Lyrically, "Monkey Gone to Heaven" by the Pixies tackles serious subjects like God and the growing environment issues of the day e.g. pollution, ozone depletion and the greenhouse effect.
Musically, the tune sounds breezy and cool with a folky chorus, although it does have a somewhat menacing bassline.
Musically, the tune sounds breezy and cool with a folky chorus, although it does have a somewhat menacing bassline.
The alternating loud-soft verses preceded and influenced Kirk Cobain and Nirvana's sound from their 1991 album Nevermind.
The breakdown could possibly be the first time that the alt-rock talk-scream trademark vocal was delivered:
"If man is 5 / Then the devil is 6 / And if the devil is six / Then god is 7"
So in summary, the Pixies were creating grunge before the official grunge era kicked in.
Another equally popular single from the 80s had been resurrected in the 2009 (500) Days of Summer film soundtrack:
