Big Black was an Independent noise rock band founded in Evanston, Illinois,… Read Full Bio ↴Big Black was an Independent noise rock band founded in Evanston, Illinois, United States, that was active between 1982 and 1987. They were headed by singer, lyricist, guitarist, and co-songwriter Steve Albini. They have been classified as post-hardcore/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.

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.

I Can Be Killed
Big Black Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Say, John, shut me up
Kill my dad
He is weak
Tried to shut me up
I just want away
Keep me quiet
While I'm away
Shut me up

The only way
To keep me quiet
I can be killed
I can be killed
Come on
Go ahead, come on, do me in
Come on, face the dark
Gotta knock me off
Come on, come on, come on, shut me up
Try to keep me quiet
That's the only way
To shut me up
Come on
I can be killed

I can be killed
Come on

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Big Black's song "I Can Be Killed" are haunting and dark, leaving much to interpretation. The repeated phrase "shut me up" can be seen as a cry for silence, an attempt to shut out the noisy world, or a plea for someone to end their life. The line "kill my dad, he is weak" adds another layer of intrigue and raises questions about the singer's relationship with their family. It's unclear if the singer wants their father dead as a form of revenge or punishment, or if it's simply an expression of frustration.

The repeated refrain of "I can be killed" adds to the ominous mood of the song, but it's unclear whether the singer is actually suicidal or if they're just making a statement about their own mortality. The lines "come on, face the dark, gotta knock me off" could be interpreted as a challenge to death or a desire to be released from the burden of life.

Overall, the lyrics to "I Can Be Killed" are ambiguous and open to interpretation. The song could be seen as a meditation on mortality, a plea for silence, or a desperate cry for help.

Line by Line Meaning

Say, John, shut me up
Addressing someone named John, I request them to silence me

Kill my dad
I want my father dead

He is weak
My father has a lack of strength or power

Tried to shut me up
My father previously attempted to silence me

I just want away
I desire to depart from my current situation or location

Keep me quiet
Prevent me from speaking or making noise

While I'm away
During a period of time when I am not present

Shut me up
Silence me

The only way
The sole method to achieve the desired result

To keep me quiet
To stop me from making noise

I can be killed
I am capable of being killed or dying