Line #55 Music/BigBlack


1	[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/big_black_promo_2273.jpg]]
2
3	->''"One, two, one, two - fuck you!"''
4
5	Post-Hardcore band formed by Music/SteveAlbini in 1981 and dissolved in 1987. Became popular within the underground music community for their distinctive "clanky" guitar playing, the use of drum machine instead of a drum kit (predating its use in IndustrialMetal), and their dark and explicit lyrical content.
6
7	According to Steve Albini, their name is "[[PrimalFear just sort of a reduction of the concept of a large, scary, ominous figure. All the historical images of fear and all the things that kids are afraid of are all big and black, basically.]]"
8
9	Not to be confused with Christopher "Big Black" Boykin from Rob & Big.
10
11	'''Members'''
12	* Steve Albini - Vocals, guitar, Drum programming (1981-1987, 2006 Reunion)
13	* Santiago Durango - Guitar (1983-1987, 2006 Reunion)
14	* Dave Riley - Bass Guitar (1985-1987)
15	* Jeff Pezzati - Bass Guitar (1983-1984, 2006 Reunion)
16	* [[CompanionCube Roland]] - Drums (1981-1987, 2006 Reunion)
17
18	!Discography
19	'''Studio Albums'''
20	* ''Lungs'' (EP) 1982
21	* ''Bulldozer'' (EP) 1983
22	* ''Racer-X'' (EP) 1984
23	* ''Atomizer'' (LP) 1986
24	* ''Headache'' (EP) 1987
25	* ''Music/SongsAboutFucking'' (LP) 1987
26
27	'''Compilations'''
28	* ''The Hammer Party'' (Combines ''Lungs'' and ''Bulldozer'' on LP, also throws in ''Racer-X'' on the CD version) 1986
29	* ''The Rich Man's Eight Track Tape'' (Combines ''Atomizer'', ''Headache'', and ''Heartbeat''; CD Only) 1992
30
31	'''Live Albums'''
32	* ''Sound of Impact'' (Official Bootleg) 1987
33	* ''Pigpile'' (Live Album + VHS) 1992
34
35	!Tropes
36	* AffectionateParody: On their "He's A Whore / The Model" single, both sides of the album art parody of the cover art of the albums the songs are originally found on. [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/85/Big_Black_-_He%27s_a_Whore_cover.jpg The "He's A Whore" side]] has the members of Big Black dressed like Music/CheapTrick and posing similarly to them on [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b4/Cheaptrickalbum1977.jpg their debut self-titled album.]] Likewise, [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/78/Big_Black_-_The_Model_cover.jpg on the back side]] the band parodies ''Music/TheManMachine'' by Music/{{Kraftwerk}}.
37	* AllThereInTheManual: The liner notes provided background information on many of the songs. This was removed for ''The Rich Man's Eight-Track Tape'', a CD compilation combining ''Atomizer'' with ''Headache'' and the "Heartbeat" single. This was in line with Steve Albini's dislike of [=CDs=] and digital recordings.
38	* AmbiguouslyBrown: The subject of "Passing Complexion."
39	-->He'd been white
40	-->He'd been black
41	-->They asked him
42	-->"Black like that?"
43	* AndIMustScream: The song "L Dopa"'s lyrics don't seem to make much sense until you read what they actually mean in the album liner notes...[[spoiler: Don't get it? It's about a girl that got sleeping sickness (encepalitis lethargica) in her teens and woke up as an old woman after being given L-DOPA. She wanted to die, and she was not allowed to.]]
44	--> daisy went to sleep at 15 and woke up many years later. she, being perfectly sensible, [[MercyKill decided she ought to die, since she had literally slept away her entire productive life]]. the medical profession, in her absence, had decided that [[LawfulStupid all life must be preserved, regardless of worth to its owner]], and [[NiceJobBreakingItHero prevented her]] from performing the only '''noble''' act she was capable of.
45	* {{Animesque}}: The cover of ''Songs About Fucking''.
46	* AntiLoveSong: "Pavement Saw."
47	* BadassBoast: The spoken word segment of "Bad Penny."
48	-->I think I fucked your girlfriend once
49	-->Maybe twice, I don't remember
50	-->Then I fucked all your friends' girlfriends
51	-->Now they hate you
52	* CompanionCube: Albini's Roland TR-606 was nicknamed [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Roland]] and credited as such under "Drums".
53	* CoverVersion: Several, including Music/{{Kraftwerk}}'s "The Model," Music/{{Wire}}'s "Heartbeat," and Music/{{Cheap Trick}}'s "He's A Whore."
54	* CreatureOfHabit: A very dark version of this trope drives "Bad Houses."
55	* DarkerAndEdgier: Big Black's music opted to become this to HeavyMetal and HardcorePunk.
56	-->"Heavy metal and stuff like that didn't really seem intense to me, it seemed comical to me. Hardcore punk didn't really seem intense most of the time — most of the time it just seemed childish. I guess that's how I would differentiate what we were doing from what other people were doing."
57	* EarthShatteringKaboom: Alluded to on the cover of ''Atomizer.''
58	* EvilGloating: Combined with PostRapeTaunt in "Jordan, Minnesota".
59	--> ''"This will stay with you until you die\
60	And I will stay with you until you die\
61	This is Jordan, we do what we like"''
62	* {{Gorn}}: The cover of the 1000-copy limited edition of the ''Headache'' EP. [[spoiler: It is a [[GrossUpCloseUp close-up]] of the head of a suicide victim who AteHisGun and split his head in half]]. Only a mini body bag was appropriate to package it.
63	* IncendiaryExponent: "Kerosene" is about someone applying this to ''sex''.
64	* IndecipherableLyrics: Part of Steve Albini's signature sound is putting the vocals further back into the mix than most bands, often burying them under the guitar. This makes the already near-unintelligible yelling on heavier songs that much more difficult to make out. It doesn't help things that he never printed lyrics in the liner notes of any of his band's albums and instead merely described what the song is about.
65	** Annoyingly, whoever did transcribe the lyrics online and let them spread from lyrics site to lyrics site simply put "mm mm" over words they couldn't decipher. Seriously, go look up the lyrics to any Big Black song with the vocals low in the mix. You'll find whole ''sentences'' replaced with "mm mm mm mm mm".
66	* IntentionallyAwkwardTitle: Not incredibly apparent on the actual song titles, but their second and final LP was named ''Music/SongsAboutFucking''. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin And boy, was it an appropriate title.]]
67	** Except for "The Power of Independent Trucking", which [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin isn't about fucking]]... [[DoubleSubversion initially]].
68	** That Albini's next band had the {{hentai}}-derived name Rapeman tells you how much he enjoys this trope.
69	* IntercourseWithYou: Thoroughly subverted; When you see an album called ''Music/SongsAboutFucking'', you'd better believe that they're not pulling any punches in their lyrics.
70	* InterplayOfSexAndViolence: "Fists Of Love"
71	* MurderBallad: "Fish Fry," and "Kasimir S. Pulaski Day" to an extent.
72	* NothingIsScarier: "Bad Houses" sports one of the least explicit lyrics in the band's catalogue, yet is deeply unsettling for precisely that reason.
73	* ParentalIncest: "Jordan, Minnesota". With a ''[[{{Squick}} five-year-old]]''.
74	-->'''''SUCK DADDY!'''''
75	* PassFail: "Passing Complexion", about a black man who "could mix with ordinary white company" without being noticed as long as the subject of his race never came up in conversation.
76	* RefugeInAudacity
77	* ScaryMusicianHarmlessMusic: Inverted; the band themselves looked like average joes, but their music was very harsh and brutal.
78	* SelfDeprecation: The ''Headache'' EP had a sticker saying "Warning! Not as good as ''Atomizer'', so don't get your hopes up, cheese."
79	* ShoutOut:
80	** As noted, the TitleTrack of ''Racer-X'' is about the ''Anime/SpeedRacer'' character. In the EP's liner notes, the band and their engineer give themselves nicknames based on other anime from TheSixties (''Franchise/AstroBoy'' Albini, ''[[Manga/EightMan1963 Tobor (Eight-Man)]]'' Durango, ''Anime/{{Gigantor}}'' Pezzati, ''[[Manga/KimbaTheWhiteLion Kimba]]'' Burgess).
81	** ''Atomizer'''s album cover is one to ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'', specifically Marvin the Martian and his dynamite-operated weaponry.
82	* SignatureStyle: Heavy, distorted guitars that play a blend of punk and noise rock backed by a drum machine that adds a vaguely industrial flavor with lyrics usually about dark subject matter.
83	* SmallTownBoredom: "Kerosene" and "Cables" are both about the extremes that people go to in combating this.
84	* TakeThat: The band had several aimed at [=CDs=] and other digital recordings, often on the CD editions of their albums; this being in line with Steve Albini's notorious dislike for digital media. For example:
85	** From the liner notes on ''The Rich Man's Eight-Track Tape'':
86	--->YOU PUSSIES CAN SUCK OUR COCKS [...] This compact disc, compiled to exploit those of you gullible enough to own the bastardly first-generation digital home music system, contains all-analog masters. Compact discs are quite durable, this being their only advantage over real music media. You should take every opportunity to scratch them, fingerprint them and eat egg and bacon sandwiches off them. Don't worry about their longevity, as [[Creator/PhilipsRecords Philips]] will pronounce them obsolete when the next 'phase' of the market-squeezing technology bonanza begins.
87	** On the CD itself:
88	--->When, in [[HilariousInHindsight five years]], this remarkable achievement in the advancement of fidelity is obsolete and unplayable on any 'modern' equipment, remember: in 1971, the 8-track tape was the state of the art.
89	** On the CD for ''Music/SongsAboutFucking'':
90	--->This compact disk is made from analog masters recorded without noise reduction. Half the tracks, in fact, were recorded in a dismal, cheap basement eight-track studio with puddles of water on the floor. Digital technology will now faithfully reproduce those noisy, lo-fi, unprofessional masters for you at great expense. Feel stupid yet?
91	* TruthInTelevision: Many of the songs were based on events Steve Albini encountered in his youth living in the Midwest.
92	** "Cables" is about two of his classmates in high school who would go to slaughterhouses for entertainment.
93	** "Pigeon Kill" is about a town dealing with a massive pigeon infestation using poisoned corn.
94	* VillainSong: "Jordan, Minnesota" is from the perspective of a child rapist.
95	* VillainousIncest: "Jordan, Minnesota" is, again, about parents raping their children.

Context Music / BigBlack