This record and its accompanying video were recorded at the Hammersmith Clarendon, London,
during Big Black's final tour in the summer of 1987. The members of Big Black have often been
asked why we chose to break up (the end of the band having been announced well in advance) just
when we were becoming quite popular. The best answer then and now is: To prevent us from
overstaying our welcome.
It was often assumed that Big Black had a dictator (and that he was me), but having actually been
in the band, I can assure anyone who gives a shit that this was not the case. We would get together
a few times a month and weed-out each other's ideas until only the good ones were left. Nobody
ever said "I've written this song fellas, and it goes like this..."
It seems preposterous now, but at the time, people seemed overly concerned about the literal
meaning of our lyrics. I know we never discussed it among ourselves. Lyrics seemed a necessity, so
we had them, but the subject matter was an extension of our interests -- not part of a political or
aesthetic battle plan. The lyrics were subject to change at whim once the subject had been decided
on anyway. Anybody who thinks we overstepped the playground perimeter of lyrical decency (or
that the public has a right to demand "social responsibility" from a goddamn punk rock band) is a
pure mental dolt, and should step forward and put his tongue up my ass. What we sing about is none
of your business anyway.
Organizationally, we were committed to a few basic principles: Treat everyone with as much
respect as he deserves (and no more), Avoid people who appeal to our vanity or ambition
(they always have an angle), Operate as much as possible apart from the "music scene" (which
was never our stomping ground), and Take no shit from anyone in the process.
It meant nothing to us if we were popular or not, or if we sold either a million or no records, so we
were invulnerable to ploys by music scene weasels to get us to make mistakes in the name of
success. To us, every moment we remained unfettered and in control was a success. We never had
a manager. We never had a booking agent. We never had a lawyer. We booked our own tours, paid
our own bills, made our own mistakes and never had anybody shield us from either the truth or the
consequences.
The results of that methodology speak for themselves: Nobody ever told us what to do, and nobody
took any of our money.
We had a fucking blast, and blasted a few ourselves.
1.Fists of Love: Captain Riley's clever re-titling of this song should be read as a measure of
our frustration with the British "cuisine", architecture, and work ethic. Please note the "now
clap 'em!" quote from a popular vulgar joke toward the end of the song.
2.L Dopa: That Oliver Sacks has been portrayed by Robin Williams in a saccharine
mass-market tearjerker movie in no way invalidates his life's work: documenting the
entertaining behavior of people with severe brain anomalies.
3.Passing Complexion: Nowadays we can see talk show panels composed of people who
have to tell people they're black because they're pale, don't look like the "black" archetype,
and therefore miss-out on all the rasicm they're entitled to. If someone can be "black" by
proclamation, then the term is as meaningless now as it was in the 1920's.
4.Dead Billy: When we started playing this song, we had no idea the antics of the armed
forces would becomes the crass pop-culture fodder to the extent they have. Forgive the
ex-post-facto banality. The video footage documents the very rare "drinking bird dance."
5.Cables: The silly guitar noises at the beginning go on entirely too long, yeah, yeah. You try
restraining yourself when you've got 30,000 watts of PA blowing your genius into a
half-million cubic feet of ballroom. Be thankful we didn't break into "House of the Rising
Sun" or "Supernaut."
6.Bad Penny: This song appeared as "Bad Pfennig" on German set lists, "Bad Pence" on
British ones and "All This Money is Bad" in Belgium. The irony of incorporating this song
into this record has not been lost on the band.
7.Pavement Saw: The male-female relationship, as a subject for song, is thoroughly
bankrupt. This attempt is noteworthy mainly for preposterously drawn-out introduction and
Santiago's hummingbirdlike solo at the end.
8.Kerosene: While the band was active, much ado was made about the "pork roast" nature of
the subject of this song. The lyrics were an afterthought, actually, and were originally about
either race car driving or frog gigging, I forget which.
9.Steelworker: Man, can we get a lot of mileage out of two notes.
10.Pigeon Kill: I haven't been to Huntington, Indiana since 1983, so I don't know if the folks
there still kill off scores of pigeons with poisoned corn every year. Perhaps they have opted
for a more permanent solution.
11.Fish Fry: The decline in popularity of drive-in movies is doing tremendous damage to the
sexual development of adolescents. When the drive-ins are all gone, there will be no place
where teenagers can practice and observe sexual technique in large numbers with ready
access to popcorn, fresh air and Coca Cola douche.
12.Jordan, Minnesota: Look it up, numbskull. None of the parents got locked up, only the guy
who finked on them.
We also played "heartbeat," and quite happy I was that I was able to incorporate quotes from both
the Defranco and Partridge families in this number. Otherwise it was a mess.
Special thousand-dollar cover art by LM Owen. Insert painting by Cheryl Graham. Video directed
and edited by Peter "Pinko" Fowler. Crew: Jo "Gorgeous" Higson, Carl "Lungfish" Simpson and the
Naylors. Fireworks, flaming band members, rocket attack and "Windy City Studs" sequences filmed
by Corey Rusk at The Graystone, Detroit, during the Era of Hospitality, and The Very Loud House,
Chicago 1984-1988. Playing with fire sequences filmed at The Cow house, Palatine, at a series of
bonfire parties staged by Pile of Cows during the Epoch of Lawlessness 1985-87.
These people ruled our world:
Corey and Lisa Rusk, Pinko and Jo, John Loder, Jochen "Jake" Schwartz, Theo Van "Rocktje"
Eenburgen, Carlos Van Hijfte, Bruce and Greta, "Cellblock Liz" and Pat Naylor, Noel and Jane, Iain
Burgess, Rifle Sport, Killdozer, Sonic Youth, Bruce and Graham, Fluss, Byron, Jimmy and many
beautiful women.
Also Paul Smith, and for a while there Gerard.
Goodnight, I'm Steve Albini.
No one at the venue may look Danzig in the Eye.
