Important contemporary formative band for me. 5/5.
Probably over played them in my youth and genuinely prefer The Breeders now but I do go back occasionally and it still stands out. Pretty sure a 15 year old hearing them for the first time now would be as blown away as I was, although perhaps the influence theyāve had may have diluted it a little?
Gave them a 4 for the same reasons as above. 5 for the first run. Absolutely love Doolittle. Gounge away, Hey, Monkey gone to Heaven, so many bangers.
The recent albums have been average at best, the odd good song here and there but nothing on par with the early run. Been generous and given them a 3 on the recent albums to bring my average to 4.
In my opinion, while they have influenced numerous bands, they still come across as a totally unique band for me
6/5 for Come On Pilgrim through to Doolittle, including b-sides. I was never a huge fan of Bossanova and Trompe le Monde (and am confused by the reappraisal of the latter tbh) and donāt begrudge the post-reformation albums - all five fall into a big category of āmediocreā for me. 4/5 overall.
4/5
Incredible original run. Decent singles, influencial albums, important band. Saw them in 2009 and whilst it was good, it very much felt like a tick off the list exercise. Better than Pavement were anyway. Luckily they never reformed and started releasing shitty albums again, otherwise thatāll really let them down.
5 From Pilgrim to Trompe Le Monde is untouchable. Anything else doesnāt count to me.
Astounding band and Iām going to listen to Bossanova right now. 
This is exactly my thinking.
Pixies were so exciting when I first discovered them.I was heavily into Nirvana and youād read interviews with Kurt where heād have said āoh this is my Pixies rip off songā so I bought Death to the Pixies and was instantly hooked. It was this moment of 'wow there are these interesting, exciting bands just outside of the mainstream.
Their comeback material is absolute dreck though. A real shame.
Reckon theyāre one of those bands people take for grante. Debaser is an indie disco favourite but its completely unhinged
Full on fucking 5. Dead to me since kim left the band, never bothered trying to see them live would rather see breeders now or frank do some shows doing his solo stuff.
I was just thinking, can you imagine being into them during that initial run? Crikey. I was too young for that.
Monkey Gone To Heaven through to No. 13 Baby is the best 5 run track out there. Perfect. Energy, rage and beauty.
Went with 5 despite the comeback, as I donāt have to listen to it.
Random flashback to the pre-(widespread)-internet ageā¦
I remember buying a copy of Mojo magazine for a train journey in about 1999 which had a āTop 100 Cult Bandsā list. Iād never even heard of the Pixies (let alone heard a song by them) at that point and thought they sounded right up my street. It really was hard to come across underground music before the internet, wasnāt it? John Peel probably hadnāt even played them since the late '80s.
At their peak, the 2nd best Indie Rock Band ever
behind Modest Mouse at their peak
Their latest album was perfectly enjoyable as well, the rest of their comeback is redacted.
5
I like that song off the fight club soundtrack. Otherwise a bit weird and boring lol
2/5
Another 5/5 based on the initial run only.
Such a hugely important band in my life and musical tastes.
I think I actually got into them when Placebo brought out a live DVD that had them doing Where is my Mind with Frank Black in France. My Uncle saw it and gave me the BBC sessions CD so the first versions I heard of a lot of their tracks were from that. Donāt have the CD anymore and doesnāt look like you can stream it which is a shame ā I still think that their live versions pip a lot of the studio recordings, the anger bubbles over and they sound like their instruments might fall apart.
Spent my teenage years playing as many of their songs as I could in bands and on my own and finally got to see them on the Doolittle 20th anniversary at Brixton which is the only time Iāve caught them (or wanted to since Kim left).
Kim Deal has my favourite voice in music ever bar none. My most mortifying celebrity encounter ever was at ATP 2012 when Kim played her first (only?) ever live solo show. Iād taken a bunch of whatever and went into the merch room, picked up her new solo 7" single and then realised who was sat behind the desk. Suddenly became massively paranoid because I never thought Iād meet her, and that if I tried to speak to her it would turn out to actually be Kelley and Iād feel awful. So I bought it in silence and then she very kindly offered to sign it, which I also accepted in silence and shuffled out. That moment has haunted me ever since.
The start of their career - Come on Pilgrim, Surfer Rosa, Doolittle- is peerless. If theyād stopped there they would be a 5 out of 5 band for me. There has been a long tail to their discography though. Trompe Le Monde and Bossanova are decent albums, the post-reformation stuff a bit ropey. 4 out 5 overall for me.
The first two full length albums in particular are near perfect but Doolittle edges it for me. Surfer Rosa is more a collection of songs, Doolittle is a perfect example of a considered album trajectory.
No 13 Baby is the one I come back to the most, itās an absolute rollercoaster and I could listen to the last minute or so strung out and repeated forever. Itās kind of like the whole album boiled down to a single track.
The two covers that bookend the BBC album are incredible.
Still the best cover of a Beatles song:
My computer is being shit, but if this is the BBC Sessions version of In Heaven then itās the definitive version for me:
A 5/5 if ever there was one
Debaser but closely followed by Planet Of Sound
You can overlook the weaker reunion albums and hit and miss live shows these days because their original run was so perfect. 5 all the way.
Gave them a 5 for everything up to Tromple Le Monde - thatās just a ridiculous run of quality albums in a 4-5 year period.