Big Black and the ability to let things go
A while ago a friend gave me a book called Our Band Could Be Your Life by Michael Azerrad. It tells the story of several punk bands from the 80s that influenced the punk/hardcore/noise rock scenes. I have slowly been making my through it as well as listening to the bands in the process. Bands like Minor Threat and Black Flag aren't new to me but there was one band that I wanted to know more about.
Big Black first crossed my radar when Steve Albini died in 2024 but I never got round to listening to them. In fact when Albini passed it didn't really impact me as I didn't really know anything about the guy other than he was some kinda punk old head. He was clearly very influential but somehow not much about him had really crossed my radar in all my time listening to punk. So who was this dude anyway.
Well you can't really judge a person by reading one chapter that broadly outlines one creative project of theirs. The Big Black chapter definitely answered some questions and confirmed some things I had seen online about Albini. The band itself is a mix between great noise rock and slightly forgettable noise rock. Now I must admit I have not listened to all their output but the stuff I have listened to has grabbed me. Since they were around in the 80s I know that for their time they must have been cutting edge. Some of the EPs are seriously abrasive and straddle the difficult to listen territory but that's because I am no stranger to the genre.
Big Black has most likely influenced many of the bands Iv listened to, Whores,Prostitute and Intercourse...I'm starting to see pattern here with noise rock bands. So my ears have become accustomed to the angular noisy riffs that would leave most people frothing at the mouth. I have found myself coming back to Atomizer frequently and I think it will make its way onto my MP3 player for my summer of noise rock listening. Although there is something that has stuck with me about Albini and I think I realise why he was so respected. Besides his prolific musical output and producing.
Albini seemed like an insufferable asshole especially if he didn't like you. That was because he spoke his mind and didn't care what you thought of him. He also did not compromise his values one bit. As much as I read about him being a dick there was equal amounts if not more about him not giving a single fuck about 'making it' in the industry. He as well as the other members of Big Black,Santiago Durango, Jeff Pezzati and Dave Riley all had no real ambition to make it big in the scene. They were DIY and made it work. Inspiring stuff in this day and age. Can you imagine being in a highly influential band today and refusing to go big even with labels approaching you. That flies in the face of our modern entertainment industry.
Another impressive aspect of the band was that they called it quits because they felt they were losing control of their project. The ended it on their own terms and from what I can tell they were all ok with it. They realised that not everything lasts forever and that it is ok to let things go. How much of our entertainment industry could do with this awareness today? Keeping things alive and cheapening the artistic output just to make a quick buck. I admire the ability of Big Black to end it and move on to other projects where they are able to express themselves in a new way. I might not like everything about Albini but you know what. The dude was punk as fuck and had an integrity that a lot of people in the music scene could use.