In the pages of Rolling Stone and on the airwaves of MTV, the early '90s rise of such bands as Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam is likened in importance to the British Invasion or the explosion of punk. Yet at the other end of the country there was another, better, overlooked music scene that for the most part predated the grunge movement.

The Lemonheads, Buffalo Tom, Belly, Dinosaur Jr., Juliana Hatfield, and Letters to Cleo are among the bands that made Boston the capital of alternative rock in the late '80s/early '90s. The most influential of the bunch were The Pixies, who after more than a decade apart, are reuniting to tour and perhaps release new material.

The band's loud but poppy songs about space aliens, killing sprees, the University of Massachusetts, and environmental apocalypse were, well, really different. Best remembered for alternative-rock radio staples "Monkey Gone to Heaven," "Dig for Fire," and "Here Comes Your Man," The Pixies disbanded at the apex of their popularity after opening for U2 on the first leg of the Zoo TV tour. In the 13 years that have passed since the release of their fifth and final album (Trompe le Monde), acts as diverse as Avril Lavigne, The Bloodhound Gang, and Nirvana have paid homage to The Pixies.

"I was basically trying to rip off the Pixies," explained the late Kurt Cobain regarding the writing of "Smells Like Teen Spirit." "I have to admit it. When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so heavily I should have been in that band--or at least in a Pixies cover band. We used their sense of dynamics, being soft and quiet and then loud and hard."

Frank Black is dead. Welcome back Black Francis.