Big Black

Evanston

Steve Albini taught himself bass in Missoula, Montana, and moved to Evanston, Illinois, to study journalism at Northwestern. He bought a Roland drum machine, seeing a machine that could play fast without tiring and obey commands exactly. In spring 1981 he recorded the Lungs EP in his living room on a borrowed four-track, handling the guitar, bass and vocals himself and programming the drum machine. Albini said the name Big Black reduced the idea of a large, scary, ominous figure. Ruthless Records issued Lungs in December 1982.

In 1983 Albini met Jeff Pezzati of Naked Raygun, and Pezzati's bandmate Santiago Durango came downstairs one day and asked to play along. Albini called Durango absolutely crucial. Metal picks notched with sheet metal clips gave Albini's guitar its clanky sound, as if two picks hit each string at once. The Bulldozer EP, recorded with engineer Iain Burgess, appeared in December 1983, its first two hundred copies in a galvanized sheet metal sleeve.

Independent

Big Black toured in a cramped car and won praise in the British music press on a European tour in 1984. Their deal with Homestead Records was unusual. They licensed recordings for set lengths, took no advances, paid for their own sessions and signed no contracts. Durango said they did not want to be sucked into a corporate culture. A drum machine also meant one fewer member to pay.

Pezzati left amicably to give more time to Naked Raygun, and Durango quit that band to commit to Big Black. Dave Riley, who had worked at a Detroit studio where George Clinton and Sly Stone recorded, joined on bass. Racer-X, the last EP with Pezzati, was the first to settle the line-up of two guitars, bass and drum machine.

Atomizer

Atomizer was the first full-length record. Riley's funk background added a little melody and danceability, while Albini and Durango's guitars grew more violent. The songs were character studies of people committing evil acts: a corrupt police officer in Big Money, a shell-shocked veteran turned contract killer in Bazooka Joe, a sadist in Fists of Love. Both Michael Azerrad and AllMusic's Andy Kellman see Kerosene as the band's peak. The album sold three thousand copies soon after release and was praised in the national press. Pitchfork's Jason Heller called it Albini's masterpiece.

In 1986 the band fell out with Homestead and its distributor, Dutch East India Trading. The label had been allowed five hundred promotional copies of a 12-inch single of Il Duce, and Albini found them on sale in shops outside Chicago. Big Black cut ties and, despite lucrative offers from major labels, signed to Touch and Go, run by his friend Corey Rusk.

The end

The Headache EP came out on Touch and Go in spring 1987 with a sticker warning that it was not as good as Atomizer. Durango had announced that he would start law school that autumn, so the band decided to carry on until then and stop. Albini wrote that he preferred to cut it off rather than have it turn into another Gross Rock Spectacle. They recorded Songs About Fucking, half in London and half in Chicago, and toured from June 1987. At a sold-out London show for 1,300 people, Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis of Wire joined them for Heartbeat. The final show was at the Georgetown Steam Plant in Seattle on 9 August 1987, and the band smashed their instruments. Pitchfork's Mehan Jayasuriya wrote that footage of the show might show a young Kurt Cobain in the audience. Songs About Fucking appeared on 10 September 1987, with an initial pressing of eight thousand copies, and became their most successful record.

After

Albini formed Rapeman, then Shellac, and became a recording engineer for the Pixies, Nirvana and PJ Harvey among others, opening Electrical Audio in Chicago in 1997. Durango became a lawyer, with Touch and Go among his clients. In 1992 the label reissued the whole catalogue and released the live album Pigpile. On 9 September 2006 Albini, Durango and Pezzati played four songs at Touch and Go's 25th anniversary festival: Cables, Dead Billy, Pigeon Kill and Racer-X. Albini said it was a thank-you to the label and ruled out more reunion shows. Dave Riley died on 24 December 2019, and Albini on 7 May 2024. AllMusic's Mark Deming wrote that the band's influence had a seismic impact on indie rock.