The Pixies are an infamous alternative rock band, with well-known songs such as “Where Is My Mind?” and “Hey,” but why is no one talking about their connection with UMass?
With such a large fan base, myself included, it would make sense that more people would know about their origin; however, I didn’t even know they went to our university until I was flying out of Boston Logan Airport. It is there that I saw an infographic about the band on the wall. I was utterly shocked to learn that they went to UMass, as I had never seen them listed as famous alumni anywhere.
Their music has a special way of defying genres, and they produce both lyrical and musical masterpieces. I fell in love with The Pixies during my sophomore year of high school, and I fell back in love with them after learning about their history (they literally have a song titled U-Mass).
The Pixies have a complicated history. Two members of the band, Joey Santiago and Charles Thompson, met at UMass. They were suite mates at Sylvan, according to an interview Santiago gave to the UMass Daily Collegian. While researching the bandmates’ time at UMass, I was surprised to find that only two of them attended UMass. This, combined with the fact that Santiago and Thompson only spent two years in college, answers why they aren’t the most talked about former students, but that still doesn’t answer why most people don’t even know they went here.
Santiago and Thompson later formed the Pixies in 1986 with Kim Deal and David Lovering. Santiago was the lead guitarist, Thompson was the lead vocalist, Deal was the lead bassist, and Lovering was the lead drummer. While they formed out of Boston, UMass was the catalyst meeting point.
The Pixies’ song “U-Mass” was not relevant to me the first time I listened to it. I was living in Florida and had not even applied to college yet. It wasn’t till I was reading more about that band that I stumbled across the song again. Listening to it again brings a sense of comfort to a place, once foreign, that I now call home.
The song was released a few years after the band formed in Boston, and I believe it is a testament to the importance of UMass. It has calling cards in the lyrics, such as “sleepy west of the woody east,” and references the Pioneer Valley. These references were lost on me before attending UMass, but now, it feels like a song specifically meant for students, no matter the year or the background. “U-Mass” is a short song, similar to the bandmates’ time in college, but it holds weight.
“It’s educational” is the main refrain in their song dedicated to UMass, and it holds more meaning than one might think. Everything we do in college places us on a track for our future. For The Pixies, it was the beginning of their career as a staple in the alternative rock industry. For us, the future is unknown, but The Pixies are a guiding light to remind us that anything is possible.
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