The Pixies’ Doolittle Turns 25

The Pixies' sophomore album, Doolittle, released on April 18, 1989, turns 25 this week. I stumbled upon this information recently and my first thought was, "I'm really old,” but then I was transported back to high school, a time when I must have played the album hundreds of times. Music has an amazing ability to induce nostalgia. Doolittle still finds itself in my music rotation and some of my all-time favorite songs include "Debaser," inspired by Frank Black’s love of surrealism, the sweet "Here Comes Your Man," "Monkey Gone to Heaven" and "Wave of Mutilation."

The album, arguably the Pixies' best with Surfer Rosa being the other contender, has aged remarkably well. Greg Kot, in a rave review for the Chicago Tribune, wrote that "With 15 thrill-a-minute songs, 'Doolittle' is destined to be one of 1989's best albums." Doolittle was not only one of the best albums of 1989, it is one of the best rock albums, period. It's been included on a number of best-of lists, and Pitchfork ranked the album fourth in its list of the top 100 albums of the 1980s. The band also influenced a number of significant pop musicians, most notably Kurt Cobain, who told Rolling Stone, in a discussion about writing "Smells Like Teen Spirit," that he was “basically trying to rip off the Pixies.” Happy 25th, Doolittle!