Univ of Mass

from the LP Trompe Le Monde, 4AD Records, 1991



The Pixies are one of those groups that you either love or hate: the impetuousness, the deconstruction, the deeply skewed sense of humor---they typically entice the listener in without restraint, or you run screaming from it, tending to your ears. Clearly, your humble narrator falls into the former group, and it’s a love affair which stretches back to the first time I ever heard their brash brand of indie rock as a deviant teen. Although I am partial to their earlier stuff much more-so than this album, I have just been grading sociology papers for the past couple hours, so I think it is only appropriate to settle on this song. Lead singer Black Francis (né Charles Thompson) actually did attend the University of Massachusetts, which is the apparent inspiration for this bare-bones send up of all things “higher education”. The overwhelming majority of the Pixies’ songs are outfitted with some of the more obtuse lyrics in rock history, but on this track Mr. Francis makes it really easy for us; “...we’re not just kids, to say the least; we got ideas, to us that’s real; like capitalist, like communist, like lots of things you’ve heard about...” He completely nails the blasé, esoteric nature of college kids, particularly of the sort one might encounter across campuses in the northeast. “…and redneckers, they get us pissed, and stupid stuff, it makes us shout…” Once again, masterfully summing up the blindly liberal stereotype you find all over universities. After soliciting kisses from a cunt and a cock, then telling us to kiss the world, sky & his ass (in that order), the music dissolves from a simple ditty into dissonant madness; Joey Santiago is one of the more abusive/abrasive guitarists out there, and he manages to make an exceptionally beautiful din here. The infamous Kim Deal plucks her bass with such toughness that my nipples get hard listening to it, and synchronized perfectly with Dave Lovering’s caveman-like drumming, one can’t help but want to bounce around---go ahead, don’t resist it, “…it’s educational, it’s educational…”