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Cover of Bossanova by The Pixies — Cover: Bossanova

Song · The Pixies

“Velouria” by The Pixies

From the album Bossanova (1990)

“Velouria” by The Pixies appears on 19 radio countdowns from 11 stations between 1990 and 2023. It was first released in 1990 on the album Bossanova. Its best result is #5 on the Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 1990. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #48 alternative song of 1990 and #1,337 alternative song of all time.

19countdowns

11stations

#5best position

0#1 finishes

1top 10 finishes

1990–2023years charted

Watch

Pixies - Velouria (Official Video)

Video from YouTube (4AD). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"Velouria" was the Pixies' opening shot from Bossanova in 1990, and it catches Black Francis doing something close to tender: a love song that grew out of his time with a girl tied to the Rosicrucians of Northern California, with his fascination with UFOs seeping in at the edges. Gil Norton produced, and the band rides a surf-rock rush, Francis and Joey Santiago spraying reverb while Kim Deal and Dave Lovering keep it galloping, Deal's voice shadowing his. Then there's Robert F. Brunner's theremin, wobbling over everything like a signal from deep space.

It gave them their first Top 40 hit in Britain. The video is a joke told with a straight face: a short snippet of the band in a quarry, played in slow motion until it fills the whole song.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

#271 of the '90s

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
1990	81	Live 105 San Francisco, CA	Live 105 Top 105.3 Songs of 1990	105
1990	31	John Peel (BBC Radio 1)	John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1990	50
1990	5	Studio Brussel Flanders, Belgium	Studio Brussel De Eindafrekening 1990	30

All-time and decade countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
1999	648	Q101	Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)	1017
1999	843	CD101	CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999)	2000
2000	894	CD101	CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000)	2001
2001	899	CD101	CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001)	2002
2002	899	CD101	CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002)	2003
2002	693	Fred (XM 44)	Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002)	2002
2003	894	CD101	CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003)	2004
2003	307	Fred (XM 44)	Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003)	2044
2004	70	107.7 The End	The End Original Alternative 500 (May 2004)	500
2004	894	CD101	CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004)	2005
2005	421	WOXY 97X	WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2005)	500
2005	891	CD101	CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005)	1994
2006	392	WOXY 97X	WOXY Modern Rock 500 (2006)	499
2021	297	90.9 The Bridge	90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '90s	908
2022	556	The Colorado Sound	The Colorado Sound Top 900 Songs of the '90s	900
2023	310	The Current	The Current's 893 Essential Songs of the '90s	893

Charting alongside it in 1990

Best songs of 1990 →

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