"Where Is My Mind?" is a song by American alternative rock band Pixies, originally released as the seventh track on their 1988 debut album, Surfer Rosa.
After receiving initial success upon release, the song saw renewed popularity after being featured in the 1999 film Fight Club. It is one of the band's signature songs and has inspired a multitude of covers while several arrangements of the song have been used in various film, television, and video game soundtracks. The song was ranked at No. 493 on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time 2021 list.[1]
Background
The song was written by frontman Black Francis while he attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, inspired by his experiences while scuba diving in the Caribbean. He later said he had "this very small fish trying to chase me. I don't know why—I don't know too much about fish behavior."[2]
Guitarist Joey Santiago composed the song's guitar line. He recalled of his part, "This was actually the first thing I tried. A lazy arpeggio that instantly sounded strong and hooky."[3]
Australian rock band End of Fashion were criticized for the similarities between the guitar riff from "Where Is My Mind?" and the one used in their 2005 song "O Yeah".[9]
Legacy
"Where Is My Mind?" was voted number 29 in the "Hottest 100 of All Time" music poll conducted by Australian radio station Triple J in 2009.[10]
Inclusion in media and events
The song first saw increased popularity after featuring in the 1999 film Fight Club, in which it plays during the final scene.[11][12] On April 13, 2004, NASA used "Where Is My Mind?" to wake up the team working on the SpiritMars rover, in honor of its software transplant.[13] Its popularity led to the Pixies' live performance of the song at Coachella in 2004 to be heavily pirated online.[14] In March 2021, the song began being used as the entrance music for professional wrestlers Orange Cassidy and Best Friends after it was licensed by All Elite Wrestling:[15] it was replaced with the Jefferson Starship song "Jane" in 2022 but was restored in 2024.[16] In 2023, the song's opening lyric inadvertently caused certain Android phones to turn off set alarms.[17]
The song featured in the Criminal Minds episode "Sex, Birth, Death", which aired on November 29, 2006,[citation needed] while a xylophone-only cover of the song was used in the episode "The Lesson", which aired on December 5, 2012.[citation needed] The cover version by Allison Scagliotti appears in the Warehouse 13 episode "Don't Hate the Player", which aired on August 15, 2011.[citation needed] An all-kazoo cover of the song was used in The Tick episode "Where's My Mind", which aired on August 25, 2017.[18]
The song's widespread use in film and television has been criticized as a narrative trope for informing audiences that characters suffer from multiple personalities or cannot distinguish reality.[23]
