But beneath that were cavalries of brilliant creatives who were more than able to step out of both bands’ looming shadows and be considered true greats, in their own right and untied to the context of their own decade.
One band many would argue fall into that category were the Pixies. In fact, U2’s Bono was certain of it, claiming, “In the history books, if we are still writing them, Pixies will be one of a dozen bands described as progenitors in the rock era.”
He added, “Their song about a monkey heading off to break the Kármán line… It’s the first of its kind. Untouchable. And incomparable. A big bang we were waiting for.”
The line Bono adores comes from the track ‘Monkey Gone To Heaven’ which features on the band’s sophomore, 1989 album, Doolittle. Bono’s take can be widely understood by music critics, for at that time and specifically on that album, Pixies were tapping into something entirely unique.
Guitar mastery alá Johnny Marr was being injected into the caustic backdrop of grunge, while outright pop songs like ‘Here Comes Your Man’ were stepping forward as chart-topping earworms. Seemingly, the band had it all on that record, not least of all their lyrical content.
‘Monkey Gone To Heaven’ was a particular lyrical deep cut, touching on themes of surrealism, environmentalism and societal apathy all through the lens of a transcendental monkey. Moreover, the lyrics in the bridge, “If man is five / Then the devil is six”, is a reference to Hebrew numerology.
It meant that wild, high-brow references weren’t off limits for the band, but neither was the pursuit of writing a fundamentally brilliant rock song. They were mastering the art of commercial complexity and it was in that ability where Bono and critics saw something ingenious.
