“Debaser,” “Tame,” “Wave of Mutilation,” “Here Comes Your Man,” “Monkey Gone to Heaven”—all good songs (especially “Debaser”), but not enough to make one ignore how mediocre the rest of the tracks are. Or maybe they are, because Doolittle is pretty well-received everywhere. I accept that I’m in the minority.

And frankly, “Here Comes Your Man” is an ironically (?) disguised rendition of Tom Petty’s “Here Comes My Girl” made hipper for the cool kids. There’s something intrinsically funny about the thought of an indie/alternative band scooting their classic rock influence under the rug. Pixies are lucky Tom Petty came up with a good melody for them though, so the song’s still fun even with its altered personality. “La La Love You” sounds like a neighborhood garage band of 12 year-olds making their first amateur surf rock song after spinning their 45s for about a week that they got from a thrift store, only with added anal humor deserving of their ages. And hell, “Wave of Mutilation” sounds like a reworked version of “River Euphrates” from the mostly superior Surfer Rosa.

Not a bad album, but at least the abrasiveness of Surfer Rosa gives it more personality, making even its middling tracks interesting, and a result it’s a much more consistently-exciting listen. Those tracks I listed at the start are worth anyone’s time, but 50% was enough to fail me in school, so… How often do you ever hear anyone sing the praises of the other tracks? Kurt Cobain never settled for 50%! Also, now I realize Pixies took their B-movie horror, surf rock, spoken vocals, male/female dynamic shticks from The B-52’s, who are still often regarded as a silly joke band. How cruel.