No. 098 - Pixies’s “Debaser” changed my life

In 1991, a teen lifeguard made a cassette tape that nudged Millie De Chirico toward a career in foreign and underground film

Jul 11, 2025

This Song Changed My Life is an independent music publication featuring weekly essays from people all around the world about the songs that mean the most to them. Created (and illustrated) by Grace Lilly.

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• 4 min read •

The summer between sixth and seventh grade was the first time I’d ever heard the term “alternative music.” It was 1991, and up until this point, the music I liked was primarily things I had heard on the radio or saw on MTV. Things like Madonna, Paula Abdul, Vanilla Ice, and MC Hammer. Being half Filipino, I was always hilariously told by other, older Filpinos that heavy doses of American R&B and New Jack Swing were practically part of our cultural heritage. I grew up with my biracial black and Filipino cousins and we spent every summer filming ourselves on a giant camcorder, performing choreographed dance routines to Salt-N-Pepa songs and multiple tracks off of Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation album. Once, we performed an entire routine and skit to Prince’s “Batdance” the year Tim Burton’s Batman movie came out.

So, in the summer between sixth and seventh grade, my best friend Amber told me about a cassette tape that was made for her by the cute lifeguard at her neighborhood pool. I remember he had a rhyming first and last name, which I always thought was so typical of a high school lifeguard kid. He was a golden-skinned, blonde surfer type with a Tony Hawk haircut like most of the boys had at the time.

Millie (right) with her best friend Amber

The tape she showed me was a generic blank Memorex, the kind you could buy in packs of three, which I frequently did to be able to record songs off the radio. Hers had the word “PIXIES” written in all capital letters on one side. “This is my new favorite tape,” she said, grinning. She played the tape while we were in her room that day and said, “The lifeguard made it for me! It’s a band called ‘the Pixies,’” though to be honest she’d actually called them “Doolittle Pixies,” as if the band name also included the album name. We continued to do this for at least a year, until we figured it out.

The tape started playing and the initial guitar and drum beat of the opening song of the Doolittle album kicked in, a song called “Debaser.” I immediately realized I hadn’t heard music like this before. When Frank Black started screaming, “Got me a movie! I want you to know! Slicing up eyeballs! I want you to know!” my eyes got wide. I definitely thought it was one of the weirdest lyrics I’d heard in my entire life up to that point. Amber giggled, “What does that even mean, ‘Slicing up eyeballs?!’ That’s so gross!” When the chorus kicked in, a bunch of shouting in unison and Frank Black saying the word “Andalusia,” I had no idea what that meant either. I actually thought he was singing, “I could lose ya!” for a couple of years. The song seemed darker and weirder than, say, Paula Abdul. I was totally intrigued.

Middle school Millie, who decided to “go alternative” the following year after getting into the Pixies

A few days later, Amber and I were playing around in the yard in front of her house when the lifeguard walked by. He was wearing Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses with swimming trunks and a Body Glove T-shirt, looking much older and more alluring than most of the boys my age.

I whispered to Amber, “Is this the boy that made you the tape?”

“Yes…”

“Whoa. He’s so cool.”

We played Doolittle every day we hung out for the rest of the summer, eventually memorizing the lyrics (or so we thought). I grew to love every song on the album, but “Debaser” was the gateway to it all. Little did I know this song would set me on the path to loving alternative music, 90s alternative culture, and pretty much any art that seemed to go against the mainstream.

Later, in high school, I found out about the film Un Chien Andalou by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí, which is referenced in “Debaser.” I made an immediate connection to it, which would set me on another path of loving and making a career around foreign and underground films. To this day, the Pixies are one of my favorite bands of all time, and “Debaser” will always make my heart swell. Who knew I’d have a teenage lifeguard to thank for making that weird cassette tape, but I’m thankful. ◆

About Millie

Millie De Chirico is a film programmer, writer, and historian currently based out of Atlanta, Georgia. She is the author of the cult cinema reference book TCM Underground: 50 Must-See Films from the World of Classic Cult and Late-Night Cinema and the co-host of several film podcasts including I Saw What You Did and Dear Movies, I Love You.

Website milliedechirico.com

Instagram @milliedechirico

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