"Where Is My Mind?" is a song by American

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band Pixies, originally released as the seventh track on their 1988 debut album, ''

Surfer Rosa ''Surfer Rosa'' is the debut studio album by the American alternative rock band Pixies, released in March 1988 on the British label 4AD. It was produced by Steve Albini. ''Surfer Rosa'' contains many of the elements of Pixies' earlier output, i ...

''. After receiving initial success upon release, the song saw renewed popularity after being featured in the 1999 film ''

Fight Club ''Fight Club'' is a 1999 American film directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter. It is based on the 1996 novel ''Fight Club (novel), Fight Club'' by Chuck Palahniuk. Norton plays The Narrator (F ...

''. It has become the band's

signature song A signature (; from , "to sign") is a depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. Signatures are often, but not always, handwritten or styliz ...

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 ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' magazine's

500 Greatest Songs of All Time "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is a recurring song ranking compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in December 2 ...

2021 list.

Background

The song was written by frontman

Black Francis Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV (born April 6, 1965), better known by the stage name Black Francis, is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He is the frontman of the alternative rock band Pixies. Following the band's break ...

while he attended the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...

, inspired by his experiences while

scuba diving Scuba diving is a Diving mode, mode of underwater diving whereby divers use Scuba set, breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface breathing gas supply, and therefore has a limited but variable endurance. The word ''scub ...

in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. 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." Guitarist

Joey Santiago Joseph Alberto Santiago (born June 10, 1965) is a Filipino-American guitarist and composer. Active since 1986, Santiago is best known as the co-founder and lead guitarist of the alternative rock band Pixies. After the band's breakup in 1993, ...

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."

Cover versions

Nada Surf Nada Surf is an American alternative rock band formed in New York City in 1992, consisting of Matthew Caws (guitar, vocals), Ira Elliot (drums), and Daniel Lorca (bass, backing vocals). After initially operating under the name Helicopter, Caw ...

covered the song on the 1999 Pixies tribute album ''Where Is My Mind?: A Tribute to the Pixies.'' *

Tkay Maidza Takudzwa Victoria Rosa "Tkay" Maidza ( ; (born 17 December 1995) is a Zimbabwean-born Australian singer-songwriter and hip hop artist from Adelaide, South Australia. She has been nominated for and won many awards, and released two albums: '' Tk ...

's 2021 cover version was used in a 2023 Apple AirPods commercial, as well as the final episode of the

Donald Glover Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (; born September 25, 1983), also known by his musical stage name Childish Gambino (), is an American actor, comedian, musician, and filmmaker. While he studied at New York University and after working in Derrick ...

limited series '' Swarm''. This version is also included in the 2022 racing video game '' Need for Speed Unbound''. * Preteen

Nandi Bushell Nandi Lily Bushell ( ; born 28 April 2010) is a South African-born British musician, singer, songwriter, and social media personality. She became known for her drumming skills by posting cover versions of popular rock songs to her YouTube and In ...

recorded the song in 2021, earning praise from the Pixies. *

Kelly Clarkson Kelly Brianne (born Kelly Brianne Clarkson, April 24, 1982), known professionally as Kelly Clarkson, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Rising to fame after winning the American Idol season 1, first season of ''Ameri ...

covered the song in 2021 on her "Kellyoke" segment. * Members of the punk bands

Touché Amoré Touché Amoré is an American post-hardcore band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2007. Since 2010, the band has consisted of vocalist Jeremy Bolm, guitarists Clayton Stevens and Nick Steinhardt, bassist Tyler Kirby, and drummer Elliot Ba ...

, PUP, Vein.fm, and Twitching Tongues joined wrestler

Orange Cassidy James Cipperly (born May 4, 1984), better known by his ring name Orange Cassidy, is an American professional wrestler and Glossary of professional wrestling terms#school, wrestling trainer. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is ...

for a 2021 punk cover. *

Trampled by Turtles Trampled by Turtles is an American bluegrass music, bluegrass-influenced Folk music, folk band from Duluth, Minnesota, Duluth, Minnesota. They have released ten full albums, three of which reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard (magazine), Billboa ...

covered the song from their 2013 live-album '' Live at First Avenue''. * German band Heldmaschine covered it as a bonus track on their 2023 album ''Flächenbrand''. *

James Blunt James Blunt (born James Hillier Blount, 22 February 1974) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He is known for his songs "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover". As a British Army captain in the aftermath of the Kosovo War, Blunt ...

has covered the song in live performances and included it on his 2006 live CD/DVD '' Chasing Time: The Bedlam Sessions''. * Maxence Cyrin covered it on piano for his 2009 album ''Novö Piano''. *

Placebo A placebo ( ) can be roughly defined as a sham medical treatment. Common placebos include inert tablets (like sugar pills), inert injections (like saline), sham surgery, and other procedures. Placebos are used in randomized clinical trials ...

covered the song on their 2003 compilation album ''Covers''. * The M.I.A. song "20 Dollar" makes extensive use of the music and lyrics of "Where Is My Mind?". * 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". * French singer Louane recently covered the song on the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

YouTube channel as a part of ESC's "A Little Bit More".

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 Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

in 2009.

Inclusion in media and events

The song first saw increased popularity after featuring in the 1999 film ''

'', in which it plays during the final scene. On April 13, 2004,

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

used "Where Is My Mind?" to wake up the team working on the '' Spirit''

Mars rover A Mars rover is a remote-controlled motor vehicle designed to travel on the surface of Mars. Rovers have several advantages over stationary landers: they examine more territory, they can be directed to interesting features, they can place them ...

, in honor of its software transplant. Its popularity led to the Pixies' live performance of the song at

Coachella Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music festival, music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valle ...

in 2004 to be heavily pirated online. In March 2021, the song began being used as the

entrance music The use of music at sporting events is a practice that is thousands of years old, but has recently had a resurgence as a noted phenomenon. Some sports have specific traditions with respect to pieces of music played at particular intervals. Others ...

for professional wrestlers

and Best Friends after it was licensed by

All Elite Wrestling All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. It is owned and operated by Shahid Khan, Shahid and Tony Khan, with the latter serving as President (corporate title), president an ...

: it was replaced with the

Jefferson Starship Jefferson Starship is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1974 by a group of musicians including former members of Jefferson Airplane. Between 1974 and 1984, they released eight RIAA certification, gold or Music rec ...

song " Jane" in 2022 but was restored in 2024. In 2023, the song's opening lyric inadvertently caused certain Android phones to turn off set alarms. The song featured in the ''

Criminal Minds ''Criminal Minds'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series created by Jeff Davis that premiered on CBS on September 22, 2005. It follows a group of criminal profilers who work for the FBI as members of its Behavioral ...

'' episode "Sex, Birth, Death", which aired on November 29, 2006, while a xylophone-only cover of the song was used in the episode "The Lesson", which aired on December 5, 2012. A cover version by Allison Scagliotti appears in the ''

Warehouse 13 ''Warehouse 13'' is an American science fiction television series that originally ran from July 7, 2009, to May 19, 2014, on the Syfy network, and was executively produced by Jack Kenny and David Simkins for Universal Cable Productions. Des ...

'' episode "Don't Hate the Player", which aired on August 15, 2011. An all-

kazoo The kazoo is a musical instrument that adds a ''buzzing'' timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of '' mirliton'' (itself a membranophone), one of a class of instruments that modify the player's v ...

cover of the song was used in '' The Tick'' episode "Where's My Mind", which aired on August 25, 2017. The original version of the song also featured in the films '' Gaz Bar Blues'' (2003), '' Mr. Nobody'' (2009), '' Knock Knock'' (2015), and the teaser trailer for ''

Thunderbolts* ''Thunderbolts*'' is a 2025 American superhero film based on Marvel Comics featuring the team Thunderbolts (comics), Thunderbolts. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is List of Marvel Cinemat ...

'' (2025). Cover versions of the song have also widely been used in film: those by Yoav and Storm Large feature in ''

Sucker Punch A sucker punch (American English), also known as a cheap shot, coward punch, one-punch attack, or king-hit (Australian English), is a punch thrown at the recipient unprovoked and without warning, allowing no time for preparation or defense on t ...

'' (2011) and '' Big Ass Spider!'' (2013), respectively. Safari Riot and Grayson Sanders’ version of the song is used in ''Malignant'' (2021). The song's piano cover by Maxence Cyrin has seen the widest use: it has been featured in the television series '' The Leftovers'' (alongside the original version) and ''

Mr. Robot ''Mr. Robot'' is an American drama thriller television series created by Sam Esmail for USA Network. It stars Rami Malek as Elliot Alderson, a cybersecurity engineer and hacker with social anxiety disorder, clinical depression, and dissoci ...

'', in the film '' It's Kind of a Funny Story'' (2010), and in the "Man Behind The Treasure" promotional material for the video game '' Uncharted 4: A Thief's End'' (2016). 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.

Weekly charts

Certifications

References

External links

Pixies ''"Where Is My Mind"'' lyrics
{{Authority control Pixies (band) songs 1988 songs Songs written by Black Francis Song recordings produced by Steve Albini