There are only a handful of bands that can accept credit as being pioneers for the sound of alternative rock in the 90s. As one of the most influential and underground bands of the late 80's and early 90's, the Pixies are a group that can stake a real claim to that credit. Their truly unique and revolutionary music laid the groundwork for the folowing grunge revolution, giving bands like Nirvana a touchstone to work from. Their influence remains as strong today as it was then. There's even a Dandy Warhols song that serves as a tribute to bassist Kim Deal, appropriately titled "As Cool As Kim Deal." The band suffered a messy and angry break up in 1992 after the release of their final album, "Trompe le Monde," leaving a gap in the world of alternative music that hasn't been filled. Lead singer, Black Francis, continued on to change his name and start a new band called Frank Black and the Catholics, and bassist Kim Deal moved on to work with the Breeders. But the explosive energy of the Pixies and their music has never been matched by any of their members' solo work, no matter how popular they grew.

After ten years of fighting and jamming and toying with the idea of working together again, it seems like a Pixie reunion is finally going to happen. A spokesman for the band recently announced to MTV News that the original Pixies are planning on reuniting for a tour in April of 2004. If the tour goes well, the spokesman said, the Pixies may record a studio album later next year.

The Pixies formed in Boston in 1986 when singer/guitarist Black Francis (born Charles Michael Kittenridge Thompson,) began to play with guitarist Joey Santiago. As they began to write more songs, they put out an ad for a "bassist into Husker Du and Peter, Paul and Mary." Kim Deal answered their quirky endorsement and the pair was impressed by her musical skills, both playing and writing. Deal was, at the time, still part of an early incarnation of the Breeders, the band she had started with her twin sister Kelley. But the Breeders slowly ground to a halt and went on hiatus. Deal also provided the Pixies with drummer David Lovering, who had been a guest at her wedding.

After several months of writing and rehearsal, the Pixies embarked on their first tour with fellow Bostonians, Throwing Muses. Throwing Muses were signed to British label 4AD at the time, and their manager took notice of the Pixies obvious talent. He passed along their 18 recorded demo tracks to the head of the label, who snatched them up immediately. Eager to get the Pixies out to the public, 4AD selected eight of the best tracks off the demo, and released the "Come On Pilgrim" EP in 1987.

"Come On Pilgrim" generated enough buzz for 4AD to put a rush on the Pixie's first full-length studio album. The label enlisted famed producer Steve Albini to work on the album. A few months later, "Surfer Rosa" hit the shelves. While the album wasn't a universal hit, it quickly became an indie classic. "Surfer Rosa" contained the first Pixies classic, "Gigantic," which would often be mentioned as an influence by bands to come. The song, written by Deal, was praised as "catchy brilliance" by Rolling Stone and other music magazines. It unknowingly planted one of the seeds of discontent that would eventually tear the band apart. "Surfer Rosa" also features "Where Is My Mind?," a song that would later be immortalized by the movie "Fight Club." To this day, "Surfer Rosa" remains as the Pixies' most under-appreciated album, often looked over by new fans in favor of their sophomore release, "Doolittle."

"Doolittle" was and is a groundbreaking album in the world of alternative rock. Released in 1989, when hair metal ran rampant and the only alternative was the sugary sweet pop being plastered all over MTV, "Doolittle" blew critics and fans away. Rolling Stone said that it "laid the groundwork for Nineties rock. Nirvana adopted the Pixies use of quiet, mumbled verses and loud, crashing choruses, Courtney Love aped their banshee wails, and Beck drew inspiration from their catalog of surrealistic lyrics." "Doolittle" yielded the Pixies' biggest hit, "Here Comes Your Man," which is irresistibly upbeat and catchy. Francis and Deal collaborate on the infectious vocals, which are both poppy and sultry at the same time. The album broke the Pixies into the mainstream, finally allowing the raw emotion of punk to be heard by a large audience.

The band spent the year after "Doolittle" touring the globe. Exhausted after that stint, they separated for some vacation time. While Santiago, Lovering and Francis traveled to the Grand Canyon, Jamaica, and across America respectively, Kim Deal took the time off as an opportunity to hook up with Throwing Muses guitarist Tanya Donnelly and Perfect Disaster bassist Josephine Wiggs. She used her vacation time to record the songs she hadn't been allowed to introduce to the Pixies. During this period, Deal revived the Breeders with her new musical friends, and they recorded their debut album "Pod." The album was immediately a hit with the burgeoning alternative rock crowd, and encouraged Deal to pursue her own songs more fervently.

The Pixies came together again in 1990 to record and release their third album, "Bossanova." Their newer work was distinctly darker than "Doolittle" was, partially because Deal and Francis began to fight over whose songs were recorded. The success of the Breeders had made Deal even more confident in her writing skills, but Francis wasn't about to give up the creative control he had garnered over the years. Their fighting made recording more difficult than it had ever been before, and it showed in the music.

By the time the Pixies were recording "Trompe Le Monde" in 1991, the band members barely spoke to each other. They managed to hang on long enough to briefly tour with the album, but in 1992 rumors began circulating that they had called it quits. Several months later, Black Francis faxed a press release to his bandmates and the press to announce their breakup.

The impersonal and dismissive nature of his decision further alienated Deal and Lovering, although Santiago - who began as Francis' personal friend- remained on good terms with the singer. Deal took the announcement especially badly, feeling personally insulted by the way Francis handled the affair. Her animosity towards him in the following years became almost as legendary as the music itself.

Throughout the creation of "Bossanova" and "Trompe Le Monde," Deal had continued to record with the Breeders. Tanya Donnelly had left the band after "Pod" to pursue her own band, Belly, and Kelley Deal, Kim's twin, had rejoined the group. They released "Last Splash" which debuted the quirky classic "Cannonball." The Breeders broke up shortly after that, and Deal continued to play around with different bands during the 90s.

Black Francis also branched out into his own solo project. He changed his name yet again, calling himself Frank Black, and began recording and touring as Frank Black and the Catholics. Santiago would join him as a guitarist with the Catholics on different occasions throughout while Lovering has opened for the band several times with his "Scientific Phenomenalist" act. Frank Black and the Catholics still record and tour to this day, and have a large following across the United States. It should not be a surprise that a lot of Pixie fans found themselves enjoying Black's solo work.

As the years went on, the bad blood between the band members began to thin, and rumors started surfacing about a possible Pixies reunion. This past July, on London radio station XFM, Black discussed his thoughts and fears about the Pixies, saying, "I do dream about a Pixies reunion, I have to say. It's like those schoolboy dreams when you don't do your homework and you don't study for the test, but I'm at the gig and we're hanging out, but it's an utter failure and I don't know the songs, and hardly anyone turns up for the gig and people walk up. That's what I'm afraid of, that it'd be a big, big failure." When asked if, despite his fears, the Pixies might reunite, Black said, "We might. We do get together and have private jams together, but not for public consumption."

Apparently he's gotten over his fears, because the public is about to have a lot of consume.

The re-emergence of the Pixies now could have gigantic repercussions on the world of music. Music critics have spent the past few years searching for music with meaning again, often lamenting the presence of so many empty rock and metal bands. Marketing has taken over the music world, and musical evolution is now often overlooked in favor of profitability. With so much 'bling' being thrown around in the world of rock, it's hard to know where to turn for something of substance. Could the Pixies fill that void? Or is that too much to hope for? While their influence is still being felt deeply today, has their time passed? Or will they help to usher in a new era of rock like they did almost a decade ago? The answers to these questions won't be available until the tour in April, but we'll be sitting on the edge of our seats anyway.