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.
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.
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".
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.
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 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 expecting to make a career out of Big Black, the band realized this would be a good time to stop, not wanting to turn into the Rolling Stones. They broke up, and then released one final album, Songs About Fucking
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, PJ Harvey, and many others, in addition to playing in Rapeman and Shellac.
The band are mentioned in the 1988 the 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 suffered a stroke in 1993 and was left paraplegic. He started a blog and wrote a book.
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 an appellate defender.
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.
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.
Big Black's career is chronicled in Our Band Could Be Your Life, a study of several important American underground rock groups.
In December 2019, longtime bassist Dave Riley passed away from throat and lung cancer. He was 59.
Fish Fry
Big Black Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
He's got his eight-track playin' really fuckin' loud
The one who wouldn't mm his brother 's dead
She's wearin' his boot print on her forehead
Saw her at the picture show out on the highway
After the fish fry, late last Friday
Havin' a fish fry, number one fish fry
Havin' a fish fry, deeper than a mm mm??
The fish fry out by Frenchtown
They say they saw you out there at Frenchtown
They say they saw you out by Frenchtown
Now I fuck you and I hit you with my shoe
And I hide your bloody body in Frenchtown pond
Sometimes you know you want to fuck somebody up
Sometimes you just want to fuck
The song "Fish Fry" by Big Black is a unique combination of punk rock, noise, and spoken word storytelling. The lyrics can be seen as a surreal and violent narrative of a man who is out for revenge against a woman who has wronged him, possibly by cheating on him. The first verse describes the man hosing out the cab of his pickup truck while listening to music loudly on his eight-track. The second line is especially interesting, as it seems to be a reference to the popular phrase "blood is thicker than water." The line "The one who wouldn't mm his brother 's dead" could be interpreted as the man referring to a woman who wouldn't support him in a conflict with his own family. The woman in question has a boot print on her forehead, suggesting that the man has already physically attacked her.
The next lines are particularly surreal, as they describe the man seeing the woman at a picture show after a fish fry. The repetition of "number one fish fry" gives the impression that the fish fry is of great importance to the characters in the song. The man seems to have violent intentions towards the woman, with the repetition of "Havin' a fish fry, deeper than a mm mm??" suggesting that he wants to harm her in some way.
The final verse of the song is particularly brutal, with the man threatening to hurt and kill the woman. He claims to have seen her at Frenchtown and then goes on to describe himself hitting her with his shoe and hiding her body in Frenchtown pond. The final lines of the song are particularly jarring, with the man saying "Sometimes you know you want to fuck somebody up/Sometimes you just want to fuck." These lines suggest that the man's motivations are not entirely rational and that he may be driven by a desire for violent thrills rather than a legitimate grievance against the woman.
Line by Line Meaning
Hosin' out the cab of his pickup truck
He's cleaning the inside of his truck using a hose
He's got his eight-track playin' really fuckin' loud
He's playing his music loud from an eight-track tape
The one who wouldn't mm his brother 's dead
The person who refused to mumble (or speak softly) about his brother's death
She's wearin' his boot print on her forehead
She has a visible mark on her forehead that looks like the sole of a boot
Saw her at the picture show out on the highway
He saw her at a movie theater located by the highway
After the fish fry, late last Friday
It happened after the event where fish was fried, which occurred on the most recent Friday
Havin' a fish fry, number one fish fry
They are currently enjoying a great fish fry
Havin' a fish fry, deeper than a mm mm??
The fish fry is really good, beyond description
Havin' a fish fry, number one fish fry
They are still enjoying the top-rated fish fry
The fish fry out by Frenchtown
The event where fish was fried took place in a location called Frenchtown
They say they saw you out there at Frenchtown
There are claims that someone was seen at Frenchtown during the fish fry event
They say they saw you out by Frenchtown
There are also reports of someone being spotted close to Frenchtown
Now I fuck you and I hit you with my shoe
The singer is engaging in violent acts against another person
And I hide your bloody body in Frenchtown pond
The singer claims to have disposed of the victim's body in a nearby pond in Frenchtown
Sometimes you know you want to fuck somebody up
Sometimes people feel like causing harm to others
Sometimes you just want to fuck
Other times, people just feel like having sex
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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