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61 Frames Per Second

Pixies Cover "Theme From Narc"

Posted by Cole Stryker

I'll admit it. I'm not cool. I discovered the Pixies back in '99, six years after their breakup. Their most famous song, "Where is My Mind", soundtracked the climax in Fight Club. The song was so otherworldly, so magnetically creepy that I bought all their albums, including a collection of rarities. When I discovered that Frank Black and Co. covered the theme song from a relatively obscure NES game from my childhood, my inner music geek and inner video game dork gave each other an epic high five.



The original theme tune was written by Brian Schmidt, who has also composed music for several dozen pinball games. "Theme from Narc" was released as a B-side to "Planet of Sound", which was also included on the Trompe le Monde full length. The song comprehensively illustrates why the Pixies the Best Band Ever: simple, metronomic drumming, schizophrenic guitar flourishes, relentless bass riffs, and a quirky sense of humor. 

"Theme From NARC doesn't really have a chorus. I thought it was pretty cool, because the chord progression in it is completely fucked up. It isn't standard rock n roll progression." - Black Francis in Rock A My Soul fanzine #2

Awesome. Here's the original version. Just watch the first few minutes.



During my search for the original song, I found this amazing vintage ad. Can you imagine it running today?


Comments

John H. said:

You mention Brian Schmidt's pinball work... pinball music, especially Bally/Williams stuff, is almost unknown in game music fan circles.  This is a tremendous shame!

June 21, 2008 3:30 PM

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  • about the blogger

    John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

    Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Nerve, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

    Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

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    Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

    Joe Keiser has a programming degree from Johns Hopkins University, a tiny apartment in Brooklyn, and a fake toy guitar built in the hollowed-out shell of a real guitar. He writes about games and technology for a variety of outlets. One day he will stop doing this. The day after that, police will find his body under a collapsed pile of (formerly neatly alphabetized) collector's edition tchotchkes.

    Cole Stryker is an American freelance writer living in York, England, where he resides with his archeologist wife. He writes for a travel company by day and argues about pop culture on the internet by night. Find him writing regularly here and here.

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