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Fortune
Fortune
Christiaan Hetzner

A Pixies song is accidentally turning off Google alarms

The Pixies are accidentally responsible for turning off Google Pixel phone alarms. (Credit: Jo Hale—Redferns/Getty Images)

Google Pixel owners be warned: If there’s an important meeting that absolutely cannot be missed, best not set your phone’s alarm to the 1988 signature tune of American alternative rock band Pixies.

Their catchy, electric guitar-heavy song “Where Is My Mind?,” which featured prominently in the final scene of David Fincher’s iconic film Fight Club, can inadvertently tell your phone to switch off—a fact discovered by one frustrated Redditor who mysteriously kept waking up late once every couple of weeks.

That’s because Google’s Quick Phrases feature allows Pixel owners to simply turn off the alarm merely by uttering one-word voice commands like “stop” and “snooze.” 

“For the past few months, I could not figure out why on random days, with seemingly no reason, sometimes my alarm would either not go off, or turn itself off very quickly,” user Asevarte posted on the social media platform earlier this week.

After waking up early one day, the Spotify subscriber cracked the code, as they put it.

“The first line in the song is ‘Ooohhh STOP,‘ with the word stop said very clearly. My Pixel has been hearing that and turning the alarm off. Since it's a playlist on shuffle, it only comes up every once in a while, so it's not happening every morning,“ 

When word reached the Pixies, they apologized (likely in jest) for the fateful start of their most popular song.

"Sorry about that!“ their official account tweeted on Wednesday, including the alarm clock, mobile phone, and stop sign emoji.

To which a Twitter user replied tongue-in-cheek shortly later: “Please write a song starting by ‘Call Dad’!”

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