Big Black
Formed Chicago, 1982; disbanded 1988.
Fanzine writer Steve Albini formed Big Black in the aftermath of the punk/hardcore explosion that had swept the US underground scene in the late 70s and early 80s. Reaching beyond the narrow parameters of hardcore, he looked to the liberating influence of avant-punk bands like Wire, Pere Ubu and PiL to confront the listener with the senselessness of the modern American experience: Big Black's vision was of rock as an atrocity exhibition.
The first Big Black recording, the Lungs EP (1982), was virtually an Albini solo production, laying the wiry minimalist clang of his guitar over the echoey thud of a Roland drum machine (at a time when a drum machine in a rock band seemed futuristic). These bones were fleshed out on the Bulldozer EP the following year, when Albini was joined by Jeff Pezzati (bass) and Santiago Durango (guitar). The expanded line-up produced a more muscular effect, and songs like "Cables", about bored youth seeking amusement in an abattoir, already demonstrated how far ahead of the scene the band were. The mini-album, Racer X, and pile-driving single, "Il Duce", followed in 1985, after which the funk-influenced Dave Riley replaced Pezzati on bass.
Big Black had become just about as big and black as it was possible to get, and in 1986 recorded their definitive statement, the howling whirlwind that was the Atomizer LP. Coruscating guitars, inhuman amp-distorted vocals and the relentless programmed detonations of the drum machine made this experience a little like being wired into the mains current while being hammered into a pulp. Lyrically, the album confronted the 'desperate entertainments' sought by those adrift in the empty monotony of small-town America: child abuse, corruption, ritual degradation and self-destruction.
The success and notoriety of Atomizer, together with the band's place in a burgeoning US 'noise' scene (Sonic Youth, Swans, Butthole Surfers, Scratch Acid, etc), brought Big Black increased media attention on both sides of the Atlantic - something their puritanical punk ethos made them deeply uncomfortable with. However, the success rolled on with the Headache EP (1987), not so much four songs as four psychopathic streams of consciousness from the end of the American tether.
Durango's decision to enrol at law school, coupled with the band's determination to quit at its peak, ensured that Songs About Fucking (1987) would be their final album. It was possessed of the kind of scorching power only available to bands with time running out, and although it perhaps lacked some of Atomizer's density, the critics loved it anyway. After a farewell tour, highlights of which were captured on the live LP, Pigpile (1992), Big Black split up. Albini formed the dubiously named and short-lived Rapeman, and the more low-key Shellac. More significantly, he became a much-sought- after producer, notably for The Pixies, The Breeders, Nirvana and PJ Harvey.
The Hammer Party (1987; Homestead/Touch & Go). Big Black's first two EPs Lungs and Bulldozer gathered as one album, along with the Racer X mini-album.
The Rich Man's Eight Track Tape (1986; Blast First/Touch & Go). CD re-issue of Atomizer, Big Black's masterpiece, plus the Headache EP. In "Kerosene", a tale of the ultimate cheap thrill, Big Black distil their sound to its impure essence.
Songs About Fucking (1987; Blast First/Touch & Go). Big Black screaming hell for leather towards their own destruction, and it sounds like they can't get there soon enough. Includes a terse cover of Kraftwerk's "The Model".
Ian Canadine