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Fool the World: The Oral History of a Band Called Pixies
It's the 1980s and the rock landscape is littered with massive hair, synthesizers, and monster riffs, but there is an alternative being born in the sleepy East of America-we just don't know it yet.
Before the Internet, MTV, and iPods provided far-off music fans with information and communities-and before Nirvana-kids across the world grew up in relative isolation, dependent on mix tapes and self-created art to slowly spread scenes and trends. It was under these conditions that four young musicians found one another in Boston, Massachusetts, and started a band called Pixies.
During their initial seven-year career, Pixies would play some of Europe's most gigantic festivals, keep the press guessing, and cultivate a fervid international fan base hungry for more and more of their unique surf punk. The band worked fast, cranking out four albums at a breakneck pace, but ultimately pressures and personality clashes took their Pixies broke up just as bands were singing their praises as the rock'n'roll innovators.
For twelve years, a Pixies reunion seemed impossible, but a sudden announcement in 2004 proclaimed the unthinkable-Pixies were getting back together. Their extremely successful reunion tour finally gave the group something they'd always lacked in their proof that their bone-rattling music had left an indelible impact.
Fool the World tells Pixies' story in the words of those who lived it, from the band members to studio owners, from A&R executives, producers, and visual artists who worked with them to admirers of their music, such as Bono, PJ Harvey, Beck, and Perry Farrell. With new cartoons by Trompe Le Monde illustrator Steven Appleby, Fool the World is a complete journey through the life, death, and rebirth of one of the most influential bands of all time.
Before the Internet, MTV, and iPods provided far-off music fans with information and communities-and before Nirvana-kids across the world grew up in relative isolation, dependent on mix tapes and self-created art to slowly spread scenes and trends. It was under these conditions that four young musicians found one another in Boston, Massachusetts, and started a band called Pixies.
During their initial seven-year career, Pixies would play some of Europe's most gigantic festivals, keep the press guessing, and cultivate a fervid international fan base hungry for more and more of their unique surf punk. The band worked fast, cranking out four albums at a breakneck pace, but ultimately pressures and personality clashes took their Pixies broke up just as bands were singing their praises as the rock'n'roll innovators.
For twelve years, a Pixies reunion seemed impossible, but a sudden announcement in 2004 proclaimed the unthinkable-Pixies were getting back together. Their extremely successful reunion tour finally gave the group something they'd always lacked in their proof that their bone-rattling music had left an indelible impact.
Fool the World tells Pixies' story in the words of those who lived it, from the band members to studio owners, from A&R executives, producers, and visual artists who worked with them to admirers of their music, such as Bono, PJ Harvey, Beck, and Perry Farrell. With new cartoons by Trompe Le Monde illustrator Steven Appleby, Fool the World is a complete journey through the life, death, and rebirth of one of the most influential bands of all time.
336 pages, Paperback
First published October 6, 2005
33 people are currently reading
750 people want to read
About the author
Josh Frank
8 books44 followersJosh Frank is a writer, producer, director and composer. He has penned numerous plays, including an authorized adaptation of Werner Hergoz’s Stroszek, screenplays, including an adaptation of Mark Vonnegut's The Eden Express, and musicals, including The Jonathan Richman Musical. He is the author of Fool The World, the Oral History of the Band Called Pixies (St. Martins Press USA/Virgin Books U.K.) and In Heaven Everything Is Fine - - The Unsolved Life of Peter Ivers (Simon and Schuster/Free Press.)
Over the last decade, Frank has worked with some of the most interesting and innovative musicians, filmmakers, producers and artists in the industry, including Black Francis of the Pixies, David Lynch and Harold Ramis. He has interviewed over 400 of America’s most notable names in entertainment for his books and screenplays.
His Latest Book an Illustrated Novel based on a song cycle by influential band Pixes, is a collaboration with it’s lead singer Black Francis. It will be released in the U.S. by Harper Collins and in the U.K. by SelfmadeHero in 2014. In his spare time, he created and runs a Mini-Urban Drive-In Movie Theatre in Austin, Tx.
Over the last decade, Frank has worked with some of the most interesting and innovative musicians, filmmakers, producers and artists in the industry, including Black Francis of the Pixies, David Lynch and Harold Ramis. He has interviewed over 400 of America’s most notable names in entertainment for his books and screenplays.
His Latest Book an Illustrated Novel based on a song cycle by influential band Pixes, is a collaboration with it’s lead singer Black Francis. It will be released in the U.S. by Harper Collins and in the U.K. by SelfmadeHero in 2014. In his spare time, he created and runs a Mini-Urban Drive-In Movie Theatre in Austin, Tx.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
July 22, 2009
i D-E-V-O-U-R-E-D this book.
the pixies are the greatest band on the planet, and this does them justice.
it reads like a conversation between 40+ people who all had different perspectives and involvement in the comet that was the pixies and is edited carefully to reveal their story in an interesting yet chronological way. i would have loved to read more about what happened with the breeders, kim deal's road to sobriety is kind of completely ignored, and i absolutely hated the inclusion of the trompe le monde illustrator's doodles throughout the book (they had a long-term graphic relationship with that awesome photographer who did all their other album photography...it would have been nice if the book had THAT kind of a look)
other than those minor points, it was an awesome biography, and through it i definitely relived all my memories of listening t "surfer rosa" over and over and being amazed that a record that good could be that short, and all the times i saw the pixies / their other bands from 1991 to now, from rosemont horizon opening for U2, to their reunion show in lowell, the breeders first reunion show at the congress theater in chicago, to their most recent tour where i caught them here in san diego. that amps show back when they were called 'tammy and the amps', frank black in athens, georgia.
the pixies are a band that has been important to me in so many different times in my life that i probably would have loved this book even if it sucked, but incidentally it didn't.
the pixies are the greatest band on the planet, and this does them justice.
it reads like a conversation between 40+ people who all had different perspectives and involvement in the comet that was the pixies and is edited carefully to reveal their story in an interesting yet chronological way. i would have loved to read more about what happened with the breeders, kim deal's road to sobriety is kind of completely ignored, and i absolutely hated the inclusion of the trompe le monde illustrator's doodles throughout the book (they had a long-term graphic relationship with that awesome photographer who did all their other album photography...it would have been nice if the book had THAT kind of a look)
other than those minor points, it was an awesome biography, and through it i definitely relived all my memories of listening t "surfer rosa" over and over and being amazed that a record that good could be that short, and all the times i saw the pixies / their other bands from 1991 to now, from rosemont horizon opening for U2, to their reunion show in lowell, the breeders first reunion show at the congress theater in chicago, to their most recent tour where i caught them here in san diego. that amps show back when they were called 'tammy and the amps', frank black in athens, georgia.
the pixies are a band that has been important to me in so many different times in my life that i probably would have loved this book even if it sucked, but incidentally it didn't.
March 9, 2021
Outright I have to say that an oral history is a great way to structure a book, especially one about a band like the Pixies. An oral history through the confluence of viewpoints it outlines provides a mosaic impression of a subject rather than one person's opinion. By having a host of opinions the reader creates their own view of the subject. There is no single opinion presented here so whatever you come away with will be your own take. Other books I've read that do this style well are the oral history of Swans and Lincoln in the Bardo.
Structure aside this book gave me most of the info I wanted to know about the band. I've always loved them since I was a teen. August 21st 2015 I got my first bass guitar. I tried to learn Sunshine Of Your Love by Cream but couldn't manage it. Instead the first bass part I learned was Hey. Kim Deal could make a simple chromatic part and 3 notes for the chorus sound great and it set me on my own journey as a bassist and later guitarist. I was now free from my stodgy beginnings of piano lessons and early fumbling at guitar when 12-14.
The book outlines their movements at each stage of their career. It's a very nuts and bolts band book. This is about the work necessary to make it and it's often told by the people behind the scenes. The managers, a&r men, tour promoters and album producers. Those unsung heroes who early on often did stuff for free just because they loved the Pixies music. The music of the Pixies is so idiosyncratic it's hard to imagine people actually wrote it and this book clearly comes from a place of loving them as a band. It doesn’t lecture you on their music, it’s a book written with knowledgeable fans in mind. At the same time it will help any newcomer become well versed in the band's body of work. The book has a good rhythm of people doing stuff, album is produced, album is reacted to by critics and a tour happens. Most sections follow this bar a few deviations where an album wasn't made such as when the band broke up or reunited.
Particular highlights for me were the insight into the band as it formed, the clear importance of Throwing Muses on their success and signing with 4AD, production of the demo tape, production of Surfer Rosa (I love Steve Albini I could listen to that guy talk all damn day), Charles and Kim's contentious relationship (that hotel story where Charles wanted five days to himself only to see Kim walk into the hotel while he was checking in), Trompe Le Monde pushing tensions further, the horrendous U2 tour, the 2004 reunion and in general the love of the band's music that motivated the people around them to push them forward in their musical career. Additionally the small anecdotes about the members of the band were probably the best insight you'll ever get of them as people unless you knew them in real life. Their quirks are highlighted in an honest non-judgemental way, it’s their quirks that arguably make such interesting music.
As people the Pixies are fairly inscrutable so expect no shocking revelations about them as people. That's one of their major draws for me, there is no affect or persona here. For music as incendiary and raucous as theirs, they are fairly normal people. There's no endless hedonism and madcap excess here, just people doing the grind of gigging and growing an audience. Expect that going in to this book and I think you'll really enjoy it. Fully recommended to any Pixies fan.
[Bought this due to being on a serious Pixies binge as of late. Honestly Bossanova and Trompe Le Monde are disgustingly underrated albums. The new albums have great tunes if you give them a chance as well. Shame Kim left but like Megadeth and Metallica, the world would be a lesser place if we didn't have both The Breeders and the Pixies at the same time.]
Structure aside this book gave me most of the info I wanted to know about the band. I've always loved them since I was a teen. August 21st 2015 I got my first bass guitar. I tried to learn Sunshine Of Your Love by Cream but couldn't manage it. Instead the first bass part I learned was Hey. Kim Deal could make a simple chromatic part and 3 notes for the chorus sound great and it set me on my own journey as a bassist and later guitarist. I was now free from my stodgy beginnings of piano lessons and early fumbling at guitar when 12-14.
The book outlines their movements at each stage of their career. It's a very nuts and bolts band book. This is about the work necessary to make it and it's often told by the people behind the scenes. The managers, a&r men, tour promoters and album producers. Those unsung heroes who early on often did stuff for free just because they loved the Pixies music. The music of the Pixies is so idiosyncratic it's hard to imagine people actually wrote it and this book clearly comes from a place of loving them as a band. It doesn’t lecture you on their music, it’s a book written with knowledgeable fans in mind. At the same time it will help any newcomer become well versed in the band's body of work. The book has a good rhythm of people doing stuff, album is produced, album is reacted to by critics and a tour happens. Most sections follow this bar a few deviations where an album wasn't made such as when the band broke up or reunited.
Particular highlights for me were the insight into the band as it formed, the clear importance of Throwing Muses on their success and signing with 4AD, production of the demo tape, production of Surfer Rosa (I love Steve Albini I could listen to that guy talk all damn day), Charles and Kim's contentious relationship (that hotel story where Charles wanted five days to himself only to see Kim walk into the hotel while he was checking in), Trompe Le Monde pushing tensions further, the horrendous U2 tour, the 2004 reunion and in general the love of the band's music that motivated the people around them to push them forward in their musical career. Additionally the small anecdotes about the members of the band were probably the best insight you'll ever get of them as people unless you knew them in real life. Their quirks are highlighted in an honest non-judgemental way, it’s their quirks that arguably make such interesting music.
As people the Pixies are fairly inscrutable so expect no shocking revelations about them as people. That's one of their major draws for me, there is no affect or persona here. For music as incendiary and raucous as theirs, they are fairly normal people. There's no endless hedonism and madcap excess here, just people doing the grind of gigging and growing an audience. Expect that going in to this book and I think you'll really enjoy it. Fully recommended to any Pixies fan.
[Bought this due to being on a serious Pixies binge as of late. Honestly Bossanova and Trompe Le Monde are disgustingly underrated albums. The new albums have great tunes if you give them a chance as well. Shame Kim left but like Megadeth and Metallica, the world would be a lesser place if we didn't have both The Breeders and the Pixies at the same time.]
February 23, 2022
Work on this oral history of the great rock band began in the early millennium, but continued long enough to cover also the band’s 2004 reunion and subsequent tour. Josh Frank managed to sit down with not only all four members of the Pixies but also friends of the band, recording engineers, 4AD label head Ivo-Watts Russell, album-art photographer Simon Larbalestier, and more.
The book is strongest in sketching the whole Boston scene that Pixies came out of in the mid-1980s, and also their intertwined relationship with fellow New England band Throwing Muses, as they toured together before ultimately being signed to the same label. Also interesting is the account of an ill-fated 1992 tour opening in arenas for U2: I always thought the Pixies disbanded already during the recording of Trompe le Monde, but this book shows they reached a nadir with that subsequent tour where almost no one in the audience, “still busy buying U2 t-shirts and hot dogs”, even paid attention to their set.
The downside of the book is that it doesn’t go into interpersonal dynamics at all, but it was these that led to the band’s untimely demise. That one band member was dealing with serious drug and alcohol addiction at the time is mentioned only twice in passing, as if Josh Frank as editor was trying to keep these darker things out of the book.
The book is strongest in sketching the whole Boston scene that Pixies came out of in the mid-1980s, and also their intertwined relationship with fellow New England band Throwing Muses, as they toured together before ultimately being signed to the same label. Also interesting is the account of an ill-fated 1992 tour opening in arenas for U2: I always thought the Pixies disbanded already during the recording of Trompe le Monde, but this book shows they reached a nadir with that subsequent tour where almost no one in the audience, “still busy buying U2 t-shirts and hot dogs”, even paid attention to their set.
The downside of the book is that it doesn’t go into interpersonal dynamics at all, but it was these that led to the band’s untimely demise. That one band member was dealing with serious drug and alcohol addiction at the time is mentioned only twice in passing, as if Josh Frank as editor was trying to keep these darker things out of the book.
April 29, 2008
I've been a huge Pixies fan for years so when I randomly saw this book in a bookstore while visiting Boston, I had to pick it up. The reason I'm only giving it two stars is because I really wanted a definitive biopic with an actual structured narrative. What the book actually is is a bunch of very loose interview snippets from recording engineers, tour managers, friends, famous people, and very occasionally the band members themselves arranged in vaguely chronological order. There are some interesting anecdotes to be sure, but it takes a very scattershot approach to the overall history of the band. You come out at the other end knowing a lot about the fact that the Pixies were ahead of their time and loved by a lot of people, but still don't really get any insight into band dynamics (other than hearsay from tour managers and such). The tension between Kim and Charles is talked about but never really explored, partly because there's not a lot of interviews with the band members themselves! A lot of the interviews just seem like hearsay. In short, this book left me wanting a real biography to be published. I'd recommend this book for hardcore Pixies fans only.
November 19, 2008
i wanted this to be better than it was. it is, as billed, the oral history of the pixies, told through interviews with band members & everyone else that could have possibly had anything to do with the band during their formation, ascent to late-80s indie rock popularity, sluggish decline, & reunion. i guess it's pretty good for what it is--plenty of funny stories, informational tidbits about how the band formed & recorded, etc. i just always expect books like this to be better than they are, to encapsulate something about why i like the band into the written word, & of course, i am always disappointed. i don't know.
November 12, 2012
Learned a hell of a lot and enjoyed reading the book. For some reason, the band disappears during the book and it turns into a story about the people on the outskirts of the Pixies as opposed to the people who made up the band. I would have liked it to focus more on what the group had to say, what Joey, David, Kim and Charles had to say. I'd recommend it if you like the Pixies.
September 17, 2023
Telling the story of the band as a compilation of interviews and quotes from a multitude of sources and manages to do so beautifully I think. Despite the almost "cut-and-paste" feeling, the image conveyed feels full and comprehensive. Great value for a fan!
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November 27, 2024It's funny but the only oral history books I ever seem to read are about music, either scenes or bands. Even in the face of the famous quote - "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture" (author unknown) - I continue to want to delve behind the scenes to what people were thinking and how they remember events.
The question therefore is, do I read these books because I think I can reach some kind of truth about the subject from multiple angles? Perhaps. But a good yarn is also entertaining, especially in music where layers of lies and misdirection are the norm. Rock, rap, pop, it's all built on mystique as well as musique.
In theory the Pixies have no mystique. They have tonnes of musique, a run of some of the best and most important albums of the 80s (oooooh, she deliberately words the sentence to exclude the two 90s albums, what could she mean by that?) flowed from their everyman/man/man/woman approach. What deeper understanding could come from an in-depth look behind the scenes, except for the most obvious: what drove the volcanic breakdown between Black Francis and Kim Deal?
Here's the thing, reading this in 2024 lands so very differently to how it would have been received in 2005 (the year I first saw them). In '05 they rode a wave of triumphant return, the old wounds healed, the original lineup back. It's a beautiful end to a book like this, a satisfying narrative of people growing up and repairing relationships in light of experience. In '24 we know that Kim exited the band again in 2013 and that the period between reunion and her leaving resulted in precisely one new song with her on. Ah well, at least I saw them do Doolittle in its entirety in 2009.
So what of this book as a 2024 read? In parts, very insightful. Honkingly hagiographic, but honestly entirely deserved if you've ever listened to 'Gigantic' or 'Gouge Away' or 'Nimrod's Son'. It has an expansive enough scope to make me feel like I understand the 80s Boston music scene more. It made me realise I need to listen to Throwing Muses properly, seeing as Tanya and Kristin get more space to talk here than Joey Santiago seems to.
But at times it felt a little like the book was talking *around* the band, rather than to them about things. Maybe in 2002-5 they didn't want to talk in detail about how it fell apart? Maybe now you might get more from Kim, as the outsider again? Or from Charles, now he is full-time reconciled with his own band? For a band whose music was built on lack of restraint, what they choose to talk about actually does feel restrained, and the other speakers can't answer some of the burning questions. Not a failure of the book, per se, because it makes me want to know more. But not everything I wanted.
The question therefore is, do I read these books because I think I can reach some kind of truth about the subject from multiple angles? Perhaps. But a good yarn is also entertaining, especially in music where layers of lies and misdirection are the norm. Rock, rap, pop, it's all built on mystique as well as musique.
In theory the Pixies have no mystique. They have tonnes of musique, a run of some of the best and most important albums of the 80s (oooooh, she deliberately words the sentence to exclude the two 90s albums, what could she mean by that?) flowed from their everyman/man/man/woman approach. What deeper understanding could come from an in-depth look behind the scenes, except for the most obvious: what drove the volcanic breakdown between Black Francis and Kim Deal?
Here's the thing, reading this in 2024 lands so very differently to how it would have been received in 2005 (the year I first saw them). In '05 they rode a wave of triumphant return, the old wounds healed, the original lineup back. It's a beautiful end to a book like this, a satisfying narrative of people growing up and repairing relationships in light of experience. In '24 we know that Kim exited the band again in 2013 and that the period between reunion and her leaving resulted in precisely one new song with her on. Ah well, at least I saw them do Doolittle in its entirety in 2009.
So what of this book as a 2024 read? In parts, very insightful. Honkingly hagiographic, but honestly entirely deserved if you've ever listened to 'Gigantic' or 'Gouge Away' or 'Nimrod's Son'. It has an expansive enough scope to make me feel like I understand the 80s Boston music scene more. It made me realise I need to listen to Throwing Muses properly, seeing as Tanya and Kristin get more space to talk here than Joey Santiago seems to.
But at times it felt a little like the book was talking *around* the band, rather than to them about things. Maybe in 2002-5 they didn't want to talk in detail about how it fell apart? Maybe now you might get more from Kim, as the outsider again? Or from Charles, now he is full-time reconciled with his own band? For a band whose music was built on lack of restraint, what they choose to talk about actually does feel restrained, and the other speakers can't answer some of the burning questions. Not a failure of the book, per se, because it makes me want to know more. But not everything I wanted.
January 17, 2019
Some memoirs overcome their subject matter so that people with no personal connection to the source material can find them worthwhile from a cultural/historical point of view. I don't think this is one of those books. I've never been able to put my finger on it, but Pixies sort of came out of nowhere musically speaking, there hasn't been anyone quite like them before or after (at least that I know of). It would have been interesting to get to know how this happened and to get a more profound outlook on the band and their backgrounds, but in this book you only get glimpses of their personalities. Most of the interviews are from people working behind the scenes, which probably gives a more reliable perspective to all this, but at the same time you're just left with a general rehash of the conditions surrounding the recordings and tours. Still an interesting read for me personally, gives a more educated point of view when listening to the records, but I don't think anyone else needs to bother unless they're already a fan of the band.
March 23, 2023
probably would have made a good documentary, but as it was, it felt like reading a transcript of a conversation between buddies
December 22, 2008
Pixies Pixies Pixies.....
La-la-loved it.
I like patchwork-quilt style of storytelling that comes from good oral-bios, from envisioning the larger story within each individual point of view.
La-la-loved it.
I like patchwork-quilt style of storytelling that comes from good oral-bios, from envisioning the larger story within each individual point of view.
June 21, 2016
Very interesting book about one era of music and famous band and all around them described from dialog POV.
November 21, 2022
This is basically 5 stars, as it delivers on what it promises: an in-depth oral history of the Pixies. But I have a small complaint, which is that I really think it needed editing.
The book is extremely repetitive and there is a lot of content having little to do with the Pixies. I never skip pages in books, but there is a lengthy section where many people talk about the recording studio the Pixies recorded their first demo in. At first I was interested, but it goes on, and on, and on. After several pages I found myself skimming, and then finally flipping pages until someone changes the topic back to the Pixies. It is interesting to know a bit about that studio, but do we need so much of that history, and every person's involvement and the whole history of it and etc? Maybe it can be called "too much of a good thing" but I couldn't get through that part and a few others. There were a few sections in the book where I wish we got less of one thing, but more of another.
BUT...overall, I will say if you are a Pixies fan, this is a must-read.
The book is extremely repetitive and there is a lot of content having little to do with the Pixies. I never skip pages in books, but there is a lengthy section where many people talk about the recording studio the Pixies recorded their first demo in. At first I was interested, but it goes on, and on, and on. After several pages I found myself skimming, and then finally flipping pages until someone changes the topic back to the Pixies. It is interesting to know a bit about that studio, but do we need so much of that history, and every person's involvement and the whole history of it and etc? Maybe it can be called "too much of a good thing" but I couldn't get through that part and a few others. There were a few sections in the book where I wish we got less of one thing, but more of another.
BUT...overall, I will say if you are a Pixies fan, this is a must-read.
December 16, 2024
A mild curiosity, this oral history of the rise, fall and rebirth of the Pixies is mostly told by the people who were in their orbit. It’s interesting and immersive, but I was disappointed in how little we actually hear from the band members themselves.
A lot of pages are devoted to the genesis of the band, but it kind of speeds through a couple of the albums and breakup; giving it a somewhat jarring rhythm. The last couple of chapters amount to a circle jerk and a seemingly irrelevant “Where Are They Now” about the interviewees.
Reading this in 2024 makes the book seem outdated and unfinished. However, it is a great snapshot of the reinvigoration of indie rock in the early 2000s. The interviewees speculate about what the band might do in the future, which makes for an amusing set of failed predictions.
We now know that Kim Deal would leave the band around 2012 and the remaining members would go on to release 5 more albums with middling reception. It would be interesting for the editors of this book to release a 20th Anniversary expansion that covers the last couple of decades.
A lot of pages are devoted to the genesis of the band, but it kind of speeds through a couple of the albums and breakup; giving it a somewhat jarring rhythm. The last couple of chapters amount to a circle jerk and a seemingly irrelevant “Where Are They Now” about the interviewees.
Reading this in 2024 makes the book seem outdated and unfinished. However, it is a great snapshot of the reinvigoration of indie rock in the early 2000s. The interviewees speculate about what the band might do in the future, which makes for an amusing set of failed predictions.
We now know that Kim Deal would leave the band around 2012 and the remaining members would go on to release 5 more albums with middling reception. It would be interesting for the editors of this book to release a 20th Anniversary expansion that covers the last couple of decades.
February 29, 2020
I love me a good oral history. In this case, it is a series of eyewitness accounts from the coalface that was the fast paced rise of the Pixies into legendary status. The narrative is simple in that it is barely a skeleton on which to hang all of the accounts and Josh Frank has expertly woven tons of comment from an all star cast including the band members themselves, label bosses, media outlets, producers, luminaries and beneficiaries (Pumpkins, Jane's Addiction, Hole and so on). The book was published in 2005 so, given that the Pixies are still blazing their trail, it is not up to date but in the absence of a definitive bio, it is a great way for those that remember to live it all over again or for the uninitiated to see what all the fuss was about in the first place.
Long live the Pixies.
Long live the Pixies.
August 30, 2023
Mostly great stuff if you’re a fan of the band - it made me appreciate their albums even more, which I didn’t think was possible. It skirts around some major pieces of the puzzle (oblique references to Kim Deal’s addiction issues that are never expanded on, etc.) and it’s necessarily unfinished since the band reunited while the book was being compiled, but what we get is a lot of great stories about the music and recording process. And it helps that the band all participated in the interviews, along with a lot of other great interviewees like Steve Albini, Gil Norton, J Mascis, and a ton of others.
March 27, 2023
I really enjoyed reading this. As someone who bought the albums in real time, it was fun to read this and get a new perspective on the band. It was also good to read without all the baggage of their original era, about what was then cool and - ugh - alternative. Everyone that was significant to their story gets to give their views, which confirm a lot of things or provides interesting details. A book really worth reading if you were young and into non-commercial music in the late '80s and early '90s.
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April 5, 2023Loved reading about the early history of the band. The book is basically a transcript of interviews with a ton of people pieced together chronologically. There's not a lot of interpersonal revelations. (There are a LOT of references to Kurt Cobain, which got weird.) And while people from the inner circles are featured, there's too much, "I heard..." from people not in the room. This was okay, and definitely interesting, but it could have been about 50 pages shorter.
January 16, 2018
This book is a brilliant insight into the life of the Pixies from their inception in 1986 up to their reunion in 2004.
It's really interesting to hear different points of view from the various interview snippets: from the recording sessions to the various tours.
I agree wholeheartedly with many in the book who say they are a really special band.
It's really interesting to hear different points of view from the various interview snippets: from the recording sessions to the various tours.
I agree wholeheartedly with many in the book who say they are a really special band.
January 27, 2019
Pixies are my favorite band so I’m biased in this, but it was a really cool look at each album and where each band member was at at the time. Would have been nice to hear more from Black Francis, seems he wasn’t featured as much as a lot of people around the band, but I really enjoyed this nonetheless.
April 12, 2024
I’m not going to lie, I associate this band with one of my most hectic and unpleasant books to write so I was cautious picking this up even if I’m still a huge fan, regardless. The oral history aspect dispenses with any wacky surreal elements a traditional book might bring but nonetheless well-written and captures the essence of the band.
July 27, 2024
Not my favourite format for a book, it’s just typed out conversations really! Did not provide me with the inside scoop I wanted, bar some stuff about the very early days and some stuff about the later years I kind of knew about everything else. Pixies are probably my favourite band and I find it quite apt that they are not actually that interesting!
July 23, 2019
Different than I expected (heavier on the recurrent recounting of drama, Francis threw a guitar at Kim, and lighter on the song writing music creation) but still quite enjoyable. I finally understand why Trompe le Monde is such a mess. A good book for fans.
June 28, 2017
Comprehensive and informative. Love the fact that the band actually contributes to the narrative as well. Great read. Highly recommended!!
November 16, 2020
A great emotional ride to fully understand the Pixies and their evercurious dynamics.
December 24, 2021
Well written
Read
September 16, 2024Bueno, claramente la música de los Pixies es diametralmente más interesante que la historia de estos mismos. El libro está muy bien hecho si.
December 30, 2025
Subbacultcha
March 20, 2007
So I'm not all the way through it yet. But I've been plugging away at Fool the World: The Oral History of a Band Called Pixies and I really like it. My friend Alicia let me borrow it along with a bunch of other Pixies goodies. Alicia didn't really like this that much. Our friend Sarah Flynn said the writer is a douchebag. In anycase, he's not really the writer. He conducted interviews and looked at archived interviews and basically compiled and edited them toghether in a well organized chronological manner. This is of course for the super fans of the Pixies. I personally find them to be not only one of my favorite bands of all time musically, but incredibly interesting in there incredibly plain-jane undramatic personalities, inter-relations, and the phenomenon of their popularity. Sarah Flynn disagrees with me on this too. Although she likes their music, she doesn't find them to be very interesting per se.
So how it works. This book goes from a summary of each band member's childhood through their career as the pixies. I'm not sure if the oral portion covers the recent reunion. It was written around this time and mentions their triumphant return in the foreward but i haven't made it that far.
There's one thing that's a little monotonous about it. The "writer" compiles in such a way that Frank Black, Kim, David, Gary Smith, and Joe Blow from the Boston Scene will all say very similar things in a row. But there's times where it's very enjoyable and sheds a slighly new light on the actual details as all the band members have their charms and their very specific personalities:
Charisma-Plus on Bass
Meat and Potatoes Humorous on singing
Quiet and Reclusive on Screeching Guitar
Dork Supreme on Drums.
Beyond that, this book is about the little nuggets of info. The behind the scenes tid-bits. The feel you get of the Boston scene at that time. The kind of magical nature of how much of a force the Pixies music was and still is despite how many people it simultaneously baffled. Having played in bands, there might be nerdy stuff in the studio or things i can relate to about a rock-club scene that i enjoy more than the average music fan. I don't know. I can't tell anymore. And growing up in RI, and visiting Boston a lot in the late 80's/early 90's might make me a little biased. This book recalls a time when Southern New England had a lot of relavant music coming out of it (Throwing Muses, Dino Jr., Lemonheads, Velvet Crush, Buffalo Tom, Sebadoh, Letters to Cleo, Combustible Edison, The Bosstones, Juliana Hatfield, Morphine, and so many more.) It was also a time where the areas those bands inhabited still looked like a place cool bands would probably be from. I was in my teens then when music became my main identity in many ways and I miss the way Providence and Boston looked back then. I could feel the "coolness" of those areas and was happy as a peach to be walking around those places while i looked for coffee and baked goods. It's kind of similar these days, just glossier. Less interesting looking. Less exciting. Maybe a little safer. Less annoying skate-boarders. I doubt anything worth a damn will have much of a fighting chance getting to a Pixies level in those areas these days even if they are just as good the Pixies (which they of course won't be). So yeah, I like it. It's not literature, or deep, or even that entertaining probably. But I'm still enjoying the read more than I have many things. I'm enjoying it better than Cash by Johnny Cash and more than anything Shakespeare's written. But I'm no scholar. I'm just a huge fan of the Pixies. And of a magical time in my home turf.
So how it works. This book goes from a summary of each band member's childhood through their career as the pixies. I'm not sure if the oral portion covers the recent reunion. It was written around this time and mentions their triumphant return in the foreward but i haven't made it that far.
There's one thing that's a little monotonous about it. The "writer" compiles in such a way that Frank Black, Kim, David, Gary Smith, and Joe Blow from the Boston Scene will all say very similar things in a row. But there's times where it's very enjoyable and sheds a slighly new light on the actual details as all the band members have their charms and their very specific personalities:
Charisma-Plus on Bass
Meat and Potatoes Humorous on singing
Quiet and Reclusive on Screeching Guitar
Dork Supreme on Drums.
Beyond that, this book is about the little nuggets of info. The behind the scenes tid-bits. The feel you get of the Boston scene at that time. The kind of magical nature of how much of a force the Pixies music was and still is despite how many people it simultaneously baffled. Having played in bands, there might be nerdy stuff in the studio or things i can relate to about a rock-club scene that i enjoy more than the average music fan. I don't know. I can't tell anymore. And growing up in RI, and visiting Boston a lot in the late 80's/early 90's might make me a little biased. This book recalls a time when Southern New England had a lot of relavant music coming out of it (Throwing Muses, Dino Jr., Lemonheads, Velvet Crush, Buffalo Tom, Sebadoh, Letters to Cleo, Combustible Edison, The Bosstones, Juliana Hatfield, Morphine, and so many more.) It was also a time where the areas those bands inhabited still looked like a place cool bands would probably be from. I was in my teens then when music became my main identity in many ways and I miss the way Providence and Boston looked back then. I could feel the "coolness" of those areas and was happy as a peach to be walking around those places while i looked for coffee and baked goods. It's kind of similar these days, just glossier. Less interesting looking. Less exciting. Maybe a little safer. Less annoying skate-boarders. I doubt anything worth a damn will have much of a fighting chance getting to a Pixies level in those areas these days even if they are just as good the Pixies (which they of course won't be). So yeah, I like it. It's not literature, or deep, or even that entertaining probably. But I'm still enjoying the read more than I have many things. I'm enjoying it better than Cash by Johnny Cash and more than anything Shakespeare's written. But I'm no scholar. I'm just a huge fan of the Pixies. And of a magical time in my home turf.
April 13, 2010
BOOK 1 NICE WEATHER READ-A-THON: 8 days.
I really love oral histories. They read quick, they are easy to understand, they feel more intimate and honest than if someone wrote a biography of the band. I like to buy them for my husband because he has ADD and I feel like narrators that shift every paragraph would be easier for him. He never reads the books but I usually do and this was one of them.
HERE IS MY ORAL HISTORY WITH THE PIXIES.
I was 3 when Surfer Rosa came out. I never listened to a Pixies album until 2001 when I entered a really intense Fight Club phase and even then I pretty much stuck with Surfer Rosa (and having been enjoying The Breeders since the previous summer I remember thinking that that the lady singing on "Gigantic" sounded a lot like Kim Deal... who is this Mrs. John Murphy, anyway?). And then I met my husband a year or two later and he is a big Frank Black fan and would serenade me with "Debaser".
The point the book makes a lot is that the Pixies are timeless and have a weird sort of universality. They are the Shakespeare of independent music. They didn't have a persona or style that fit in with the era, they just went out and did what they did and it was awesome.
It isn't all about sex and drugs and not even that much about rock n roll but about the four band members and the people around them at the time they were producing. It's a really nice story and you will like everyone you read about. You will go home and put on the copy of Surfer Rosa you bought at Barnes & Noble in 11th grade because it was the album with "Where is My Mind?" and you will be shocked that it was made when it was, charmed by the banter between songs, and then you will put on the Breeders' Last Splash and realize you had totally forgot about "Drivin' on 9", a song that was on EVERY MIX TAPE YOU MADE FOR TWO YEARS.
Or something like that.
I really love oral histories. They read quick, they are easy to understand, they feel more intimate and honest than if someone wrote a biography of the band. I like to buy them for my husband because he has ADD and I feel like narrators that shift every paragraph would be easier for him. He never reads the books but I usually do and this was one of them.
HERE IS MY ORAL HISTORY WITH THE PIXIES.
I was 3 when Surfer Rosa came out. I never listened to a Pixies album until 2001 when I entered a really intense Fight Club phase and even then I pretty much stuck with Surfer Rosa (and having been enjoying The Breeders since the previous summer I remember thinking that that the lady singing on "Gigantic" sounded a lot like Kim Deal... who is this Mrs. John Murphy, anyway?). And then I met my husband a year or two later and he is a big Frank Black fan and would serenade me with "Debaser".
The point the book makes a lot is that the Pixies are timeless and have a weird sort of universality. They are the Shakespeare of independent music. They didn't have a persona or style that fit in with the era, they just went out and did what they did and it was awesome.
It isn't all about sex and drugs and not even that much about rock n roll but about the four band members and the people around them at the time they were producing. It's a really nice story and you will like everyone you read about. You will go home and put on the copy of Surfer Rosa you bought at Barnes & Noble in 11th grade because it was the album with "Where is My Mind?" and you will be shocked that it was made when it was, charmed by the banter between songs, and then you will put on the Breeders' Last Splash and realize you had totally forgot about "Drivin' on 9", a song that was on EVERY MIX TAPE YOU MADE FOR TWO YEARS.
Or something like that.
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