Where Is My Mind?

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For the tribute album named Where Is My Mind? A Tribute to the Pixies, see List of Pixies tribute albums.
"Where Is My Mind?"
Song by Pixies
from the album Surfer Rosa
ReleasedMarch 21, 1988 (1988-03-21)
RecordedNovember 1987
StudioDowntown Recorders, South End, Boston
Genre
Length3:53
LabelRough Trade
Songwriter(s)Black Francis
Producer(s)Steve Albini
Audio sample
Menu
0:00
Sample of end of 3rd verse and part of chorus
  • file
  • help
Music video
"Where Is My Mind?" on YouTube

"Where Is My Mind?" is a song by the American alternative rock band Pixies, and it is the seventh track on the band's 1988 debut album Surfer Rosa. Although the song was never released as a single, it is one of the band's signature songs, inspiring a multitude of covers.

Background[]

The song was written by frontman Black Francis while he attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, inspired by his experiences while scuba diving in the Caribbean. He later said he had "this very small fish trying to chase me. I don't know why—I don't know too much about fish behavior."[1] A live version of the song recorded at 2004's Coachella was released free through BitTorrent.[2]

Cover versions[]

In 2003, a cover by the band Placebo was featured on their album Covers.

Other well-known cover versions come from Nada Surf, Maxence Cyrin, James Blunt, Tkay Maidza or The Vaccines. Black Francis covered his own song on his album Frank Black Francis. At live performances Kings of Leon and Madsen, among others, played the song.

Cultural impact[]

After being featured in the 1999 film Fight Club (in which the song plays over the final scene), the song gained an even wider audience and became iconic.[3][4] "Where Is My Mind?" was voted number 29 in the "Hottest 100 of All Time" music poll conducted by Australian radio station Triple J in 2009.[5] Over half a million votes were cast in the poll.

On April 13, 2004, NASA used "Where Is My Mind?" to wake up the team working on the Mars rover, Spirit, in honor of its software transplant.[6]

Mr. Nobody, a film released in 2009 also featured the song.[7] HBO drama The Leftovers featured both the Pixies version and Maxence Cyrin's piano cover in the show’s acclaimed second season. Cyrin's cover of the song has also been featured on Mr. Robot and It's Kind of a Funny Story.[8][9]

Other movies that use the song include Gaz Bar Blues, Big Ass Spider! (version by Storm Large), Knock Knock, Sucker Punch (version by Yoav) and the series Warehouse 13 (version by Allison Scagliotti, episode 3x6).

End of Fashion have been criticized for their uncredited copying of the guitar riff from "Where Is My Mind?", for their song "O Yeah". For example, Rockus Online Magazine reviewer Jonathon Miller called the song "disturbingly Pixies-ish" and went on to write:

End of Fashion are having no problem appealing to the 95% of people that haven't heard (and still remember) the Pixies' "Where Is My Mind?" and have never experienced a truly exciting live show, and if that's what the band is aiming for, then they are a complete success.[10]

All Elite Wrestling's Orange Cassidy and Best Friends first used "Where Is My Mind?" as their new entrance theme in March 2021. AEW CEO Tony Khan signed a multiyear agreement to use the song and said, “every use of the song in AEW will live in our content library forever in perpetuity.”[11]

Weekly charts[]

Chart (2014) Peak
position
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[12] 199

Certifications[]

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[13] 2× Platinum 160,000double-dagger
Italy (FIMI)[14]
sales since 2009 		Platinum 50,000double-dagger
United Kingdom (BPI)[15]
2004-2020 sales 		Gold 400,000double-dagger

double-dagger Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References[]

  1. ^ Biel, Jean-Michel; Gourraud, Christophe. "Pixies Titles/Names". Alec Eiffel. Retrieved 2007-04-07.
  2. ^ "BitTorrent Bundle - Pixies". BitTorrent Bundles.
  3. ^ Greene, Andy (4 January 2013). "Flashback: The Pixies Reunite At Coachella". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  4. ^ Beaumont, Mark (21 September 2016). "Inside The Cult Of Pixies: Why They're More Than Just A Band - NME". NME. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  5. ^ "Countdown | Hottest 100 - Of All Time | triple j". Abc.net.au. 2009-07-20. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
  6. ^ Colin Fries (2010-04-20). "CHRONOLOGY OF WAKEUP CALLS" (PDF). NASA History Division. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-06-18. Retrieved 2010-05-09.
  7. ^ "Soundtrack Staples: Pixies' 'Where Is My Mind?'". STACK | JB Hi-Fi. 2020-07-21. Retrieved 2020-07-25., Criminal Minds, the 4400.
  8. ^ Saraiya, Sonia (29 December 2015). "Best TV of 2015: The best pop-music cues, from "Where Is My Mind" to Fleetwood Mac". Salon. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  9. ^ Sarkar, Samit (1 July 2016). "Pixies' 'Where Is My Mind?' comes to Rock Band 4 next week". Polygon. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  10. ^ Jonathon Miller, rockus.com Archived October 17, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ Minsker, Evan (March 25, 2021). "Pixies' "Where Is My Mind?" Is Orange Cassidy's New AEW Entrance Theme". Pitchfork. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
  12. ^ Zywietz, Tobias. "CLUK Update 22.03.2014 (wk11)". Zobbel.de. Tobias Zywietz. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  13. ^ "Canadian single certifications – Pixies – Where Is My Mind". Music Canada. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  14. ^ "Italian single certifications – Pixies – Where Is My Mind" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved July 5, 2021. Select "2017" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Select "Where Is My Mind" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Singoli" under "Sezione".
  15. ^ "British single certifications – Pixies – Where Is My Mind". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved October 26, 2020.

External links[]

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