How much do the Pixies Owe to Pere Ubu

Its a fair question, no?

$231.96

plus interest...

one cold pint of a moderately priced american microbrew of dave thomas's choosing.

they owe something, but Francis solo career ows a lot more

i do not hear any similarities between these two bands

^^^^^ this

They toured together in fall 1991 and...that's about it?

But maybe Black Francis stole their T-shirt sales money or something.

i mean, you could trace a few of the Pixies' vocal mannerisms to David Thomas, loosely. I'm sure Black Francis owned Pere Ubu's records ... but I don't see them as being some kinda Ubu tribute act ... how much does anyone owe their influences? He hired a dude from Ubu mk II when he went solo ...

and oh yeah, Frank Black did that Pixies covers record a few years back with the Two Pale Boys ... That's probably the closest he's gotten to sounding like David Thomas.

yeah, its something about the vocals and melody and something about the inability to pin down their exact music style (of course Ubu were much more extreme and experimental than Pixies)

always heard more jeffrey lee pierce in pixies than ubu. in a good way.

Not being able to pin down their exact music style of either band is a good point--in their respective heydays neither band were doing the "expected" thing. But there is also something about their song structures. Both bands had this ability to wander off on these wonderful tangents at times that seemed somewhat confusing upon the first few listens.
I dont think the Pixies purposefully copied Pere Ubu in anyway, I just think both bands were sorta tapped into their own thing.

would've loved to see Ubu play w/ the Pixies. Those 80s Ubu records are underrated! Or at least, no one talks about them as much as the earlier stuff.

"Final Solution" is kind of proto-Pixies, sure.

nah

The hoary dismissals that are usually trotted out are that the Pixies were a Husker Du rip-off and Pavement were a Fall rip-off. Of course both are too reductive.

Well, there were lots of quotes from Black Francis at the time that when he formed the Pixies he supposedly owned five records, and three of them were by Husker Du. I think an Iggy solo album was one of the others he would cite. Regardless, take a listen to "Wave of Mutilation" and the Du's "Green Eyes" and the connection is pretty clear, at least on the melodic front. As for Pere Ubu, the similarities could be just coincidence, as both groups trade in sudden dynamics, surreal lyrics, noisy guitar and yelpy/screamed vocals. And both singers are/were chubby. But yeah, totally, a song like "Final Solution" is like proto Pixies.

Ah! Google! http://aleceiffel.free.fr/bf_bm.html

MUSICIAN: Let's talk about how you both constructed such drastic style. Real huge sounds.
FRANCIS: I grew up in L.A. when bands like Black Flag were around, but I never listened to them. I was buying used records for 50 cents, and didn't socialize, really; I was lost in headphone-land. I did get to see a Hüsker Dü show when Joey and I dropped out of school and said, « Let's start one of these groups. » And I saw an excellent show by the Hüskers at the Paradise in Boston, where you did « Ticket To Ride » for an encore. Fantastic show, so I knew that Hüsker Dü was a tape I needed to get. I had those albums, a couple of Iggy albums, one Captain Beefheart and a tiny studio apartment. That handful of stuff got me through that particular season. I used to play « Green Eyes » [from Hüsker Dü's Flip Your Wig] over and over. A classic chord progression. Same thing with Iggy's « The Passenger » - one of those repeat songs. At the start of the Pixies I only had four or five albums and the Hüskers were two or three of them.

And both singers are/were chubby.

This is key.

Also, skewer me all you want but this is the definitive version of "Final Solution," a huge improvement on Ubu:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTTnCAuF7b0

*prepares skewer*

*offers self*

haha, that is crazy talk, but I have mad respect for your challops.

yeah, it doesn't get much crazier. like saying that moby had the definitive take on mission of burma.

Hah, that's funny, scott. I wouldn't say this one's definitive, but Catherine Wheel do a nice "... Revolver" cover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6LcGDCbyI8

Eat yr heart out, Lou1s.

Years ago David Thomas swung by the UCLA radio station for an interview and I asked him what he thought of the Peter Murphy cover. IIRC, he said it was okay enough but there were two things wrong with it anyway -- "He slowed it down and he made all the words understandable."

murphy version lacks the required teen nerd jerkoff fury. same with the burma covers. though, yeah, i'll take the shoegazers over the wee bald geezer as far as revolver covers go.

the wee bald geezer

That's not a nice thing to say about Roger Miller.

acer

always heard more jeffrey lee pierce in pixies than ubu. in a good way.

Yes! I didn't hear any Gun Club 'til ages after I'd heard the Pixies but it immediately reminded me of Francis' singing on Come On Pilgrim.

both did some Rockabilly..

I hung out with Frank a bunch when his bass player was Pere Ubu's Tony Maimone, and they sat and talked about Ubu quite a lot. Frank was obviously a gigantic fan.

xxp Simon Reynolds referred to the Pixies as Pere Ubu meets the Gun Club in Blissed Out (you all may already know that)...

How much do the Pixies Owe to Pere Ubu

not enough