Kerosene

Michael Azerrad and AllMusic's Andy Kellman both see Kerosene as Big Black's peak. Azerrad heard a powerful rhythm ripped straight from Gang of Four and guitars that sound like shattering glass. Kellman called it the band's brightest and bleakest moment, with an instantly memorable guitar intro that no vocal imitation or physical gesture could accurately describe, and wrote that it is Big Black's Light My Fire, literally. Pitchfork's Jason Heller called it the self-immolation anthem to end them all.

Dave Riley said it is about boredom in rural America, where there are only two things to do: blow up a lot of stuff for fun, or have a lot of sex with the one girl in town who will. Kerosene is about a guy who tries to combine the two pleasures. St. Vincent covered it live at the Our Band Could Be Your Life 10th Anniversary Show at Bowery Ballroom in New York on 22 May 2011. A soundboard recording of Big Black at the Showbox in Seattle on 28 March 1987 has it in the set.