Big Black
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| Big Black | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Evanston, IL |
| Genre(s) | Post-hardcore, noise rock, punk |
| Years active | 1982-1987 |
| Label(s) | Touch & Go Blast First! Homestead Ruthless |
| Former members | |
| Steve Albini Dave Riley Santiago Durango Jeff Pezzati Patrick Byrne |
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Big Black was a post-hardcore noise rock band founded in Chicago, Illinois, United States, that was active between 1982 and 1987. They were headed by singer, lyricist, guitarist, and co-songwriter Steve Albini.
They sought and found little mainstream success, but the group's piledriver drum machines and brutal, slashing electric guitars were widely influential, especially for industrial rock. Albini's snide, malevolent singing and provocative lyrics garnered much attention[citation needed].
They have been classified as noise rock, and were a formative influence on industrial rock, but the band members have always described the band as solidly punk rock; in the notes for Pigpile, a live recording of their final London performance, Albini explicitly describes Big Black as punk.
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[edit] History
Albini made a name for himself for his controversial "Tired of Ugly Fat?" column in the Chicago zine Matter, as well as irregular contributions to Forced Exposure. At the time, the band consisted of Albini and his drum machine, a Roland TR-606. (All of Big Black's recordings credit "Roland" as if "he" were a member of the band.)
The Lungs EP, the first effort to appear under the Big Black name, was recorded by Albini in his dorm room at Northwestern University. Intended primarily to recruit members to fill out the band, Lungs was released by Ruthless Records. The record is infamous for the variety of inserts, which included a lyric sheet in most copies, plus extras like condoms, dollar bills, stickers, concert tickets, photographs, silverware, razor blades, bloody bandages, and squirt guns. Heavily influenced by Public Image Limited and Killing Joke, Albini describes the amateurish Lungs as one of his few artistic regrets.
Guitarist Lyle Preslar, previously and later of Minor Threat, was briefly a member of Big Black during his semester at Northwestern, though after a few tempestuous practice sessions, he and Albini parted ways. In 1983 Jeff Pezzati and Santiago Durango, both of Naked Raygun, joined the band on bass and guitar, respectively. They recorded two EPs together, switching to Homestead Records, and soon after Pezzati left the band. He was replaced by Dave Riley.
Riley was a longtime funk fan and had worked at a Detroit recording studio frequented by Sly Stone and George Clinton. His bass guitar work with Big Black was, to a degree, influenced by funk -- not to suggest that he played like Bootsy Collins or Larry Graham, but he did bring a sinuous quality to the music. Even before Riley joined, there was evidence of an interest in funk: Big Black had already covered James Brown's "The Payback".
The band made a name for itself nationally with its first album Atomizer, which featured more controversial lyrics by Albini, and strong contributions by Durango and Riley to the songs and arrangement -- a working scheme the band had settled on because it took advantage of each member's strengths. Some listeners did not understand that their songs were either social commentary or sarcastic jokes (often both), and assumed that the band was sexist and racist. Albini responded to these accusations by making his lyrics even more offensive than before. Albini has stated that irritating "squares" was no challenge, but he took specific glee in offending "hipsters".[citation needed]
Albini drew much lyrical inspiration from misadventures and escapades he observed during his teen years in rural Missoula, Montana: for example, "Cables" was inspired by acquaintances who would visit a slaughterhouse to watch cattle get killed.".[citation needed]
In 1987 the band switched labels again, this time to the cult Chicago-based indie label Touch and Go Records, when the band became disenchanted with Homestead Records after the label illegally released promotional-only copies of some of limited-edition recordings. Big Black then released the Headache EP, which bore a sticker reading, "Not as good as Atomizer, so don't get your hopes up, cheese!" This was not a gimmick; the band truly thought Headache was inferior, and wanted to warn fans.
Shortly after, Durango announced that he was leaving the band to attend law school. Never having expected to make a career out of Big Black, the band decided this would be a good time to stop. They broke up and then released one final album, Songs About Fucking.
Big Black's career is chronicled in Our Band Could Be Your Life, a study of several important American underground rock groups.
[edit] After Big Black
Steve Albini went on to become a successful recording engineer (he dislikes the term "producer") for bands like Pixies, Nirvana, The Jesus Lizard, The Auteurs, Slint, Membranes, P.J. Harvey, Joanna Newsom and many others, in addition to playing in Rapeman and Shellac.
The band is mentioned in the 1988 Dead Milkmen song, Sri Lanka Sex Hotel, in the line: "Let's play Big Black at 3 a.m., And tell the neighbours they can all get fucked".
Dave Riley has largely recovered from a stroke that befell him in 1993[1] and has since released a CD and a book. [1] [2]
Santiago Durango released two EPs as Arsenal on Touch and Go, and is still a practicing lawyer. In his first case he helped recover Cynthia Plaster Caster's bronze casts of the genitalia of various rock and roll artists, including that of Jimi Hendrix. He handled some litigation for Touch and Go, and is currently[when?] an appellate defender.[3]
Touch and Go acquired the rights to the Big Black back catalog, and reissued these (by this time) hard-to-acquire classics.
Big Black have been posthumously successful, with Q Magazine's August 2007 issue naming Songs About Fucking as the fifth loudest album of all time, just ahead of the Who's Live at Leeds and Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.
[edit] Reunion
Big Black briefly reunited to play a few songs at Touch and Go Records 25th anniversary celebration on 9 September 2006. The line up was Steve Albini, Santiago Durango and Jeff Pezzati. They played "Cables," "Dead Billy," "Pigeon Kill," and "Racer X," in that order.
"I know what you're all thinking... 'what was all the fuss about?'" Albini said onstage that night. He later said that the reunion would not have happened but for the Touch & Go anniversary, and said the record label is "the most important thing to happen in music in my lifetime." Pezzati and Durango nodded in assent.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio albums
- Atomizer (Homestead, 1986)
- Songs About Fucking (Touch and Go, 1987)
[edit] Live albums
- Sound of Impact (Blast First, 1987)
- Pigpile (Touch and Go, 1992)
[edit] Compilations
- The Hammer Party (Homestead, 1986)
- The Rich Man's Eight Track Tape (Touch and Go, 1987)
[edit] Bootlegs
- Tonight We Walked with Giants Live in England 7-24-87 (Unknown, Unknown) (Contains a portion of the pigpile live release in inferior sound quality. also contains an "Exclusive" track also available on the pigpile DVD)
[edit] EPs
- Lungs (Ruthless, 1982)
- Bulldozer (Ruthless, 1983)
- Racer-X (Homestead, 1984)
- Big Money (Promotional EP) (Homestead, 1986)
- Headache (Touch and Go, 1987)
[edit] Singles
- Rema Rema (Forced Exposure magazine giveaway, 1985)
- Il Duce (Homestead, 1986)
- Heartbeat (Touch and Go, 1987)
- He's a Whore/The Model (Touch and Go, 1987)
[edit] Various artist compilations
- Big Payback (The Middle of America Compilation WNUR 89.3FM Evanston-Chicago, H.I.D. Productions, Ltd., 1984)
- Hunter's Safety (Tommy Bartlett Dies In Pain) (The Middle of America Compilation WNUR 89.3FM Evanston-Chicago, H.I.D. Productions, Ltd., 1984)
- Every Man for Himself (Gods Favorite Dog Touch and Go, 1986)
- Crack Up (Gods Favorite Dog Touch and Go, 1986)
- Il Duce (The Wailing Ultimate Homestead, 1987)
- Kerosene (live 1986) (Nothing Short of Total War (Part One) Blast First/Mute, 1989)
- He's a Whore (Nothing Short of Total War (Part One) Blast First/Mute, 1989)
- Burning Indian Wife (Happiness Is Dry Pants) Chemical Imbalance, Unknown)
[edit] Videos
- Big Black Live 1986 (VHS) (Atavistic, 1987)
- The Last Blast (VHS) (, 1988)
- Pigpile (VHS) (Touch and Go, 1992)
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Big Black fan site with discography, interviews, links.
- another Big Black fan site.
- Action Park, a comprehensive information site for Albini-related projects.
- Touch and Go website offers several Big Black songs for download
- Electrical Audio Steve Albini's two-studio complex located in Chicago, Illinois.
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