March Music Madness: Television vs. Pixies

[Davey]

Not really a tough call for me since I kind of came of age with Television and Tom Verlaine and that whole NY scene that arose in the spirit of the Velvet Underground, with Patti Smith and then the Talking Heads and a ton of other bands. Verlaine really stuck with me and I've followed his whole career with a whole string of very good 'solo' albums, although some of them were really just extensions of the Television days. And back they came in 1992 with the 'reunion' album that I love. And that very cool, Warm and Cool instrumental guitar album Verlaine put out at the same time as the reunion is a favorite. Probably my favorite guitar player and I've really enjoyed many of the bands over the years that have been inspired by the Verlaine-Lloyd twin lead sound. I know they were a big influence on Sleater-Kinney and many others that use a similar approach with the intertwining guitars. Love it.

Pixies are a big favorite too, but never at that same level for me. Now if I was a decade (or so) younger, and hit college at the time when Black Francis hit MTV and almost saved commercial rock and roll for a few minutes, the ranking might be reversed. But as one of my early idols sang, "talkin' bout my generation". And no, I'm definitely not talkin' bout the Hillary Duff or Billie Joe versions

[Stone]

Not really a tough call for me since I . . . hit college at the time when Black Francis hit MTV and almost saved commercial rock . . .

Pixies for me, easily. That's not to say I don't like Television because I do, but the Pixies are one of my top 10, possibly top 5, some days top 3, artists of all time.