Fool the World: The Oral History of a Band Called Pixies

by Josh Frank and Caryn Ganz

Book Overview

It's the 1980s and the rock landscape is littered with massive hair, synthesizers, and monster riffs, but there is an alternative being born in the sleepy East of America-we just don't know it yet.

Before the Internet, MTV, and iPods provided far-off music fans with information and communities-and before Nirvana-kids across the world grew up in relative isolation, dependent on mix tapes and self-created art to slowly spread scenes and trends...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312340079
• ISBN13: 9780312340070
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Fooled no more!

Being a big fan of a band that breaks up just after you discover them is gut wrenching! That's how I felt in the early 90's. Josh's book does what 1000 music magazine publications couldn't: it left me with more knowledge and respect for this band than I did before I picked it up. So much of the mystery behind this bands rise, fall and resurrection is revealed, and that's not a bad thing at all. An awesome read from start to finish! I'm a born again PIXIES fan. Neighbors beware!

Fooling around is good for the soul.

Fool the World is an excellent account of the birth, death and reincarnation of a band called The Pixies. A band that is one of the most important and influential yet underated bands in the history of rock n roll. Without the Pixies there would be no Nirvana, no White Stripes, no Screamo. For better or for worse they are a band that you need to know about and understand. The way that Fool the World is put together is brilliant. Interview segments from people like Courtney Love, J. Mascis, as well as band members themselves add the colour to the picture. There is also a directory of who's who for easy reference. Who else but someone who was there could remember a quote like "Fist I'm going to piss like a race horse and then dance like a black woman." The old magazine interviews with producer Steve Albini were wonderful to read. The fact that Kristin Hersh was dying to get the Pixies onto 4AD because she felt lonely being the only Yank on a Brit label is hilarious and finding out,in his own words, that Ivo Watts-Russell signed certain bands after being stuck in traffic with their tape is genius. Who would know those things except people that were there when it happend. Music fans, Pixies fans, and fans of pop culture check out this book.

Required Reading

Josh Frank and Caryn Ganz's illuminating Fool the World: The Oral Biography of a Band Called Pixies might be the definitive written document on the group, perhaps the most cryptic and under-documented major band in the history of rock music. The need for this kind of book was considerable. Certainly the spate of Pixies' reunion tour tie-in products has done some of the work in quenching the thirst of the die-hards. But what Fool the World offers us that the others don't is the whole deal, not just the story of the re-birth of this beloved band. The book recounts, in painstaking detail and with profound craftsmanship, the brief yet creatively explosive history of the Pixies - from the childhood beginnings (including some great history/insight into Kim and Kelley Deal), through to the present day (the band's seemingly unending reunion tour). Its certainly the most intimate recounting of the band's infamous break up that I've read. Along the way, nearly everyone who had a hand in the Pixies' meteoric rise and demise weighs in - the original staff of Fort Apache Studios, Ivo Watts-Russell, Steve Albini, Kristin Hirsch, Tanya Donelly, ex-wives, ex-husbands, and of course the band members themselves. The result is the closest approximation of the `truth' we're ever likely to get about this band. Thankfully, it's also a damn good read. The thing I love about oral biographies, and this one in particular, is the Rashomon-like potential for differing subjective realities. If done well (this one is) about a worthy and sufficiently dramatic subject (check on that), a skilled author(s) can approach something more truthful than the truth - its not that the facts were recounted; its how they were recounted. The ways in which Charles (Black Francis) and Kim Deal differ in retelling the same event has more to say about the dynamic of their relationship than the actual validity of the event in question. Charles kicked a guitar at Kim during a show; that happened. But Charles' reasons why and Kim's recollection of Charles' reasons why provide the true insight. Even now, fifteen years on, the dynamic between these two still shines through. This is just one example; the book provides endless `truths', as any good oral biography will do. Fool the World just happens to do it better than most. This is required reading.

A Historic Tribute to a Great Band

This is a very well-written account of the rise of a band that changed music history. In the tradition of Legs McNeil's "Oral History of Punk Rock," this book allows the band to tell its story in its own words. It is neither a hack job nor a fawning fan blog but a serious journalistic piece of art. Fans of this revolutionary band will appreciate the details of its origins and evolution. Even those who are not necessarily fans will find the account of life in the 1980s on the fringes both fascinating and accurate. Mr. Frank and Ms Ganz have added a significant work to the history of rock music which is sure to become a classic.

What a relief

While attempting to finish reading the abysmal Gigantic by John Mendelssohn I was overjoyed to find this book available - in Australia no less. It is all I hoped it would be. Before starting the book I was worried that despite my love for the Pixies it might be a slightly boring read. Having read and loved Please Kill Me, my rock story scale had been set quite high for gapping pits of agony - but I needn't have worried. This is a great story. The most unlikely words to find in a rock biography were used - charming, high work ethic, normal and they just endeared the members of the Pixies to me all the more. Interviewees Chas Banks, Joe Harvard, James Iha, Ivo Watts- Russell and Gary Smith, amongst many others, offer their insight to the band and help produce a vivid picture of their history. I have listened to the Pixies on average at least once a week for the past 18 years - not that I don't listen to other things as well, its just that nothing else fills certain niches in my heart and soul like they do - and to discover that the people making the music are people that I would enjoy having in my living room is an absolute joy. gabby_talmadge@yahoo.com