Critical Reception
The UK music press reviews of Surfer Rosa were generally positive. Q's Ian Cranna wrote that "what sets the Pixies apart are their sudden bursts of memorable pop melody," and noted that "they could have a bright future ahead of them." NME's Mark Sinker, reviewing the album in March 1988, said "they force the past to sound like them"; he awarded them nine and a half stars out of ten. Dave Henderson, writing in Underground magazine, gave the album 2/3, calling the songs "well crafted, well delivered sketches which embrace commercial ideals as well as bizarre left-field out of control moments". Surfer Rosa received positive reviews from American critics. The Village Voice's Robert Christgau gave the album a B rating, and remarked that the band were "by consensus the Amerindie find of the year," and that the album featured "guitar riffs you actually notice." Spin described it as "beautifully brutal," and named the Pixies as their musicians of the year.
Surfer Rosa was included on several end-of-year best album lists. Independent music magazines Melody Maker and Sounds named Surfer Rosa as their album of the year; NME and Record Mirror placed the album 10th and 14th, respectively. However, Surfer Rosa failed to appear on the annual Pazz & Jop poll of Village Voice critics, and it did not appear on any end-of-year list in the United States. A number of music magazines have since positioned Surfer Rosa as one of the quintessential alternative rock albums of the 1980s. Rolling Stone gave the album three stars when it reviewed the album in 1992 for Elektra's Surfer Rosa/Come On Pilgrim re-release. However, when the magazine reviewed the album again in 2004 as part of its Rolling Stone Album Guide, it awarded Surfer Rosa the maximum five stars. The album has appeared on several all-time best album lists, and is consistently placed as one of the best albums of the 1980s in any genre.
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