Doolittle is the second studio album by the alternative rock band Pixies, released in April 17, 1989 on 4AD. Doolittle was the Pixies‘ first international release, with Elektra Records as the album’s distributor in the United States and PolyGram in Canada. Pixies released two singles from Doolittle: Here Comes Your Man and Monkey Gone to Heaven, both of which were chart successes on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in the US, while tracks such as Debaser and Hey have also received praise. The album itself reached number eight on the UK Albums Chart, an unexpected success for the band.
As well as being considered the most accessible Pixies album, Doolittle is often regarded as the band’s strongest and greatest work,and has continued to sell consistently well in the years since its release, being certified Gold in 1995 and Platinum in 2018 by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album has been cited as inspirational by many alternative artists, while numerous music publications have ranked it as one of the most influential albums ever. The album’s offbeat and dark subject matter features references to surrealism, Biblical violence, torture and death. Rolling Stone placed the album at 141 on its 2020 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Tracklist:
- Debaser
- Tame
- Wave of Mutilation
- I Bleed
- Here Comes Your Man
- Dead
- Monkey Gone to Heaven
- Mr. Grieves
- Crackity Jones
- La La Love You
- No. 13 Baby
- There Goes My Gun
- Hey
- Silver
- Gouge Away
Pixies
Black Francis: vocals, guitar
Kim Deal: bass guitar, vocals, acoustic slide guitar (Silver)
Joey Santiago: lead guitar, backing vocals
David Lovering: drums, lead vocal (La La Love You), bass guitar (Silver)
Additional musicians
Karen Karlsrud: violin (Monkey Gone to Heaven)
Corine Metter: violin (Monkey Gone to Heaven)
Arthur Fiacco: cello (Monkey Gone to Heaven)
Ann Rorich: cello (Monkey Gone to Heaven)
Technical
Gil Norton: producer, engineer
Dave Snider: assistant engineer
Matt Lane: assistant engineer
Steve Haigler: mixing
Vaughan Oliver: art direction, design
Simon Larbalestier: photography
Chris Bigg: calligraphy