[4] His cryptic lyrics mostly explore unconventional subjects, such as surrealism, UFOs, and biblical violence, along with science fiction and surf culture.

[9] Thompson's family moved around, first with his father, and then his stepfather, a religious man who "pursued real estate on both coasts"; his parents had separated twice by the time he was in first grade.

[11] When Thompson was 12, his mother and stepfather joined an evangelical church that was tied to the Pentecostal denomination Assemblies of God,[11] a move that influenced many of his songs written with the Pixies, which often refer to the Bible.

[19] In his second year of college, Thompson embarked on a trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico, as part of an exchange program.

Thompson failed to learn to speak Spanish formally, and left his studies after debating whether he would go to New Zealand to view Halley's Comet (he later said it "seemed like the cool romantic thing to do at the time"),[21] or start a rock band.

[24] He spent 1985 working in a warehouse, "managing buttons on teddy bears", composing songs on his acoustic guitar, and writing lyrics on the subway.

[31] Thompson has an aversion to flying, and spent this time driving across America with his girlfriend, Jean Walsh (whom he had met in the band's early days),[32] performing solo shows in order to raise funds to buy furniture for his new Los Angeles apartment.

The later Pixies albums were characterized by Feldman's increasing influence on the band's output, as well as a focus on science fiction themes, including aliens and UFOs.

Trompe le Monde includes the song "U-Mass", which was written about the university he attended as a youth, and due to the keyboard part played by Feldman, signified a move away from the band's alternative rock sound.

Although Deal had contributed on the songs "Gigantic" (from Surfer Rosa) and "Silver" (from Doolittle), from Bossanova on, Thompson wrote all the band's original material.

[41] Frank Black was characterized by a focus on UFOs and science fiction, although he explored other subjects, such as in "I Heard Ramona Sing", a song about the Ramones.

[43] Thompson had begun to stray from his style with Pixies, writing songs that covered a variety of genres and topics, and his new-found method of recording was closer to later albums than that of Frank Black and Trompe le Monde.

His band for this album featured sole Teenager holdover Lyle Workman on lead guitar, along with bassist David McCaffrey and Scott Boutier on drums.

[59] By this time, while dismissing the possibility of a Pixies reunion, Thompson had begun to incorporate an increasing number of the band's songs into Catholics concerts, as well as including Santiago in his solo work again.

[63] Frank Black Francis, a double album bridging the gap between his two personas, was released to coincide with the Pixies reunion tour.

[64] Also in 2004, Thompson began to collaborate with a group of Nashville session musicians, including Steve Cropper, Spooner Oldham, Reggie Young, and Anton Fig, as well as producer Jon Tiven.

In the fall of 2006, Thompson began his first solo tour since 2003, taking Feldman, Billy Block, and Duane Jarvis along as his backing band.

[7] In December 2006, he released the compilation Christmass album; a collection of new studio tracks, hotel room sessions, and live acoustic recordings from a solo tour the previous summer.

Concurrently with that release, Thompson undertook a European tour with a new band, featuring Salem's Guards of Metropolis members Jason Carter and Charles Normal,[71] as well as bassist Simon "Ding" Archer.

[72] In February 2008, Thompson was taken away by the Irish police in Dublin, Ireland, after staging an impromptu "precore" acoustic solo gig at St. Stephen's Green.

Black gave several joint interviews with frontman Eddie Argos about the album, and Art Brut supported the Pixies at their 2009 Brixton Academy show.

The band for these performances consisted of Reid Paley and Black Francis on guitars and vocals, Eric Eble on bass, and Dave Varriale on drums.

[84] The Pixies, minus original bassist Kim Deal, reunited for a United States and world tour in 2014 and have subsequently released five additional studio albums: Indie Cindy (2014), Head Carrier (2016), Beneath the Eyrie (2019), Doggerel (2022) and The Night the Zombies Came (2024).

"[86] Thompson's powerful screams were a signature of Pixies albums, along with the band's typical song structure of quietly paced verses followed by thundering chorus lines and repetitive guitar staccato.

While in Boston in 1984, before starting the Pixies, he listened to Elvis Costello's This Year's Model,[89] Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade, The Spotlight Kid by Captain Beefheart, and I'm Sick of You, an Iggy Pop bootleg.

[92] He commented on these influences (which he paid tribute to most in the Pixies' Doolittle), saying he "didn't have the patience to sit around reading Surrealist novels", but found it easier to watch 20-minute films.

[93] During his stay in Puerto Rico, Thompson acquired a fairly fluent, although informal and at times incorrect, use of Spanish, which he has continued throughout his career.

Several early Pixies songs, including "Isla de Encanta" and "Vamos", reference his experiences in San Juan, and the lyrics are often heavily seasoned with the island's slang.

[55] Thompson's lyrics are noted for their obscure references to off-beat topics such as outer space, UFOs, and The Three Stooges—the last of these being the subject of "Two Reelers", a song from Teenager of the Year.

[95] With the Catholics, his lyrics have tended towards historical topics; for example, the song "St. Francis Dam Disaster" (from Dog in the Sand) details the catastrophic collapse of the St. Francis Dam near Los Angeles in March 1928,[91] and the All My Ghosts EP featured an account of the Humboldt County Massacre of Wiyot Indians in 1860 near Eureka, California.