All My Favorite Songs #17: Debaser

"Where Is My Mind" may be the song that introduced me to the Pixies and has the most emotional tug for me as a result (besides just being an amazingly unique song), but "Debaser" (off 1989's Doolittle) wins out for pure play-count. It's the perfect indie rock rave-up song, one I've cranked up more times than I could possibly count... that simple bassline and loud-quiet-loud dynamic lovingly plagiarized by Nirvana for "Teen Spirit," that whip-crack snare, the perfectly crisp guitar interplay. Throw in Frank Black's deranged lyrics, an ode to Luis Buñuel's creepy surrealist film Un Chien Andalau--"Got me a movie, I want you to know. Slicing up eyeballs, I want you to know. Girlie so groovy, I want you to know. Don't know about you, but I am un chien andalusia"--and you've almost achieved true post-punk nirvana (small n, maybe capital N?). Then the cherry on the sundae, Kim Deal's sensual title croon in the chorus as the perfect counterpart to Black's tortured howl (always the band's secret weapon, and criminally underutilized on later records).

Fire it up and feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and salute.

Amped up live:
And, ok, it's sorta become dadrock, and this scene is WAY too me.

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