Trompe Le Monde
by Pixies

Album
Trompe Le Monde by Pixies
Year: 1991
Release date: 1991-09-23
Overall rank: 836th   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
78/100 (from 640 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 20 albums of 1991 (15th)
Award Top albums of of the 1990s (145th)
Award Top 1,000 albums of all time (836th)

Listen on Spotify SPOTIFY

Log in or create an account to rate this album, leave comments or join the discussion.

Listen & Collect

Complete your collection or upgrade your listening experience.

  • Listened Upgrade your listening setup on Amazon(headphones, turntables & speakers)
  • Find vinyl editions of this album on eBay
  • Browse Pixies merchandise on Amazon (T-shirts & more)
  • Need a birthday or celebration gift? Browse unique music memorabilia on Amazon

Pixies bestography

Trompe Le Monde is ranked 4th best out of 28 albums by Pixies on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Pixies is Doolittle which is ranked number 17 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 29,703.

Pixies album bestography « Higher ranked (424th)
Bossanova This album (836th)
Trompe Le Monde Lower ranked (846th) »
Come On Pilgrim

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

Listen to Trompe Le Monde on YouTube

Loading content from YouTube...

Trompe Le Monde track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 80 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

Sort Sort by
#
Track
Rating/Comments
1.
Trompe Le Monde
Average Rating: 81 (123 votes)Comments: View 2
2.
Planet Of Sound
Average Rating: 82 (122 votes)Comments: View 2
3.
Track pick (860 - 158 votes)
Alec Eiffel
Average Rating: 86 (158 votes)Comments: View 2
4.
Sad Punk
Average Rating: 78 (113 votes)Comments: View 2
5.
Head On
Average Rating: 80 (122 votes)Comments: View 4
6.
U-Mass
Average Rating: 81 (127 votes)Comments: View 4
7.
Palace Of The Brine
Average Rating: 79 (113 votes)Comments: View 1
8.
Letter To Memphis
Average Rating: 81 (122 votes)Comments: View 3
9.
Bird Dream Of The Olympus Mons
Average Rating: 81 (112 votes)Comments: View 2
10.
Space (I Believe In)
Average Rating: 77 (109 votes)Comments: View 2
11.
Subbacultcha
Average Rating: 77 (113 votes)Comments: View 2
12.
Distance Equals Rate Times Time
Average Rating: 76 (108 votes)Comments: View 1
13.
Lovely Day
Average Rating: 77 (106 votes)Comments: View 2
14.
Motorway To Roswell
Average Rating: 84 (123 votes)Comments: View 3
15.
Navajo Know
Average Rating: 78 (111 votes)Comments: View 3

Track pick (1000 - 100 votes) Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

Trompe Le Monde rankings

Trompe Le Monde rankings summary
Overall rank: 836th | 1990s rank: 145th | 1991 rank: 15th  Overall chart history
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings).Help Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 5 hours ago)

Trompe Le Monde collection

Trompe Le Monde ratings

Average Rating: 
78/100 (from 640 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 3 ratings for this album.  | Show all 640 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
85/100
 !		10/10/2026 13:58 stereosanctity  Ratings distribution  4177/100
 
70/100
 !		10/03/2026 19:45 Siromynian  Ratings distribution  1,78974/100
 
90/100
 !		09/11/2026 20:59 LittleM1971  Ratings distribution  6,01481/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 3% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 77.6/100, a mean average of 76.8/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 77.6/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.3.


Please log in or create an account if you want to be able to leave a rating

Trompe Le Monde favourites

Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite  | Show all 68 members

stereosanctity
LittleM1971
frollant
nextorgd
Iglou2981
mash
Robmc70
rubkill
fishfriday2
matterhornrider

Trompe Le Monde forum mentions

This album has been referenced 60 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.
From BestEverAlbums 07/21/2026 08:00 in Chart of the day (#5380): By Purplepash
“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by ) 1. by (1991) 4. (1986) 5. by (1983) 6. by (2016) 7. by (1973) 8. by (1967) 9. by (2004) 11. by (1987) 12. by (2007) 13. by (1985) 14. by (1986) 15. by (1967) 16. by (1971) 18. by by (1986) 20. by (1984) 21. by (1985) 22. by by by (1985)…”
(2 mentions across Chart of the Day topics)
View latest topic →

From BestEverAlbums 02/01/2026 21:00 in Album of the day (#5523): Trompe Le Monde by Pixies
“Today's album of the day Trompe Le Monde by Pixies ( | ) Year: 1991. Country: Overall rank: 845 Decade rank: 152 Year rank: 15 Discography rank: 5 (out of 28 albums on BEA) Average rating: 78/100 (from 633 votes). Tracks: 1. Trompe Le Monde 2. Planet Of Sound 3. Alec Eiffel 4. Sad Punk 5. Head On…”
(5 mentions across Album of the Day topics)
View latest topic →

From matterhornrider 10/29/2024 05:25 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
“What album are you listening to? (cont.)”
View topic (2 mentions) →

View all forum mentions

Trompe Le Monde comments

Showing latest 5 comments | Show all 33 comments |
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Showing comments with any number of votes. Manage Profile)
Rating:  
100/100
From 04/18/2016 15:57 | #164068 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Are people deaf? Seriously? How is this record significantly inferior to Doolittle and Surfer Rosa? Trompe Le Monde is a masterpiece in my opinion. When Dave Grohl was asked what was the best record of the past 20 years, back in 2010, the first record that came to his head was Trompe le Monde. Enough said!
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 6
Log in to reply
Rating:  
90/100
From 05/13/2016 17:16 | #165888 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Pixies haven't got a single bad album (let's pretend Indie Cindy doesn't exist). Trompe Le Monde is full of great riffs, cool solos and Frank Black's trademark quirky lyrics and vocals. U-Mass, Alec Eiffel, Planet of Sound, Bird Dream of the Olympus Mons. How come this is not one of their best? Of course it isn't as good as Doolittle, but it's as good as Surfer Rosa at least. And it's better than Bossanova, in my opinion.

And also, IT'S EDUCATIONAAAAL.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 5
Log in to reply
Rating:  
95/100
From 08/21/2016 19:20 | #173198 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
While Doolittle and Surfer Rosa get a lot more attention from critics, I place Trompe le Monde right there alongside those two albums in my own Pixies pantheon. Probably the most important difference between Trompe le Monde and the Pixies' earlier work is the reduced role of Kim Deal, making this record somewhat closer to a Frank Black solo album than any of their previous efforts. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. The high points here are as good as anything else in the Pixies' catalog, especially the loud, indulgent, and bizarre "Space (I Believe In)," with its memorable if ponderous refrain, "Jefrey with one F, Jefrey."
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 4
Log in to reply
From 04/22/2014 13:17 | #109745 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
Black Francis was pist! Perhaps it was the relative tepid reception Bossanova received after the lovefest that showered Doolittle. Perhaps it was having to play second fiddle next to fan fave Kim Deal in HIS own fucking band. (That had to hurt, right?) I don't really care! Because he transformed all that bitterness into this seething sardonic stew of interplanetary madness. "Distance is equal to r times t." Never was physics so much fun!
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 3
Log in to reply
Rating:  
100/100
From 02/15/2018 22:36 | #208380 | TOP COMMENT Help Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
A masterpiece... Pixies best album and possibly my favourite album ever
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) · 5
Log in to reply
Anonymous
What do you think of this album? Join the conversation!.
The top-voted comments get featured on our charts, Album of the Day, and the site newsletter.

Log in or create an account to rate this album, leave comments or join the discussion.
Best Albums of  1991
1. Nevermind by Nirvana
2. Loveless by My Bloody Valentine
3. Ten by Pearl Jam
4. Spiderland by Slint
5. Achtung Baby by U2
6. The Low End Theory by A Tribe Called Quest
7. Laughing Stock by Talk Talk
8. Blood Sugar Sex Magik by Red Hot Chili Peppers
9. Metallica by Metallica
10. Screamadelica by Primal Scream