Ah, damn. For a minute there, I thought I truly had you...
But anyway, it was creative for its time ('88-'91), but after every alternative band copied them (Kurt Cobain admitted when he wrote "Smells Like Teen Spirit" that he was totally ripping off the Pixies) I can understand why someone wouldn't think of it as creative. But really, it would boggle your mind if you could understand just how influential they were, at least in the alternative genre. As you've probably guessed, they didn't really influence metal all that much (well, at all), but metal would kick an estimated 4.3 times more ass if they had.