Black Francis

Whether performing with Pixies or on his own, as Black Francis or Frank Black, Charles Thompson re-frames rock & roll's past in imaginative ways. On albums such as 1988's Surfer Rosa and 1989's Doolittle, Pixies melded punk and indie guitar rock, classic pop, surf rock, and stadium-sized riffs with fragmented lyrics about space, religion, sex, mutilation, and pop culture, laying the groundwork for the alternative explosion of the early '90s in the process. During his solo years as Frank Black, his music ranged from 1993's eclectic and polished self-titled debut to the back-to-...