Pixies

Without Pixies, there would be no 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'. ‘I tried to imitate them’, said Nirvana's Kurt Cobain. Without Pixies, there would be no 'Paranoid Android’ by Radiohead. That song was born as an attempt to cross the American group with Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. The list of converts - see also Pearl Jam, The Strokes and Weezer - goes on for a while. Pixies have not benefited much financially from their inspirational role. They are the living example of the cliché that it is never the pioneers who make the big money. However, the Boston foursome are incredibly famous. For almost 40 years - - with a long hiatus - Pixies have been one of the world's most exciting guitar bands. At sixes and sevens, skewed and surreal. New to the line-up: Emma Richardson, former bassist of British rock group Band of Skulls.