Atomizer

Was not even aware that Albini was in a band outside of being a producer, and the production of this one immediately made me wonder how he convinced people to pay him to do it. This was aggressively tinny, and Steve is a pretty horrible lead singer, but there were a few hooks and riffs hidden in there that gave it at least some level of merit, and I can see how Kurt Cobain would have drawn influence from a turd like this that could later be compressed into a diamond and polished. For that I'll give it a 2.5 that I refuse to round up.

Shitomizer Sandwich.

(2/5) Ministry's slightly older, less talented cousin. If I were younger, this would have been more appealing, but as it were, it was aggressively treble and began to hurt my ears on a few tracks. Additionally, the singer wasn't especially talented or memorable and I can't square the circle that the legendary Albini had anything to do with this. I guess he's had some stumbles too.. I DO know why Dimery would include this, however, and I can easily add this to the pile of crap that is *not* essential listening.

“Welcome back Joe / Welcome back Joe” This album found me on the right effin’ day. I had kind of a shitty day and the sludgy myopic noise went well with my mood. The guitars really drive this entire production. They are loud and distorted to almost distraction. Steve Albini would of course go on to produce some monster albums off this guitar sound. In retrospect one can see the path from this to “Surfer Rosa” to “In Utero.” The album is intentionally provocative and leans into that as much as possible. If you find that off putting it seems that Albini couldn’t care less. 3/5 Track highlights were Kerosene Bazooka Joe

This is what Death Grips sounds like to people who hate Death Grips

Whenever the Bass was audible, there were quite some enjoyable moments. whenever everything else came through though, it stopped being for me. Too dark/bleek/intense really

Scratchy and punky. I really like it. It feels like having your ears scraped clean from the inside. I'd heard Songs About Fucking before but this might be even better.

Big Black is my wife's boyfriend's name

It's a bad sign when listening to an album and suddenly the songs get good, but you realize it's because the album ended and spotify auto-played songs by a different band.

I think that this album is where I start to draw a line with the whole Noise genre. I find that this starts off intriguing and provocative, but becomes taxing by the end, especially considering the lack of an audible bass throughout! Albini was a genius, and this album really shows his music at one of the rawest points, but I'd much rather listen to an album like Surfer Rosa by Pixies, or my personal favourite Albini production - After Murder Park by The Auteurs! 'Kerosene' was a clear highlight, and easily tops most of Albini's musical works, purely due to the lyrics and meaning, but I found a surprisingly large amount of enjoyment in 'Jordan, Minnesota', which was a very fitting opener for an album like this. I think this will get 4 stars on the generator website, but it's in the slightly lower end, and is bordering 3-star territory by the end!

it's big. it's black. it's raw. i like the more melodic tracks. but ultimately nothing super jumped out at me.

I know it probably annoys a lot of people, but this album was an incredible exploration of how to create such a heavy sound. It influenced how Albini produced so many great bands.

This is terrible. Atonal and irritating.

Trash

241. Atomizer - Big Black (1986) 10.21.26 Variety: 1 Adequacy: 1 Listenability: 1 Uniqueness: 4 Emotionality: 1 = 1.6 rounded up to a 2 "Kerosene around/ Something to do" In college I interacted with an inordinate amount of philosophy students. In my memory they came in three distinct flavors - 1) Searchers, or people who seemed genuinely open and fascinated by different view points and who wanted to examine the ins and outs of each one and just wanted to learn 2) People who seemed to lack an identity but who would find a specific philosophy and model themselves after it, wholesale. They might switch it up a few times, but it completely overtook their personalities. 3) Guys ( and it was invariably dudes) who came in already 100% invested in the smell of their own bullshit, and who would only espouse bits and pieces of philosophies that already suited their own overconfident ideals. Smarter than everyone around them and more than willing to let them all know. Everything I've ever read, including interviews with the man, indicate to me that Albini was one of these last guys. I first remember hearing his name amongst musician friends ( one of who even contacted and almost travelled to record with him, as his rates were very fairly priced and based on what you could afford) and would read about him in magazines and later online. Most of this early exposure related to his role as a record producer and how he was all about servicing the needs of the artist over any corporate concerns, and how he strived to get a raw, real sound with his engineering techniques. Then I discovered he was a musician himself, and was recommended a couple of his Big Black albums. Musically I was less than impressed, but not completely turned off. Message and content wise, I found his music to be exhaustingly sophomoric. Albini seems to have modelled himself as the unbending man of principles. Unwilling to compromise and 100% devoted to art. His way or the highway, etc... This is all fine on paper. Maybe even admirable. But in practice you just come across as self-important asshole who thinks so little of other peoples' ideas and seem like the worst kind of elitist. Maybe charming and interesting to the bunch of impressionable teenagers who claim to have been influenced by his work ( looking at you Trent Reznor) but I'm sure he was a pain in the ass to deal with in real life. It didn't help that he felt the need to be just as uncompromising and douchey in his art. We'll get more into it later, but the lyrics and messaging in his songs is some of the worst edgelord material you're likely to find on this list. I don't mind some pretentious, in your face stuff so long as the talent is able to back it up and turn it into something interesting or worthy of artistic consideration ( see Coil, some Throbbing Gristle, Frank Zappa) I'll be very upfront in that I don't think any of his work I've heard does this. It's offensive for the sake of the lulz, and if the dude had been born two decades later he might have gotten his start on 4chan or the like instead of whatever local indie punk scene he crawled out of. Shock me, but make it entertaining or illuminating in some way. I've read recent interviews where he seemed to express some regret for a lot of the content of his early work, and some of his more provocative interviews and opinions, but only VERY recently. He was a much older older dude, and I know from personal experience how that changes you, so maybe the man can be given the benefit of the doubt. It's a shame too that I have such a low opinion of the man given how much crossover we likely had in political and social views. And he generally seems to have had great taste in music, so there's that. We're looking back into the 80s though, at a specific piece of art, so let's see how it holds up to today's standards, and if it even held up to the standards of 1986. THE TRACKS "Jordan, Minnesota" - Ugh.. very first track in and I'm already done with this. Garbage exploitative and provocative lyrics aside, this just sounds awful. It's muddy and overblown and emotionally hollow. This one out does Marilyn Manson in the "ooh how shocking" department. At least Manson had some style, as dumb as it was. "Passing Complexion" - Did the opening of this predict hyper glitch pop by a good 25 years with it's high pitched squealy melody ( is that a synth or just processed guitars?). Not sure, but it's just as bad as some of that stuff. I'm sure Albini is trying to make some sort of commentary on race relations, but be a little less ambiguous maybe, given that you're a white dude who grew up in Montana? "Big Money" - Same shit production sound, but at least there's a decent beat. I can definitely feel the influence of the electronic drum stuff on 90s industrial. Ministry and NIN must have stolen liberally from this ( and many other sources). Supposedly about abuse of police power, which is still relevant. Not terrible. "Kerosene" - This is the track that gets all the love when it comes to covers by the likes of St. Vincent and Pitchshifter. An ode to arson and boredom if the lyrics are any indication. It's gotten a certain Cro-Magnon charm to it, and is miles more listenable than the previous tracks. There are dynamics, it's almost danceable, and there's some cool effects that you can almost hear through the mud. I think this probably owes a debt to Killing Joke. "Bad Houses" - Decent beat, and I can actually hear the bass and guitar work. Annoyingly the vocals are the cleanest part. If this had been an instrumental, would have been way better. "Fists of Love" - How very edgy. Sex and power dynamics , something, something... As little as I care for a lot of the industrial rock that followed, those guys at least took this sort of thing and made it interesting. "Stinking Drunk" - *cut to a scene Al Jourgenson vigorously taking notes*. Yeah, I definitely can appreciate the influence. The instrumental side of things is there, just still not enamored with the vocals. Not terrible though, and there's an attempt at some emotion I guess. "Bazooka Joe" - I am now flashing back to some awful high school poetry slams. Thank god the music finally kicked into cover up a lot of the insufferable vocals. "Strange Things" - We finally have something that sounds a lot more like entertainment. And you can hear the instruments! Do I enjoy the militaristic chants and the grunts though? Not especially. It's bordering on Oi! pink and not exactly comfortable with all the associations that come with that. "Cables" (Live) - I can see Kurt Cobain eating this shit up. The hoarse yelping is not a million miles away from some of teh stuff he would do. This was alright, and maybe reveals that the band might have been way better live. HIGHLIGHTS - "Kerosene" - "Cables" (Live) MIDLIGHTS - "Big Money" - "Bad Houses" - "Stinking Drunk" - "Strange Things" LOWLIGHTS - "Jordan, Minnesota" - "Passing Complexion" - "Fists of Love" - "Bazooka Joe" FINAL THOUGHTS As down as I am on this album, and Albini's musical output in general I'm willing to concede that the work had pretty outsized influence on industrial rock, insofar as mixing rock guitars , industrial aesthetic and drum machines. Reznor, Al Jourgenson, and the dudes from Godflesh I think have all called this album out in interviews, and sure, ok. Industrial rock, especially the 90s stuff was never a big touch point for me, and I think musically was kind of a short lived, dead end genre. I'm sure it still exists in pockets but I'm not sure I could name a single band past the late 90s that exemplifies it. Also, this stuff seems to have been a big influence on Marilyn Manson music and his shitty persona, so.... bleh. Personally I think Albini's production credits are WAY more important to the history of rock music, and If you check any of this out, limit yourself to the less grating tracks if you can. His later project Shellac is much more listenable on whole, though not very essential, if you're curious. I can understand why the album is on the list, but I don't have to like it. If I want to hear challenging, in your face music I can listen to any of the below predecessors to Big Black, and be met with at least a bit of thoughtful artifice to balance out the bleak, cynical harshness. When it comes down to it, Big Black seems to have garnered their reputation for what seems like some minor technical innovations, and nothing really having to do with the music itself. I've got even less patience than I did 30 years ago, and trollish stuff like this I find to be a complete waste of my time. I'm very tempted to give this the Morrissey 1 out of annoyance and move on, but the influence exists whether I like it or not and has to be acknowledged. Still not very happy to have to be listening to this all because a dude was too cheap to pay a drummer. Possible turn-Offs might include: - childishly edgelordy lyrics - aggressively and purposefully unpleasant music that's ugly "just 'cause" - no real musical ethos - unconcerned with any sort of emotional or artistic value beyond being shocking and brutal You Might enjoy this if you: - like it brutal and dark and uncompromisingly cynical - owned a black trench coat in the 90s/ and or combat boots - are the kind of person who has memorized the lyrics to any Gnaw Their Tongues songs PLAYLIST ALTERATIONS - You can keep all of this, thanks. FURTHER LISTENING Precursors: - Orgasm by Cromagnon - Suicide by Suicide - D.o.A: The Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle by Throbbing Gristle - Mix-Up by Cabaret Voltaire - Homotopy to Marie by Nurse with Wound - Halber Mensch by Einstürzende Neubauten - Geography by Front 242 - Alles ist gut by DAF - That Total Age by Nitzer Ebb - Nail by J. G. Thirlwell ( as Foetus) - Remission by Skinny Puppy - Killing Joke by Killing Joke - Streetcleaner by Godflesh Contemporaries: - Greed by Swans - Rembrandt Pussyhorse by Butthole Surfers - Just Keep Eating by Scratch Acid - Exile on Main St. by Pussy Galore - Horse Rotorvator by Coil - Rrröööaaarrr by Voivod - The Return Of Martha Splatterhead by the Accused Descendants: - Surfer Rosa by Pixies - In Utero by Nirvana - At Action Park by Shellac - Pure by The Jesus Lizard - Broken by Nine Inch Nails - The Land of Rape and Honey by Ministry - Big Black Bus by Marilyn Manson - Herzeleid by Rammstein - The Industrialist by Fear Factory

Its gonna be a no from me dog. Didn't enjoy this at all. Leade guitar basically just determined how to make it sound like nails on a chalkboard. Call me a boomer. Fave songs - none

I've never been a fan of Punk Rock music, however, this album has reached a new low for me regarding the sub-genre. It sounds like the album's title, and even though that's hard to articulate what I mean by that, just know it's not good. Really, really not good. Awful, actually. It's actually wild the closing track was recorded live, because who the hell actually paid to watch this? Favorite Track: "Jordan, Minnesota".

Oof. Aged like milk. Sehr anstrengender 80s Punk. Cool Cover tho. 1/5

Abrasive. Loud. Precise. Great fucking album.

This album really sounds like it was recorded in someone's garage where they used a toaster to record most of the sound. Amazingly, at times this actually works and makes for a rather unique, and not altogether unpleasant, listen.

Ew

Pretty wild album and the typical Steve Albini abrasiveness is on full display. After the first four tracks, I was like "whoah this is pretty awesome and groundbreaking" - the guitar tones alone on Passing Complexion and Kerosene are so interesting, and I'm not sure anything else sounded like this in 1985. It sort of loses steam in the back half though for some reason. I can see how influential this is and parts of it go pretty hard but just didn't quite land as a whole.

Truly excellent noise rock,, some of the best the genre has to offer. The guitar tones are fierce and sharp, and the drum machine gives this a mechanical, almost industrial feel. "Passing Complexion" has a heavenly guitar sound, but even it can't top "Kerosene," which is a masterpiece in both its sound and riffs. The lyrics are as brutal as the music, but never important enough to get in the way. Unlike some of Albini's later albums that focused more on angular riffs or textures, this one is all pedal to the metal, with "Bad Houses" maybe being an exception. That really gives it a lot of power and weight. I wish it had a couple more incredible songs like "Kerosene," but nothing here is bad and there's enough variety in the riffs to make sure it never gets old.

Liked it more than I thought I would but just not the type of music I’m throwing on

Atomizador

Unlike Yank Crime, this album kept me coming back through intrigue. The songs have good hooks and earworms. "Kerosene around, set me on FIRE". Some moments blend together but all around quite impressive. I also love the album art. 3.7/5 -> 4/5

Just had to listen to an NIN album, which I hated. This is a better version of that.. or maybe I am just in a bad mood

Actually fuck knows what that was, wasn’t absolute noise pollution but I don’t rock with this at all

Didn’t mind that. Solid musically. Closer to a 4 than a 2, but a 3 seems appropriate.

Interesting

JL : 4, Stinking Drunk (Mixing on this album is very weird)

Three and a half from me. It’s rocking for sure, not my favorite style of vocals, but the band it pretty tight. I only knew “Bad Houses” and that’s because it was covered by an awesome band named Dianogah. It’s good, just not something I’d go out of my way to listen to.

Absolutely gnarly and does not fuck around. Tremendous. Never heard of Big Black before.

Solid enough. Wouldn’t listen again though

Not particularly my speed but I can appreciate. Can't rank it as high as my hardcore favorites. But favorable experience. Noisey, abrasive, and aggressive. I think other albums might be better produced too.

Heavy Metal, Punk -> 1

needs a relisten maybe... nothing really stucked after the firs listen... (2.5/5.0)

Didn't understand a single goddamn word you said big dog. Liked the vibe though. Hypertensive as hell. I have a passing complexion. I can appreciate this for what it is however I just don't really like it. Joe mama. Favourite: Bazooka Joe Least favourite: Passing Complexion

I fear it is just fine. Some instrumentals are great, while others are definitely not. It just does not really grab me like other punk albums do, but maybe I have become too picky. The lyrics are interesting, to say the least, it just feels a little bit pretentious and not in a satire way. Kerosene is fun tho

hidden gem

ngl some of this was an assult on my ears

Really enjoyed the kind of minimal production on this one. It’s got all the vocal and guitar angst of a punk record, with the drum sequencing of an early industrial record. Sounds like 90s Ministry at times. Maybe they were pioneers. 4.0/5.0

Not my cup of tea,

kind of a lot going on here. drums are insane

Very interesting sound, feels like the burgeoning roots of like post-hardcore and industrial music that would come to take over the 90s/2000s. Also didn't know this was Steve Albini's band until listening to this

Absolutely wild album, just pure, raw energy and emotion. It's noisy and abrasive, yet somehow still coherent and surprisingly listenable. Never heard any thing quite like it!

A little bit too screamo for me. The music was good but when the voices came in it became a different story.

Mmm c

I do still love the willfully ugly production of Big Black and the attitude in the playing but I don't enjoy the bleakness of the subject matter so much any more

This seems tame now but at the time this was released there was nothing quite like it. Not as weird as the Amphetamine Reptile scene, Big Black’s mix of punk and industrial was actually pretty catchy for a punk rock scene where hardcore was really the vogue. Kerosene is a brilliant track and honestly if you are not a huge fan of noise bands or really not that familiar, it is a great introduction to the record. Almost a pop song it’s a great place to begin and from there the journey is really up to you. The very next track, Bad Houses, could have been made by Joy Division. Albini’s production is obviously well on its way to being fully realized as the dryness of the sounds, the clarity of the vocals on a bed of noise and the drum machine creating a motorik groove on most of these tracks - not that far removed from Faust, Can and noticeably Kraftwerk. Lyrics are full on punk rock topics designed to provoke a reaction. On first spin of this record I didn’t really pick up on them up when released, it was only after a couple of passes that the lyrics broke the focus. You start to parse words together and then suddenly holy shit - what the fuck is he saying? Fists of Love is about sadism. Get it? While this album is not as challenging as Songs About Fucking, Albini on this record is concerned with life in a small town, dealing with boredom and abuse of power. You can feel the conflict in Stinking Drunk which deals with someone dealing with the conflict of throwing away their sobriety or Bazooka Joe which deals with a manipulative narrator offering a psychologically damaged veteran a fake friendship to form a partnership that is one sided to benefit the narrator - to get Joe to use his skills to commit violent acts. At this point in the Big Black catalog Albini was experimenting with noise and lyrics to confront the audience and I think on this record and Songs About Fucking are two records where his vision is fully realized. And as a vision perfectly executed, it deserves 5/5. I ain’t no company man..,

I really, really, really did not like this. I don’t think j I hated it, but it was very not good.

This grew on me. First song was a lot. Rest of the album was great classic early punk

Meh

To me... well, this advertises as "punk" but I do not hear it that way. It is much more aligned to alt hard rock. I think it would appeal to metal fans more than punk fans TBH. I think it is half decent to be sure! No issues in the vocals or instrumentals that hurt it. My complaint is purely genre related and why they are not slotted in with alt metal or alt (hard leaning) rock. They definitely are not post-punk and while the lyrical qualities have a mild semblance of punk, it is too wall of noise to fit properly. It is like too produced or too instrumentally clean somehow. Again, I don't dislike it, for what it is I think it is fun and even worthy a good listen. No doubt they have fans out there, but ultimately if you come for the punk and find out it is more metal oriented alt rock, ... Meh.

A decent punk album with heavy industrial influence. The beginning was a chaotic concentration of noise, but soon enough the record starts to build a peculiar sound that is the most close to industrial. Big Money, Kerosine, Bad Houses, Bazooka Joe represent its best part. Quite comparable to Nich Inch Nails there. Some of the last tracks are quite off, so the album has both strong tracks and the ones not making much sense. Hence, a three here.

Well this is a racket. A mixture of punk and industrial. Very very samey across the album, difficult to pick a standout track as they all use the same formula. Must have been fairly original/innovative for the time but by god it’s rough.

interesting

This goes pretty hard. The drum tracks instead of an actual drummer seems like a cheat for this genre, but it does add a lot of intensity. Pretty cool stuff for 1985.

Jordan, Minnesota - 72 Passing Complexion - 66 Big Money - 68 Kerosene - 76 Bad Houses - 71 Fists of Love - 67 Stinking Drunk - 64 Bazooka Joe - 57 Strange Things - 70 Cables - 67 Atomizer - 62

Fucking good. Hard, deep, and relentless. Don’t give up because it’s abrasive. Crazy how this lines up to the sentiment around (child sexual) abuse and politics 40 years after it was released.

Hell no

dude hell yeah

No thanks!

This can actually go to hell. I hated this.

i guess so

Not a big fan of this. It's got plenty of energy, and one or two were OK, but even at just ten songs it's a lot to take in.

There were a few songs I dug, but for the most part this album was pretty forgettable. even if Albini became one of the greatest "recording engineers" of all times.

I hate the drums so much. It’s so anti-punk with these electronic drums and simple, drone-ic sounds. The drums really just sucked the soul out of these songs.

Hell yeah, that was a blast!

Hate to admit I’ve never heard this album. Steve Albini has been associated with so many records I’ve loved. I like that the vocals are more buried in the mix than Exile. You search to hear them and the search is well worth it. Kerosene feels like my small town life. “There’s something to do…” First

Oh dear. Some tunes would be nice.

Horrible. Vocals: noise. Backing "music" : noise.

Very abrasive. Like the machine-like rhythm but the vocals are a lot.

If I have learned anything from this project, it's that I don't like punk music.

Genres got me really excited, but it was a bit mid. It's cool and energetic but a bit same-y and doesn't really grab me much.

8/10

This was a blind spot for me. Better than I expected.

eh

Good and all and influential and all, but they didn't really manage to mash Industrial Noise and Punk together like a Sonic Youth did. I did enjoy my time with it, but it just isn't really on the level that their other famous album is either. Still, nice to have abrasive jarble that does sound like proper music at times.

I definitely enjoyed Songs About Fucking more but it was still an interesting way to spend my morning.

It's like an electronic punk album, very raw. I will never return to this but liked being exposed to it. Just the once. 3/5

Je n’aime pas

Fun alt music

I believe this album has artistic merit. There was even a song or two that I enjoyed, and I'm glad it exists and says what it says. All of that being said, I was relieved when it was over. EDIT: you know what. i keep thinking about this album, and wanting to listen to it again. that is higher praise than i can give almost every single other album i've listened to from here so far, so why give it 1 star? they're doing something with this, even if it hurts my ears. it's interesting! i still feel a little bit like i'm being tortured when i hear it though. so i'm not giving it five stars.

I just can get excited by punk anymore - nothing particularly wrong with this but just not for me.

One of the top reviews says that this album will stay with you until you die. Actually it stayed with me for fifteen seconds, at which point I turned it off in horror.

8/10

Steve Albini is an absolute legend. He's obviously known as one of the greatest record producers of all time. His own musical output is solid too and Big Black is probably the best known of his projects. But I much prefer Shellac and R@&#man. I think the repetitive electronic drums of BB just wear me out after a few songs. I'm gonna give it a 3.5/5 rounded to 4 though.

Finally some music thats chews up my ears nom nom nom and spits me back out covered in saliva I like Songs About Fucking too

I expect this is quite marmite. It is quite the assault - machine gun drums and scraping guitars. I particularly liked Kerosene. You can see the influence on industrial and grunge.

Can’t say I enjoyed all of it but I’m glad I listened to it. Obviously it’s abrasive but I found it a hell of a lot more interesting than most of the punk that’s been on the list so far, largely due to the additional textures added to it rather than the standard ‘two guitars, a bass and drums’ set-up that most punk defaults to. Also wasn’t aware of Albini’s role in a band such as this which makes his role in the production of other, later albums more interesting.

How does a band whose number one song have only 2 million listens make a top 1000 album list? I’m sure someone out there likes this genre, but I’ll pass

Really not an enjoyable listening experience. I understand the post-punk dissonant vibes are intentional, but I don’t enjoy it

Well that woke me up this morning.

yuck

High 4. Really, REALLY, wanted to give this a 5 but those tracks at the end knocked it down. Everything else though was phenomenal. Hard, angry, yet catchy guitar and bass, great fast paced drumming too. Vocals suited the music so well.

This really is some intense guitars and also production, but for what I read from their profile they are not shy to talk about mature topics. Which I do appreciate.

Both unpleasant and boring. Good grief.

I found this repulsive yet oddly alluring and hypnotic which saves it from a one

I came close to giving this a 1, but then someone in a review said it's accessible, and I kind of agree? It's caustic and sounds like teenagers paid $50 for studio time, but I guess it gets a bump (1.5)